I liked Newt last go round, enough to phone bank for him. Still respect his knowledge and his brain - there are few sharper practical Repubs out there.
He did get his ass handed to him, neatly sliced and wrapped, this interview.
It's really interesting how differently people see that interview. I thought he very clearly got under her skin -- she obviously grew more angry as the interview went on. She made two somewhat contradictory statements: 1) the massive time disparity is justified
if Trump is a sexual predator, while conceding Newt's point that 2) we don't know if he is a sexual predator. Well, if you don't know it, then the time disparity it
not justified.
As much as Trump deserved to be hammered as a consequence of that first Fox-moderated primary debate, I also think Kelly has diminished herself by making a "Womyn's Crusade" the most important thing in this election. I thought Newt's observation was generally correct, though he'd have been better off phrasing it as "gender issues" rather than "sex". For Kelly and some other women, it at least seems that this election has morphed into venting about pent-up gender frustrations, which seems somewhat irrational to me given that who is elected likely isn't going to affect any of those underlying issues one tiny bit. Kelly, at least, seems pretty obsessed by that, to the point where the "Womyn's Crusade" is not only the most important issue in the election, but actually more important than every other issue combined.
As a matter of
politics, that may even be correct. Pissed-off women likely will decide this election in Hillary's favor. Though I think Newt is correct in pointing out that assigning such primacy to those issues
shouldn't be the route for rational people. And no, I'm not saying that means people should vote for Trump. I'm simply saying that not voting for him solely on
that basis seems rather messed up.