Newt’s new pickle

The reaction to
Gingrich’s choice is all you need to know about why Pawlenty — known for his
big-tent philosophy and preference for broadening the GOP — didn’t want to be
left out in the cold by bringing Scozzafava in.

Gingrich’s troubles
started when he answered a question at a book-signing last week, taped and
posted on YouTube by a tea party activist. Gingrich said it is a mistake to
support Hoffman when Scozzafava has a better chance of winning the general
election and added, “If we give the seat to the Democrats, shame on
us.”

But the backlash has
begun and now well-known voices in the GOP are openly bashing the Newt-ster,
according to this story.

An early supporter of
the tea party organizers, Gingrich even noted a few months back that a third
party could soon break off from the GOP if Republicans didn’t apologize for
their big-spending ways. He said last week on C-SPAN that he and his wife
Callista will consider the landscape in early 2011 and decide to launch a
presidential campaign if his country calls on him.

“If there’s a
requirement as citizens that we run, I suspect we probably will. And if there’s
not a requirement, if other people have filled the vacuum, I suspect we
won’t,” Gingrich said.

Now that those
comments are being mocked by tea partiers and establishment figures alike,
it’s likely the vacuum will be filled. Watch for Newt’s pivot from this
very thorny corner.

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