Newt--The October Surprise

History is repeating itself in odd but refreshing ways in the current Republican primary contest. Today an increasingly strident Mitt Romney told Florida voters that they should be prepared for an "October Surprise" if Newt were to be nominated for president. “He’s gone from pillar to post, almost like a pinball machine, from item to item, in a way which is highly erratic and does not suggest a stable, thoughtful course, which is normally associated with leadership,” the New York Times reported Mitt as saying.
    Dems used this kind of scare tactic against Barry Goldwater in 1964--just imagine Lyndon Johnson's famous "Daisy" commercial with Newt's face superimposed over the little girl as she strips petals from a flower, innocent of nuclear winter hovering just a reckless finger on the button away. In this case, the nuclear event would be losing to Obama in October because Newt is suddenly found out to be the owner of a diamond mine employing slave labor in Zimbabwe. Figuratively speaking, of course. In some ways, though, Mitt is an even odder duck than Newt (and wouldn't you like to have a pair of ducks and call them "Mitt" and "Newt"?). That strange smile that plays over his lips when he answers questions he doesn't like is in some ways much more disturbing than Newt's flights of grandiosity....