OLD DOG, NEWT TRICKS

Watching Newt Gingrich on TODAY this morning, slamming the Obama administration for their "lack of transparency," I had to ask myself if this was the same Newt Gingrich who disgraced himself by lying to the Ethics Committee; the same guy who was fined $300,000 and was the only Speaker in the history of the House ever to have been reprimanded for ethical wrongdoing; the guy who lost the Speakership and was essentially drummed out of Congress. Could there be another Newt Gingrich?

Admittedly, he is not dumb. A former history professor, Gingrich knows a lot about politics. He helped engineer the sweeping Republican victory in 1994 and co-authored the new party doctrine, Contract with America. But asking him to comment on the ethics of Obama speaking at a Wall Street fund raiser is like asking Pete Rose who he likes in the World Series. It just doesn't seem right somehow.

Even more amazing than Newt's transformation from disgraced politician to party elder, is the media's clinically defective memory. Apparently, though they may know a lot about ratings and advertising dollars, their area of expertise includes neither ethics nor irony.