Is Newt Gingrich really the "great white hope" of the Republican party?

"The House voted overwhelmingly...to reprimand House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and order him to pay an unprecedented $300,000 penalty, the first time in the House's 208-year history it has disciplined a Speaker for ethical wrongdoing... In a strongly worded report, special counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich had violated tax law and lied to the investigating panel... House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) gave a spirited speech calling the penalty unwarranted."

-- Washington Post, 1997-01-22

Following the 1998 mid-term election, the Republican Caucus forced Gingrich to step down as Speaker, and he then resigned from the House. His champion at the time was none other than Tom DeLay, another paragon of virtue who was recently convicted for illegal campaign financing. Is this the best that the GOP has to offer?

Gingrich was a featured speaker at the annual neocon Christians United for Israel summit in 2007, and his Zionist backers at the Republican Jewish Coalition and the American Enterprise Institute are cheering for him as they push for war on Iran. But what about the American public?

"[The public] wants a bold liar; a hearty delusional. Gingrich is their man. A letter in The Financial Times compared him to Churchill. He compares himself to de Gaulle. Both are correct, in our view. He is as humble as de Gaulle and at least as competent as Churchill... A man for all seasons. Most importantly, he is committed to keeping America on course to its own destruction."

-- Bill Bonner

UPDATE: Sheldon Adelson, the Jewish billionaire and casino operator, has donated another $5,000,000 to the Gingrich campaign. An interviewer asked Gingrich what Adelson expects to get for his money. Gingrich replied, "He knows I'm very pro Israel. That's the central value of his life. I mean, he's very worried that Israel is going to not survive."