Reply #4: I have three impressions

[PATRICK]

about Gingrich which could equally be shoved to the side should the GOP deign to anoint this tool anyway.

First, he got ditched with a vengeance and scapegoated, perhaps correctly, for the entire GOP defeat under Clinton. He still is part of the machine, Cheney-style that is self-entitled to run things and fulfill all ambition regardless of public will. Third, that in the frustrating combo of the two he has had to seethe outside the Bush circle with no nod to advance, no support, no lifting of the much merited stain. Others have done worse and still are contenders. As far as aspirations to higher office- which he will never give up- he can't get beyond the verge of drowning.

He intends to be President with a dangerous fervor rivaled only by the irrepressible, unpopular Palin. Whether he has the knack to get the permissions required depends on his ability to "comeback" in a phony and irresistable way that continually eludes his poor and disdainful political instincts.