Gingrich is probably the most intelligent person in the Republican field, which is a bit like being the leper with the most fingers. He is also an utterly amoral and corrupt individual with no redeeming virtues unless you’re paying him to abuse, deceive, and cheat people. I have heard certain misguided Democrats compare him to Nixon in that respect. That analogy is completely unfair, unfair to Nixon that is. Nixon was married to the same woman for 43 years. He died less than a year after she did. Liberals today sometimes forget that Nixon created the EPA and proposed a health care plan that was not substantially different from Obama’s, both complete anathema to today’s GOP.
Nixon was a true Machiavellian genius in foreign affairs, which no current Republican shows any sign of even trying to be. If Tricky Dick were president today, he would already have been to Tehran. While there, he would have filched the nukes and most of the oil, pilfered the palace silverware, and left Ahmedinejad happy and pleased to have been of service.