Maureen Dowd’s writing has slipped over the years. These days, her copy is often more silly or “cute” than biting. Today, however, she recaptured the old magic, penning a brilliantly snarky column on Newt and Callista.
As usual, Dowd played amateur psychologist. But this time — aided by smart Alex Castellanos quotes — her political anatomizing proved especially trenchant.
For example, her penultimate graph nicely captured Callista’s ubiquity: “There’s always a chance,” she observed, “that Callista is not staring so intently at Newt to make him feel more Napoleonic. Maybe she just doesn’t want to let him out of her sight.”
For what it’s worth, I’ve interviewed Gingrich several times (one of the things I like about him is his willingness to submit to questioning), and (as the above picture from 2007 captures), my observation is that, unlike other noticeably absent political spouses (such as Judith Steinberg Dean or Gloria Cain), Callista rarely let’s Newt out of sight.
Some might find that weird or paranoid. Others might say it’s romantic.