Newt Gingrich's Victory Speech

Mitt Romney came out first, after drubbing Newt Gingrich up and down the state of Florida to deliver a victory speech before anyone could give a "concession" speech. You could tell that both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich did not appreciate this based on their immediate responses. (I'll cover this more in depth tomorrow).

Santorum gave his speech from Nevada, which is going to be his watermark, obviously. He's been there for a week. If he doesn't get second in Nevada, I expect Rick to drop out. While I hold many a grudge as Santorum, I must say my respect for him on all levels has greatly increased throughout this process. Perhaps its the Iowan in me, but he's run the most respectable campaign, he doesn't have a SuperPAC, and he's doing it basically with next to nothing.

Newt Gingrich on the other hand spent his time in his "concession" speech, acting like he won, or lost my a marginal number. He assailed the 'establishment media' hit the "Massachusetts Moderate" and didn't come close to mentioning Mitt Romney by name, let alone congratulate him on his victory.

Instead he spent the better part of 20 minutes lecturing as good professors, do on what he'd do once he took his rightful place as the 45th President. Somewhat surprisingly, several pundits praised the speech, saying it was the best speech of the night, etc. All I could think about where two different things. 1. How on earth does Calista Gingrich get her hair so perfectly immobile? I mean seriously, it looks like the blonde version of Jane Jetson. Secondly, I was not surprised at the tenor of Gingrich's speech. His audacity in the face of reality has never wavered. If he's liked, and he's winning, he's OBVIOUSLY the best candidate, and is talking about how people have come to realize that. When he gets is ass kicked, and he is disliked, he talks about how great he is, certain people just haven't come around? Sound familiar? If not, look up the 44th President.

The fact that Gingrich essentially gave what amounted to a victory speech only further proves to the establishment that did such an effective job over the last five days in trashing him right. He's simply unstable, he's erratic, and he has to be the smartest guy in the room, regardless of how much smarter others in the room might be, and as such, he's a detriment not only to himself, but the GOP itself, especially those down-the-ballot on election day. I think you will continue to see the establishment bite back sharply if he ever starts to rise again.

Ron Paul's speech was as great as any he's given. He actually talked about a phone call he gave to Mitt Romney to congratulate. He's all class, and in spite of his ridiculously ignorant attitude about our necessary influence throughout the world, they simply just don't make politicians like Ron Paul any more.

Tomorrow I'll dig a little deeper, but those are my initial reactions.