[Trenacker]

Some great opinion pieces on Gingrich in The New York Times and The Washington Post today.

Hardest-hitting of all was a piece that pointed out the awful irony of Gingrich's stated determination not to "allow" moderators to discourage raucous reactions from the audience: an intellectual lets his ideas and analysis speak for themselves; he doesn't require a mob to take victory. Gingrich is crafty, if not necessarily wise: he knows that his greatest appeal arises from seeming to be the one who will "stick it" to audiences that have hurt conservative egos over the past decade -- a gift that so far outshines his many, many flaws.

Jeb Bush put in a great editorial on how the Republican Party can appeal to Hispanic voters in the future, concluding with some provocative (and welcome) thoughts on why we should celebrate the use of spoken Spanish.

The Post also ran an interesting piece on the enigmatic Romney, whom, it was argued, puts profits for shareholders above domestic jobs retention. My sense is that this distinction will be lost on most conservative voters, who respond instead to crass characterizations of the former Massachusetts Governor as a member of the "East Coast establishment who looks down his nose at you." It is ironic, given how important an assumption Romney is making. On the other hand, I don't perceive that Gingrich thinks any differently; only that he's managed to somehow paint himself as the "Washington outsider" given so many years away from the gavel. Expect Romney to throw out some fresh punches about his ethics record.

Quote:

=[ Nice to know we're the standard of cultural alienation. =[

Sad but true. I suspect that it is in large part because decisively identifying a similar-but-still-markedly-different-other "other" reinforces a sense that one's own community is indeed righteous. Jews and Muslims are too low-profile, and indeed too different, to satisfy that need, Catholics too similar.