In 1994 when the Republicans took over the House, much of the credit went to Newt Gingrich, a major force behind the “Contract With America,” a ten-point plan that Republicans promised to introduce after they won the election. It was a brilliant strategy; Republican congressional candidates ran as a national team with a common platform, while Democrats ran their usual separate and uncoordinated campaigns and lost the House for the first time in 40 years.
One of the by-products of that campaign was a new level of campaign nastiness. It was not enough to defeat Democrats, they had to be demonized. Gingrich was one of the architects of this demonization. He is still doing it, attacking President Obama for holding a “Kenyan anti-colonial” world view and calling him a “food stamp president.”
Now the voters of Iowa are being bombarded by anti-Gingrich ads. Perry, Paul, Bachman, and Romney are all piling on. Gingrich, partly as result of all this negative campaigning, is dropping quickly in the polls. Lacking organization and money, he is on his way out.
Cliches spring to mind. What goes around comes around. Live by the sword; die by the sword. As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
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