"The elite media tried to ignore us. The government labeled us 'extremists.' But on April 15, more than one million Americans came together, spontaneously, to defend fairness and freedom. I know because Callista and I were there. Here is our story."

Thus began Newt Gingrich's heart-warming albeit rose-colored glasses-garbed assessment of the Tax Day Tea Parties held across the nation on April 15. However, it is probably less interesting to deconstruct Gingrich's optimistic views of Tea Party-ness, as expressed in "Will the Tea Parties Matter?" -- a disquisition on "the nature of the Tea Party movement" -- then it is to recognize that the former House Speaker, has more and more come to represent both what's left of the intellectual firepower of the post-Bush Republican Party and the critic/commentator/analyst/partisan politician that will take on just about any question that comes his way.

With the Republican Party seeming to settle into a state of beserkiness, what with their call for Democrats to rename itself the Democrat Socialist Party; with McCarthyite claims that there are a host of "socialists" in Congress; with a very strange Michael Steele heading up the RNC, while Rush Limbaugh assumes the Party's head-without-portfolio position, it is left to Gingrich to be in as many places as possible, to criticize the Obama Administration (with an occasional compliment tossed its way), to slash away at current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and to proclaim that the Party still has some guiding principles.

Gingrich's goal? To stitch together a coalition of disparate GOP forces that will back him for the Party's Presidential nomination in four years. Does it matter that the public has never liked the man? Apparently, not to the Newtster!

Steamy, seamy and on the march

As is well known, Gingrich has a seamy and steamy history: Ethical violations that ultimately forced him to resign as Speaker of the House; an extra-marital affair, conducted while in hot pursuit of impeaching Bill Clinton for his involvement with Monica Lewinsky; his willingness to genuflect to the likes of Dr. James Dobson, confessing on the Focus on the Family founder's radio program that "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards."

The mastermind of the Republican Revolution of 1994 -- when the GOP took control of the House for the first time in decades -- is trying to cover all his bases these days: he writes books, the latest, co-authored with his daughter Jackie Gingrich Cushman, is titled "5 Principles for a Successful Life" -- on Monday, May 15, he and/or Jackie appeared on eight radio or television talk shows; he chats up a storm on any number of network news programs and is a regular -- and I mean regular -- Fox News Channel contributor.

He makes films -- his latest, produced with his wife Callista, is titled "Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny," and his next film, is titled "Rediscovering God in America Part II."

He teaches a college course now and again; he writes op-ed pieces for a host of venues -- he recently signed on with the Examiner newspapers to write a weekly column that will appear in both the Washington Examiner and The San Francisco Examiner; and he sends out a free weekly e-mail newsletter called "Winning the Future."

In addition, and perhaps most importantly, he has been raising millions of dollars from wealthy GOP donors for his organization, American Solutions.

And, there is also "Newt.org" ("Real Change Requires Real Change") where the fullness of Newt is on display.

Hemorrhaging GOP in need of makeover

In a recent edition of his "Ideas in Action" e-letter, Ken Connor, the former head of the Family Research Council, had this to say about the state of the GOP: "In the aftermath of the 2008 elections ... the GOP is hemorrhaging badly. It is dazed and confused. It is moribund, but it is not dead yet. Whether the Party of Lincoln will recover remains to be seen. Its prognosis is, at best, guarded."

Despite talk of "reinvent[ion]," "rebranding," whether its time to "get over its Reagan 'nostalgia,'" or the need for "inclusiveness," Connor, reassured his readers that "news of their [the Party's] demise is premature." The Party doesn't so much need a "makeover" as it needs to get back to its historic "principles," Connor maintained. When all is said and done, Connor prefers turning back the clock to the Reagan era and using that period to guide the Party back to predominance. Will Gingrich be that guide?

Judge Richard Posner, a prominent Reagan appointee, recently wrote that the conservative movement suffers from "intellectual deterioration." It is no great surprise then that to a disaffected Republican Party voter, that sees the party's leaders as a hodge-podge of dead-enders (Dick Cheney, John "Tan Man" Boehner), blatherers (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity), gaffe-prone politicians (Michael Steele, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin), the fullness that is Newt Gingrich might be starting to look good.