Kamikaze Newt
Posted on January 6, 2012
Kamikaze Newt
According to Wikipedia: “The Kamikaze (神風?, literally: "God wind"; common translation: "Divine wind") Tokubetsu Kōgekitai (特別攻撃隊?) Tokkō Tai (特攻隊?) Tokkō (特攻?) were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible. Kamikaze pilots would attempt to crash their aircraft into enemy ships in what was called a "Body Attack" (体当たり; 体当り) taiatari— in planes often laden with explosives, bombs, torpedoes and full fuel tanks. The aircraft's normal functions (to deliver torpedoes or bombs or shoot down other aircraft) were put aside, and the planes were converted to what were essentially manned missiles in an attempt to reap the benefits of greatly increased accuracy and payload over that of normal bombs. The goal of crippling as many Allied ships as possible, particularly aircraft carriers, was considered critical enough to warrant the combined sacrifice of pilots and aircraft.”
It seems that the Divine Wind is blowing now against the Mitt Romney warship. And it is being piloted by one Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich, the man who in many ways invented the modern warfare tactic of negative campaigning, is obviously furious that Mitt Romney carpet bombed him in Iowa. Knowing that he has no chance of winning the nomination, Gingrich is now doing everything he can to sink Romney’s ship.
I watched him on Sean Hannity last night, and it really was a spectacle. Hannity was doing his level-best to be respectful of his former colleague, but even the bombastic talk show host was taken aback by Newt’s vitriol.
Gingrich likes to call Romney a Massachusetts Moderate, as if a Massachusetts Moderate has no sense and no right to be in the Republican Party to begin with. I wonder how that makes Scott Brown feel.
Brown, by the way, needs all the help he can get to get himself reelected in the Bay State, and Newt Gingrich is not helping that cause. Newt Gingrich doesn’t play well in Boston. I remember when my good friend Peter Blute (who is now a radio host in Beantown) got killed by a barrage of ads that transformed the Blute visage into a terrible picture of Newt. The Blute/Newt ads were famously effective and helped to lead to Newt’s downfall (Blute was toast).
In any event, Newt is mad, very mad, and when Newt gets mad, he gets stupid. And his efforts to bring down Romney on personal grounds are not only counterproductive for the party, they are counterproductive for Newt.
It was Churchill who said that revenge was best served cold. Becoming a Kamikaze pilot in a fit of pique is hardly the best way to get revenge or to restore your political reputation.