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The New Litmus Test

Look, anyone who imagines that New Gingrich is going to make a serious bid for the presidency in 2012 is nuts. (The smart money is that he'll muse endlessly about the possibility; let it be known that if the party wants him badly enough he'll allow himself to be drafted; and, when this does not happen, publicly take his name out of contention, explaining that he's abruptly found himself far too busy with some new organization with the word "Future" in the name. This is, after all, what he always does.)

That said, the idea that Gingrich has forever destroyed his credibility with conservatives--as if such a thing were possible!--by having the temerity to endorse Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee in New York's 23rd district, over base-favorite insurgent Doug Hoffman, is a pretty good indicator of the ideological cannibalism increasingly prevalent on the right.