For someone who holds himself out as a public intellectual, Gingrich comes across all too often as more glib than thoughtful — more interested in joining the fray than in expressing carefully worked-out ideas. When he takes a strong stand on a controversial issue, it’s never clear how much conviction and deliberation have gone into it.
He seems to think and speak at full gallop, tossing off opinions as fast as they come to him, less interested in being right than in being heard — and in taking shots at the opposition. Of course it is in the nature of American politics that Republicans criticize Democrats, and Democrats disparage Republicans, but Gingrich professes “to rise above traditional gridlocked partisanship.’’ And yet Newt the Republican combatant is a much more familiar figure than Newt the nonpartisan visionary.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/03/27/gingrich_vs_gingrich
