A note to everyone. I have my own issues with Newt and have debated on many issues with his now former spokesman in private e-mails. The worst of which was during the NY 23rd special and the Scozofave (sp) debacle. Rick has been with the Speaker for a long time and to see him go now is far more interesting than just a spat about a cruise.
I would have not voted in a primary for Newt for any reason other than he was running against Romney and I had only those two choices, but there is far more to this story than just a stupid cruise 18 months out.
And, it turns out, he wasn't, and didn't, and finally the smart guys figured out something I knew weeks ago.
The root cause of the problem is Newt is still thinking of the issues in terms of what they were back in the early and mid 1990s. It's 15 years later and you can't just roll back into the genba of political competition without boning up on the latest issues and the correct language pertaining to those issues.
Amazingly Obama seems not to have learned any of this and he's going to be running next year on issues that last made any sense to anyone back in the 1880s ~ guy is totally detached from modern times and reality.