Meanwhile, John Derbyshire

…has the odious Newt’s number:

Newt’s trying to ju-jitsu the thing, telling us that his experience as a shill for Freddie Mac gave him valuable insider understanding of governmental affairs. Isn’t that what we want in a candidate, valuable insider understanding of governmental affairs? Quote from Newt, on the campaign trail in Iowa Wednesday, quote: “It reminds people that I know a great deal about Washington. We just tried four years of amateur ignorance, and it didn’t work very well. So having someone who actually knows Washington might be a really good thing.”

That’s a bit like a rabbit applying for a management position on a lettuce farm. Why not? He knows all there is to know about lettuce.

Newt’s chutzpah knows no bounds, though. Back during the 2008 presidential campaign, he told a Fox News interviewer that then-Senator Obama ought to return contributions he had received from Freddie Mac and its sister racket, Fannie Mae. Just last year Newt brought out a campaign book in which he argued for getting rid of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Now here he is in Iowa this week defending Freddie Mac.

And, for good measure, our latest NotRomney $1.6-1.8 million Freddie Mac profiteer has the brilliant idea of rolling back those insidious child labor laws imposed by crazy liberals like Teddy Roosevelt a hundred years ago, because they wanted a lazy discontented rabble and not a thrifty working class. Gingrich is–alas–the very best the Thing that Used to Be Conservatism has to offer in a race against a President who should lose in a walk in this economy.

But he *is* a Catholic convert and so if I think his actions duplicitous and his rhetoric self-serving and dishonest and himself somebody who needs to be kept far far away from power, that is “unforgiving”. The only true form of Christian love and compassion for his penitent soul is to make him President of the United States. Anything less than that is merciless.

Put not your trust in princes, but in the Lord Jesus Christ.