Newt Panicking

What has happened to Newt Gingrich over the past three weeks? After a number of impressive debates where Gingrich proved to be a formidable force with some interesting ideas, he seems to have lost it very quickly. I think if he just maintained a steady hand and prepared himself for the long marathon, he would have been fine. Unfortunately his strategy has gone awry. The latest attacks on Romney's time at Bain Capital are working against Newt. Every time he gives Romney an opportunity to talk about how successful he was at Bain, and how much of a leader he was, that's a gift to Romney. (I hope Obama takes the same path).

Newt had one bad week in Iowa as three or four different Republicans chose to attack him as he had gained new front-runner status. And I believe what people brought up was legitimate - what was his relationship with Fannie and Freddie? But instead of defending himself vigorously, he is now choosing to attack Romney for his private equity career. Is he serious? There are lots of issues to criticize Romney for, but Bain Capital isn't one of them.

Romney founded Bain, and then invested in companies, some on the verge of bankruptcy, and others not. Some companies had to be restructured, and others needed funding to grow. Anyone who knows anything about business understands this is how it works. At the end of the day, Romney grew Bain into a respectable company, hired lots of people, and provided his investors with great investment returns. In short, he did a great job.

But Gingrich saw an opening to attack Romney, and noticed that the media was only to willing to join in on the fun, but now Gingrich is looking more like an out-of-touch democrat. I am now wondering myself what Gingrich really stands for and if he really understands business. Is he the guy who will say anything to be elected? Now I hear about Gingrich backers releasing a new film about Romney, and after reading about it, it sounds like they take a lot of his quotes mid-sentence, and they cherry-pick a couple of deals gone bad, while not mentioning good ones. This smells of desperation to me.

I don't see this race being over, but it might be for Gingrich. If he continues with this Obama-like nonsense for much longer, he will be done.