The editors of the conservative National Review have put out an editorial asking Republicans not to consider Newt Gingrich, who, they feel, would blow Republicans’ electoral opportunities next November. They end their editorial with a jab at Newt’s marital record as well as his electability: “At the moment we think it important to urge Republicans to have the good sense to reject a hasty marriage to Gingrich, which would risk dissolving in acrimony.”
Along the way, the editors offered up their opposition to Perry, Bachmann, and Paul as well, and not very delicately:
Governor Perry has done an exemplary job in Texas but has seemed curiously and persistently unable to bring gravity to the national stage. Republican presidential candidates have not been known for their off-the-cuff eloquence in recent decades, but conservatism should not choose a standard-bearer who would have to spend much of his time untying his own tongue. Representative Bachmann’s rise early in the primary season reflected the public’s hunger for sincere conviction; her later descent, following among other things her casual repetition of false anti-vaccine rumors, its desire that conviction be married to judgment. Representative Paul’s recent re-dabbling in vile conspiracy theories about September 11 are a reminder that the excesses of the movement he leads are actually its essence.
For National Review, that leaves Romney and Huntsman.
