Newt Gingrich is a bloated example of an egomaniacal politician who has been around so long that he’s actually begun believing what his toadies and backers tell him.

“You’re the only one with the moxie, the brains, the ideas, and above all, the fundraising power, to beat the Pretender in the White House,” they whisper seductively into his ear. Since it’s what he wants to hear, why should he discount their sage advice?

Gingrich is such damaged goods that it’s hard even to know where to begin.

My favorite story about him, though, is when he brought divorce papers to his wife as (so she alleges) she lay recovering from cancer surgery in her hospital bed. At the time, he was cheating on her. Later he was steppin’ out on his second wife with his future third wife even as he led the charge during the Clinton impeachment hearings. You can’t get much more breathtakingly hypocritical than that.

Of his past marital behavior, Newt says he believes in a forgiving God, and that by implication, if He has forgiven him, then voters should, too. I’m not sure all the evangelicals who tend to vote in Republican primaries would agree with this line of reasoning; they’re still having trouble forgiving President Obama for being a Muslim born in Kenya, and he isn’t even guilty of those things.

Then there’s the personality issue. I think Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post put it best when he said, “He frightens the children.”

I hope Newt goes all the way and officially runs, because he’ll keep things interesting. He’ll lose, but he’ll lose dirty, and he’ll fry all his colorless Republican primary opponents to a crisp as he scorches the earth behind him.