Newt Gingrich may be a hell of a nice guy up close and personal, but his public persona suggests otherwise.  That’s always been his problem as a political figure.  As smart as he may be, he is just plain unlikable.

Watching Gingrich try to smile in television interviews — he began attempting the feat a month ago — is like watching Br’er Rabbit try to sound sincere or President Obama try to look humble.  It’s not natural.

Gingrich formally entered the presidential race on May 9th and by May 15th he was effectively dead as a Republican candidate.  It took him just six days to undo 10 years of planning.

How did he do it? He blasted Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget reduction blueprint on television as “right wing” and “extreme.” Some Republican candidates might be able to recover from that, but Gingrich will not. Because Gingrich knows better.  He is the ultimate calculating politician, and in an effort to shed his own “extreme” mantle, he consciously threw Ryan — and his plan — under the bus. He used the guy next to him in the foxhole as a shield.

It was a particularly egregious breach of trust to conservatives because Ryan had voluntarily put his neck on the chopping block.  Ryan’s deficit reduction plan is tantamount to political suicide — it gores all the sacred cows in American politics, including Medicare — but Ryan did it anyway for love of country.  Medicare and Social Security as constructed today are bankrupting the nation, so Ryan devised a honest plan to amend the programs. One may disagree with Ryan’s assessment or his political philosophy, but his bravery is unmistakable.

Along comes Newt.  Six days into his candidacy, Gingrich pulls the lever on the guillotine. But instead of beheading Ryan, Gingrich has decapitated himself from the office of the Presidency.  Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Cindy Crawford has joined the Romney campaign.  “Good get” somehow seems insufficient.

Add this endorsement to Romney’s $10-plus million haul this week, and I’d say the former Massachusetts governor has it going on. Let’s see if he can keep the momentum in the wake of the Huckabee/Trump declinations.

Romney is the most electable Republican running.  But he needs to get through the primary.   This week is a good start.

The fact that Crawford endorsed Barack Obama in ’08 doesn’t go unnoticed either.

http://youtu.be/o4reiI8uS-0

“We can’t afford the public pension system we have in this state. Period.” — NY Governor Andrew Cuomo.

*Courtesy of YNN’s Liz Benjamin.

Gallup reports today that President Obama’s post-Osama bounce in the polls has evaporated. According to Gallup, the President has a 46% approval rating in its tracking poll — exactly what he had before bin Laden was killed.

No surprise there. Bounces never last long.  But the successful mission in Pakistan will have lasting effects beyond the polling.  It will alter Republican messaging about President Obama’s foreign policy competency.  That can’t be measured in a tracker, but it will have a real consequence in the race.

That said, this may be the shortest bounce in memory.  The economy must be bad or something.

http://youtu.be/QLAoxCSb1tc

Whoever came up with this series is a lot bit irreverent, but a little bit brilliant. (This link is better to watch than the abbreviated video above.)

It features drunk people reciting American history, with big-name actors playing out exactly what they say (who would come up with that?).  This one stars Will Farrell as President Lincoln and Don Cheadle as Frederick Douglass.

These may not make the History Channel, but they are a fun watch. There are six in the series.

Warning, there is some choice language in them.

Trump out.

Who would have thunk it?

I cannot believe The New York Times editorial board is totally unfeeling.  So the only conclusion I can draw from its cavalier dismissal today of Governor Cuomo’s property tax cap plan is that its members need to get out more. The heights from which they write must be disconnecting them from reality.

Quick fix solution: Press “down” at the nearest elevator bank, head directly to Grand Central or Penn Station, and take the first train  headed north, east, or west of the city. There — wherever “there” ends up being — talk to people.  Average people.  They are everywhere.  And they will all tell you the same thing: New York’s property tax load is a crisis.  Then beat it back to “civilization” and re-read Monday’s editorial page.

Westchester County has the highest property taxes in America, and Nassau, Suffolk and Rockland counties are right behind it. The 15 counties with the highest property taxes in the country when compared with home values, all are in upstate and western New York,  where, not coincidentally, there also is an exodus of jobs and people.

But here’s how The Times editors see things:

“The state needs ethics reform, redistricting reform and marriage equality. The city needs rent regulations. What isn’t needed is a property-tax cap.”

Really?

If I were going to put money on a dark horse GOP presidential primary candidate emerging in the vacuum left by Governor Mike Huckabee – Iowa is now up for grabs – I’d put my money on Michelle Bachmann (R-MN). Bachman has been much maligned as an inconsequential Tea Party kook, but she brings to the table a clear message and impressive media skills. Watch her.

Bachmann knows who she is as a candidate. She is a staunch social conservative – some say too staunch for the general election – and that will serve her well in the early primary states of Iowa, South Carolina, and Florida — states where Huckabee was expected to thrive. And her conservative fiscal record is unblemished.

Bachmann’s challenge will be twofold. She will have to survive the scrutiny of a press corps unforgiving of female candidates and Tea Party leaders. She is, of course, both. And, secondly, Bachmann will have to quickly assemble a campaign team capable of operating nationally. That will be a  challenge.

Sarah Palin has served the role of the plain-speaking, middle-American conservative woman for the past three years, but Bachmann is the real deal.  She is smart and beautiful and far more talented a speaker than Palin is. Katey Couric wouldn’t so easily trip her up. She knows her stuff. That’s why the America Left fears and lampoons her.

Bachmann will have to pounce on this opportunity, though. Vacuums quickly fill, so there is a sliver of a window for her to catch fire.She will have to carpe diem.

CEO Best – Worst States for Business

http://youtu.be/qfz0HRZ_Frw

Okay, we don’t have to worry about the Russians for a while…

Here is Vladamir Putin test driving that country’s highly-touted new car, the Lada Granta.

I would sure hate to be the flak who forgot to check that transmission.