Gingrich Wins South Carolina

Well, well, what hath South Carolina wrought? I admit that the outcome caught me unawares. Like everyone else, I saw the polling results, but it seemed to me there had to be a defect in them. To nominate Gingrich as the party's standard-bearer is a policy so contrary to logic that I thought surely South Carolina Republicans would refuse the bait. Gingrich is the only candidate remaining who is less electable than Ron Paul.

Electability is not everything, of course. Paul is politically radioactive, yet a double-digit defeat with him is preferable to a rousing victory with anyone else. But in the case of Gingrich there are no saving graces. He is as unprincipled as Romney, as impulsive as Santorum, and as unlikeable as Judas Iscariot. If he snatches the nomination, I predict a replay of 1964.

GOP primary voters, alas, have precious little sense. In 2008 they had three articulate candidates to choose from: Giuliani, Romney, and Huckabee. Yet somehow McCain secured the nomination. Well, all I can say in consolation is that the party deserves everything it is about to get.