Winston Churchill once said of politics that it's ''almost as exciting as war and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics — many times''. No one personifies this dictum today better than Newt Gingrich.
The former speaker of the United States House of Representatives was a beaten man a week ago. Once the Republican presidential front-runner, he fell so precipitously in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary that he was all but written off.
Gingrich persevered, however, bet all his chips on South Carolina and staged an astounding comeback to win the weekend primary.
So resounding was his victory that the same seasoned Washington observers who had written his political obituary only days ago now say that Gingrich could even beat establishment candidate Mitt Romney in the battle to challenge President Barack Obama.
How could this have happened? After all, it has been said that the 68-year-old Gingrich has more baggage than the airlines.
He's arrogant, he's polarising, he's a flame-thrower, he's not likable, he overreaches, he violated congressional ethics rules, he had a fall from grace as the nation's legislative leader after unexpected Republican electoral losses in 1998, and he misread public opinion about the impeachment of then president Bill Clinton.
That's not to mention the man's character flaws — including infidelity (and three marriages), extravagant shopping habits (he once spent half a million dollars at Tiffany jewellers) and a stint as a Washington lobbyist (he earned up to $US2 million for mortgage broker Freddie Mac, which conservatives partly blame for the financial crisis).
In fairness to Gingrich, he co-opted welfare reform and a balanced budget — landmark legislative initiatives during the Clinton era. He is highly intelligent, a prolific book writer and a brilliant debater. By all accounts, he could go 10 rounds with Obama in prime time.
However, veteran US columnist George Will speaks for many fellow conservatives when he warns that Gingrich ''embodies the vanity and rapacity that makes modern Washington repulsive''.
Gingrich's revival, contrary to the media consensus, is not only due to Romney's failure to satisfactorily defend his record as a venture capitalist or his vacillation over releasing his income tax returns.
Instead, Gingrich's comeback is more due to his ability to spell out a populist pro-growth message while he doles out the ideological red meat to the conservative faithful.
Such tactics may not play well among more moderate voters who help swing general elections. But they work a treat among the conservative rank and file in a Republican primary.
In two debates last week, Gingrich pressed hot-button issues on welfare entitlements and the war on Islamists while challenging the left-liberal assumptions of the moderators. In one case, he slammed the ''destructive'' and ''despicable'' ''media elites'' — and in the process got standing ovations. It was a great television moment.
The ''Grand Old Party'' base is deeply struck by this, not just because they agree with every word of it, but because they yearn for someone who has the guts to speak their language and express themselves unapologetically.
Politicians such as the instinctively moderate Romney don't like this debate. It means they must come out fighting for something that conservatives regard as good and positive, but which political elites regard as narrow.
The Gingrich sceptics disparage the former House speaker as a discredited figure who's spent a long time in political exile.
But the same thing was once said of Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Richard Nixon, Robert Menzies and John Howard. When they returned to the arena years after losing leadership positions, their critics gave them the kiss of death. They all rebounded with tremendous force.
As it happens, Gingrich subscribes to historian Arnold Toynbee's theory of ''departure and return'' — the notion that some legendary leaders endure a long period in the political wilderness before returning to high office. Say what you will about him, Gingrich rates high marks for sheer animal instincts for survival.
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