NEWT GINGRICH HAS THE SURROGATE HE DESERVES

Newt's being backed by one of the key tea party figures of 2010:

Ron Paul's about to "get on the mother-ship and go back to the mother planet," Rick Perry’s going nowhere unless it's to "hang around the shooting range," and Jon Huntsman clearly loves the Chinese so much he "should move to China."

So says former New York gubernatorial candidate and current Newt Gingrich supporter Carl Paladino.

... He's in [Manchester, New Hampshire] to lend his support to Gingrich, whom he says he has long supported but only backed publicly about a month ago when he discovered to his horror that the New York Republican establishment was lining up behind Mitt Romney....

Here's a thought I'm having.

I realize that Paladino was caught sending a series of racist and porn e-mail forwards.

And I realize he was caught on video threatening a New York Post reporter with physical violence...

And I know he lost to Andrew Cuomo by 30 points in the New York governor's race.

Even so: Don't you think it's entirely possible that, if he ran for president as a Republican in this election cycle, he would have led the polls at least briefly at some point in the last year?

Don't you think he might have been praised for his straight-talking style and lack of political correctness? Don't you think he could have been at least one of the series of anti-Romneys?

In this party, I don't see why not.