Shortly after disgraced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) launched his farcical presidential campaign, the candidate said reporters just didn’t understand his genius. Gingrich boasted that presidential campaigns as extraordinary as his are only seen “once or twice in a century,” and the brilliance of his campaign strategy would only be apparent in time.
At the time, we had no idea how true this was. Presidential campaigns featuring high-profile candidates simply aren’t this comical very often.
Newt Gingrich’s campaign manager and numerous other key aides have resigned together, a strong blow to his hopes for the Republican presidential nomination.
Gingrich press spokesman Rick Tyler told The Associated Press that he’s resigned along with campaign manager Rob Johnson, senior strategists and aides in key early primary states.
I’d say that’s a strong sign that Gingrich ought to just quit now before he embarrasses himself further, but in a way, he’s already stopped campaigning. Remember, the news of his entire senior staff resigning en masse comes on the heels of Gingrich taking a two-week vacation, just three weeks after launching his national campaign — a move with no modern precedent for a national candidate.
Let’s also not forget that Rick Tyler, who also walked away from Gingrich today, had this to say about his candidate a few weeks ago:
“The literati sent out their minions to do their bidding. Washington cannot tolerate threats from outsiders who might disrupt their comfortable world. The firefight started when the cowardly sensed weakness. They fired timidly at first, then the sheep not wanting to be dropped from the establishment’s cocktail party invite list unloaded their entire clip, firing without taking aim their distortions and falsehoods. Now they are left exposed by their bylines and handles.
“But surely they had killed him off. This is the way it always worked. A lesser person could not have survived the first few minutes of the onslaught. But out of the billowing smoke and dust of tweets and trivia emerged Gingrich, once again ready to lead those who won’t be intimated by the political elite and are ready to take on the challenges America faces.”
I suppose as of this afternoon, the literati’s minions seized Gingrich’s entire staff, preserving their roles on the establishment’s cocktail party invite list.
Update: Gingrich reportedly intends to remain a candidate. Under the circumstances, I’m not sure if that matters — the guy is obviously finished.
