Intellectually

Indefatigable

Newt Gingrich never ceases to amaze and surprise. His policies seem extreme- like lets just get rid of any corporate accountability statutes all together like Sarbanes Oxley which is meant to prevent the sort of accounting fraud that brought down Ken Lay and Enron. He wants to be extreme- the extreme alternative to the moderate Romney. And don't get me started on kids cleaning bathrooms.

But what is fun about him is his wit and intellectual stamina that isn't outdone by the energizer bunny on crack. He is really witty when he says things like we can track down tens of thousands of fed ex and UPS packages and trace them for free but we can't locate thousands of illegal immigrants that are sitting down. Funny. He says things easily subject to misinterpretation or distortion and so is too easily misunderstood. Take for instance that remark about giving his Life, Fortune and 'Sacred Honor' or something like that which looked downright zooey odd to people. Turns out he was actually quoting a founding father and the quote appears in one of the Citizens United movies- so you had to get the reference to understand that he wasn't asking us all to be his fourth wife, as John Stewart joked.

And these movies. With all the trash talk about Newt, and with all the campaign finance scandal the Citizen's United case brought to the game, those Citizen's United documentaries or docudramas are really good productions. Newt likes to tell stories. He is a history buff- you do always learn something when you watch a movie he directed or narrated. The one on Reagan called Rendezvous With Destiny should be mandatory High School history class showing. Gingrich, you can tell, really loved Reagan. In hindsight,this was the President who was able to negotiate the end of the Cold War without a massive bloody WWIII- fairly peacefully. A piece of the menacing Berlin Wall torn down full of graffitti stands in the Reagan library yard in Simi Valley California. I saw it. This is the President who with the assistance and/or guidance of Pope John Paul II was able to undermine Communism from behind the Iron Curtain without appeasement. Friendly but Firm. Calling the Empire Evil. Proclaiming it dismantled. It's hard to imagine now but we were locked in a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Block, and we are not now. That is because of Reagan.

Whatever the Republicans do with Gingrich, he will always have a special place as the agitator, the one who wanted ideas and better angels to trump old party money establishment. The Common Man over the Masters of the Universe. The old money guys don't much care for his quixotic in your face style. But if the loud 'we love you Newt' catcalls from the audience at the CPAC screening of RendezVous With Destiny are any clue, we could see a few more upsets before the nominee is coronated. And Newt should see great sales on those Citizens United Movies.