yeah, here's the thing.
Newt is a career politician who made millions from freddie mac, giving them advice as the bubble popped.
He did lie about it, sure. Said it was 300k for an hour advice, then changed his story the next day. Now he refuses to release records.
However, in the GOP bunch, he is competent. Would I MUCH rather see Huntsman or Ron Paul get the nomination? Of course.
however, unlike Perry and cain, I view Newt as COMPETENT and CAPABLE. he has the intellectual horsepower to be president. Those 2, they don't.
So while he's probably 3rd or 4th on the list of repubs I'd vote for in a primary, I don't think this disqualifies him.
I still can't figure out why you think Gingrich is competent and capable.
The only thing he seems truly competent at is enriching himself
Let's look at his brief time in a leadership role in this country
He shutdown the government which most people saw as a failure of leadership and a sign of incompetency
Rather than being perceived as the adult in the room he was looked at as the spiteful angry child
He was first speaker in our history to be reprimanded and and fined for ethical wrong doing
His own party eventually forced him out of his leadership position and he also quit Congress
Again - a total failure of leadership
from Wiki
Republicans lost five seats in the House in the 1998 midterm elections—the worst performance in 64 years for a party that didn't hold the presidency. Polls showed that Gingrich and the Republican Party's attempt to remove President Clinton from office was widely unpopular among Americans. Gingrich suffered much of the blame for the election loss. Facing another rebellion in the Republican caucus, he announced on November 6, 1998 that he would not only stand down as Speaker, but would leave the House as well
.
Lets fast foward to 2011
The first weeks of his campaign were the exact opposite of competency. He goes TV and criticized the Ryan budget (which I found promising) and then almost immediately reverses himself and says if anyone quotes him that they are lying.
Soon thereafter virtually his entire staff quits while Gingrich and his wife effectively supsend the campaign to go on a cruise.
One of his staffers emailed the team: "We didn't sign up to be hucksters for products for sale"
Virtually everything in Gingrichs public life has been a demonstration of incompetence
