Oh, Newt Gingrich! What are you doing with yourself? After months of riding the bottom of Republicans (in polls, that is), you have a sudden surge in South Carolina — a Public Policy Polling survey released today just gave you the top slot, even though your ex-wife blew up your spot! — yet today you, Newt Gingrich, allowed your campaign to fall into laughable disarray.
First, as CNN reports, you backed out of a speech because there were too few attendees, even as your rivals appeared at the same event.
His first speech in Charleston was scrapped at the last minute, after the campaign was alerted by event organizers that attendance was so poor, it apparently wasn’t worth showing up.
Understandably the Gingrich camp wouldn’t want the image of their candidate, who’s been surging in the polls, delivering a speech in an empty basketball arena.
But that didn’t stop other White House hopefuls from speaking at the sparsely attended Southern Republican Leadership Conference in downtown Charleston. Ron Paul was there Friday morning and Rick Santorum spoke to the group Thursday.
Okay, that’s a fail, but not insurmountable. But then, former speaker and notable cry baby Gingrich, you switched things up at the Medical University of South Carolina Children’s Hospital, where you were supposed to host a town hall with staff. But, no, you decided to turn the event into a tour and then play-hour with sick kids, starring not you, but your wife, Callista. And it was all about promoting the book she herself wrote. Not “The Cat in the Hat” or “The Giving Tree” or even bloody “Goodnight, Moon!” It was the horrendously titled “Sweet Land of Liberty,” authored by none-other than Mrs. Gingrich the third.
CNN, again:
A day after Gingrich’s ex-wife Marianne blasted the former House speaker in interviews for allegedly seeking an open relationship between him and the woman he would later marry, Gingrich’s current wife Callista, read her children’s book to a handful of kids.
Just 24 hours before South Carolina voters cast their ballot in the Republican primary, cameras were focused on Callista reading “Sweet Land of Liberty,” with the main character “Ellis the Elephant” in costume sitting next to her, while Gingrich carried on a conversation behind her with hospital employees.
Ug! Only a handful of children? A sideline conversation with employees? This is pathetic.
This is even worse than when you went on an European vacation instead of campaigning. And, yes, far less respectable than when you had to shamefully admit your hundreds of thousands of dollars at Tiffany & Co. One day before the South Carolina primary, you decide to let your ego get in the way. Seriously, with a performance like this, the GOP would be better off with Herman Cain. At least he knows how to put on a show.
Image via Washington Times.
