“THE TRUE IMPORTANCE OF BEING NEWT”

THE NATIONAL MEMO

Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Big Story, By Joe Conason

Whether Newt Gingrich ever wins another primary after South Carolina or not, he has performed an important service to American voters in this election. Not in the self-important way that he imagines, of course. But Gingrich’s mocking assault on Mitt Romney, his career at Bain Capital and reluctance to disclose his tax returns has driven a national discussion of economic unfairness, tax avoidance, and abuse of financial power that might never have occurred without the Gingrich intervention.

The easiest way to understand Gingrich’s impact on the Republican contest — and on Romney’s unimpeded march toward the nomination, until now — is how little attention has been devoted to the former Massachusetts governor‘s financial affairs in the past. READ MORE