As for the Clinton impeachment, Mary M., Slick Willie deserved it by his own words and actions. As long as we are speculating, I will speculate that had investigators probed his presidency deeply enough, they would have found far more impeachable acts, which would have set the nation's business further off track, and put Gore temporarily in the WH until his parts in the affairs were found out. A twofer. You want the details?

Also when he came into power through his ‘Contract with America’ what he succeeded in doing was creating the most polarizing atmosphere in Washington, D.C. Through these actions, he led his Republican brethren on their witch hunt against former President Clinton during the impeachment process which I believe derailed the nation’s business. Had he and his Republican brethren let President Clinton do his job, perhaps Osama bin Laden would have been captured long before 9/11 occurred. He along with his Republican brethren in their mob-mentality made me run for the hills and leave the Republican Party since I no longer saw it as the party of Lincoln.

A Gingrich campaign is probably the ultimate punch line to a very bad joke.

Sincerely,

Mary MacElveen

Read the man's bio.

"Kook" is probably too kind. "Creepy" or "scummy" might be more accurate.

Gingrich is a bright, interesting guy with a lot more intellectual curiosity than most politicians, even at the highest levels. He's not exactly Daniel Patrick Moynihan but there aren't many national leaders that readily come to mind in his class as an "idea guy."

The Contract was a series of substantive policy ideas. They were focus grouped in the sense of picking several from a longer list to highlight and, presumably, in terms of wordsmithing.

Then again, like Gingrich, I’m a policy wonk with an academic inclination; a debate focusing on the finer points of public policy would likely bore most people to tears.

I never quite understood how Gingrich ever got this "intellectual" reputation. Other than the fact that he was a mediocre academic at a fourth-tier community college, there is very little evidence that he was some pathbreaking thinker.

It is true that there is little in the way of intellectualism in the conservative movement--mostly because the two are incompatible--but Gingrich's claim to fame--The Contract on America--is, as you said, nothing than focus-group platitudes.