Let me finish tonight with this. The Republican party is about to seal a Faustian deal with the devil. Every observer from left to farthest right knows what's going on here.
The Republicans, led by the angriest among them, are about to give away their partisan souls for one all-consuming political purpose: the destruction of Barack Obama. They are about to begin the nomination for president of a figure who represents the Mephistopheles of what they preach: He is nasty, brutal, ready to fight and kill politically, a man of no discernible commitments or values - who has nothing to offer but a sharp-as-hell intellect and a wicked rapier of words. For the right price - and a presidential nomination is his - Newt is ready to jump on a dime and hit any opponent where he shows weakness.
Why are they on the verge of enlisting in the Army of Newt? Because he voices in cold, nasty, deadly tones the words of their contempt. Because he an opportunist ready to seek any route to his opponent's heart and thereby kill it. He is a political killer, a gun for hire.But he offers a prize so precious he cannot be resisted. This, this is the Faustian deal at hand. Newt Gingrich promises the vision on which they on the right have set their hearts - the few minutes of national television in which the President and his wife stand before them in defeat.
That's why they're offering up their partisan souls, why they're ready to bow down before this false god of hatred. They will give their souls to Newt - their compact with the devil - to get what they most want - pain on their enemy. They want it more than yet another tax cut, more than another wild, unwarranted war, more than love or freedom or joy. They want the president's head and they've cut a deal with Mephistopheles to get it.
What they're doing isn't good. They know it as well as we. They know, deep down, it is wrong to run someone who is so different from what they value. They know it's wrong and they're doing it still. They are willing to give up all the values, and hopes and claims to goodness they've ever professed. They're willing to strike this deal with the devil because they want to hurt Obama, because the most enticing prospect of this entire campaign is the chance to hurt and bring down the President - and in the prospect and act of doing so - how dammed good it will feel.