AND PONNURU MAKES SIX...

The NRO's Ramesh Ponnuru also gives Newtie the what-for:

Heartbreak Awaits Republicans Who Love Gingrich: Ramesh Ponnuru
By Ramesh Ponnuru Dec 5, 2011 5:00 PM MT
BLOOMBERG NEWS

After Gingrich lost the budget battles with President Bill Clinton, it took 15 years for any politician to take up the cause of limited-government conservatism that he had discredited.

Although Gingrich isn’t solely responsible for the Republican policy defeats of those years, his erratic behavior, lack of discipline and self-absorption had a lot to do with them.

Gingrich’s fans say that he isn’t the same man he was then; he has “matured” in his 60s. Maybe so. But he’s still erratic: This year he flip-flopped three times on the top issue of the day, the House Republican plan to reform Medicare.

He still has the same need to justify his every petty move by reference to some grand theory.

Gingrich’s energy and creativity are admirable, within limits. But recognizing his own limits is not a Gingrich specialty. Voters are likely to see, as he cannot, that he is temperamentally unsuited for the presidency.