Early handicap of GOP 2012 Presidential Field: Newt Gingrich

When he’s not perusing Outer Banks vacation rentals, Newt Gingrich is flirting with a GOP presidential run. He has long been a favorite of mine, but he recently fell out of favor with me when he backed an ACORN-loving, liberal Republican in the New York Congressional race, rather than a true conservative, Doug Hoffman. The race was tight and Gingrich’s support might have made a difference.

But in all honestly, Gingrich has been slipping a lot since leaving office as Speaker of the House; he has cozied up to liberals and Democrats to push forward global warming solutions in an effort he calls “green Republicanism” when he ought to be shouting “swindle and fraud” from the rooftops against the cap-and-trade scam that global warming alarmism is a backdrop for.

While Gingrich has had solid conservative credentials in the past, there is now room for a reasonable amount of skepticism as to its authenticity. Too bad.