The Hill News

The Hill’s observations on the Republican lineup reveal inherent weakness in the Republican position going into 2012. It goes from damaged goods (Newt Gingrich) to a “blank slate” (Tim Pawlenty).

But time is on their side. One would never guess that the country is actually experiencing a renaissance of creative governance with Bob McDonnell in Virginia, Bobby Jindal in Louisiana, Rick Perry in Texas and even Nikki Haley in South Carolina. Two issues: First, in politics, dinosaurs rule and The Tea Party has been commandeered by the likes of Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich, refried agent provocateurs from the Clinton age (visualize that: Before Pokémon, before Kurt Cobain, before Y2K, 9/11 and the 21st century) â€" it will be nothing but a redneck howl if it continues following that cue and in short order will be "in with the dust and gone with the wind.”

The anti-government tenor in Congress today resonates much like the old Gingrich; Gingrich, ! the sequel, starring himself. At the time it seemed inspired essentially as personal invective against a president who lived below the usual threshold of adulthood. But Gingrich has outdone him. Worth repeating is the Chicago Tribune’s John Kass’s comment on Gingrich: “Is that the Constitution in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

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