Gingrich's chance to become president, to some extent, rests upon finding a potent if offbeat idea through which he can capture the imagination of his party's base.
Newt Gingrich's schtick is Scorched Earth meets Straw Man. He not only incinerates the hypothetical Straw Man -- he also verbally salts the soil where the Straw Man's make-believe family lives after razing their made-up home.
Your taxes are going up! Your freedom is going away! Muslims are coming to kill you! The president is Hitler, is Stalin, is Marx, a philandering, inebriated African socialist; the president is not like us!