Taking a flight of fancy with Newt Gingrich

So, when Newt Gingrich said that he would appoint John Bolton as his Secretary of State at a forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition, it could have been taken for a wee smidgen of typical pandering, but I didn't see it that way.

No. I went on a flight of the imagination--the sort of thing that paying attention to what Newt Gingrich says often leads people to do.  He's a man of Big Thoughts. He doesn't merely engage in a wee smidge of pandering to select groups.  That's beneath him.  When Gingrich panders, he panders on many levels that appeal to a wide range of conservatives.  So let me set the vision up for you:  I don't doubt for one minute that he's dead serious that he absolutely would ask John Bolton to be his Secretary of State.

Now, it helps to just skip right over the part where he gets the GOP 2012 nomination, and then somehow squeaks one out in a truly bitter, mudslinging fight against the "secular, socialist, anti-colonial Kenyan appeasement junky" because that's just details.  You have to fast-forward to the part where President Gingrich is facing a deeply-divided nation depending upon his leadership and cunning for, not just assurance, but survival. So he would naturally need to project strength to the world outside of America's borders--you with me?

So who does he pick for Secretary of State?  Damn right, former Ambassador to the UN John Bolton.  Because nothing projects strength like a partisan confirmation fight where the president's first choice for S.o.S. is rejected because of being batshit crazy.

Now, a reasonable person might surmise that since John Bolton only became Ambassador to the UN because of a recess appointment,  because the US Senate would not confirm him, and because it's unlikely that the electorate would so drastically change the composition of the senate as to make it more amenable to someone who is, well, John Freaking Bolton, that this is to be expected.  And of course it is.

But this makes a lovely opportunity for a President Gingrich to pour himself a big old bowl of resentment flakes, and claim that The Left Borked Bolton because they don't want America to succeed. Then he picks someone reasonable, but in the meanwhile, he's scored very valuable Conservapoints (redeemable for drinking songs made in his honor in Wingnut Valhalla). The right wing would be more unified than ever against The Left, and the Villager Media will concede that Gingrich Has a Point.

I know. It's ridiculous that this fantasy unscrolls in my brain like that.  I mean, good gravy, what kind of weirdo would plan drama like that in the event that he was ever tasked with the serious job of POTUS?

A pro, that's what kind.

I do not care for Newt Gingrich.