If You Ever Wondered Whether John Edwards Could Make a Comeback...Phff!

If Newt Gingrich rises from his considerable baggage to become Chair of the RNC, then don't worry about John Edward's future - he could be Pope.

John Oxendine, who desperately wants to become Gov. John Oxendine, is touting Newt Gingrich as the obvious choice to lead the RNC out of the wilderness. He even has a website devoted to the effort to "Draft Newt." I guess that makes Oxendine one of those pragmatic republicans who adopts a "take it or leave it-leave it particularly if it doesn't work" attitude toward "family values" or any values, for that matter. Now, I realize that there's a whole generation of voters who were just starting school when a shamed and largely reviled Gingrich resigned from Congress in 1998, so let me remind you to whom it is, exactly, that Oxendine is hitching his wagon.

First, I wouldn't offer Gingrich up as the poster child for family values, what with his history of three marriages, one of which ended as his then-wife was struggling with cancer. He remarried less than six months after that divorce was final. Perhaps not relevant to the job of GOP Chair, except that the GOP claims trademark rights to "family values." If he is the head, the public face of the GOP, then his own family values do become relevant.

Now, Gingrich is a smart guy (see: Contract With America) but he is seriously ethically challenged and does not have a history of working and playing well with others. While he was Speaker of the House, 84 ethics charges were filed against him, and a whopper of a fine,$300,000. was assessed. He became such a pariah that, in 1998, when it became clear that his caucus was rebelling, he was not only forced to abandon his run for Speaker; he resigned from congress all together. He couldn't even hold his own caucus together.

Wait, what am I thinking? With a track record like that, I think I might jump on this bandwagon with Ox.

Here's Oxendines' whole email:

Atlanta, Georgia - Georgia Commissioner of Insurance and Republican candidate for Georgia Governor in 2010 John Oxendine has launched a nationwide draft movement to support the election of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich as the next chairman of the Republican National Committee.

WWW.DraftNewtRNC.com will direct Republicans who wish to send a message of support for Newt as our next national
chairman to a petition they can sign. The petition will be public and shared with Newt and the voting members of the Republican National Committee.

"This is a critical time in the history of the Republican Party," declared John Oxendine.

"We need a leader at the RNC who has the experience to manage a national movement, communicate an articulate, practical,
and effective conservative philosophy of government, and who is battle tested and able to stand as the loyal opposition to the party opposite. Newt Gingrich is the best qualified Republican to lead our Party at this time."

"It is important our Party realize we lost in 2008 not because we are conservative, but because we failed to be true to and successfully communicate a credible conservative message in 2008. Newt has the vision to lead our party. We need to
return to the principles of the Contract with America, straight talk and conservative principles. Newt Gingrich also has the ability to stand toe to toe with President Obama and offer the nation a counter vision for government - that is what this is all about - the ability to communicate sound conservative philosophy to America to stop the Obama liberal express in Washington. Newt is the best person for that job."

"This is not about 2008, it is a positive effort about where our great Party goes from here - how we prepare for 2010 and
2012. I have every confidence Speaker Gingrich can best organize, best communicate, and best manage our Party at the national level and I hope he will run and win."

"It is my hope that the Republican grassroots leadership-the activists-the real leaders of our Party, will stand up to the
inside the beltway Republican Washington DC cocktail crowd and say we want our Party back and we want Newt to manage it. Sign the petition and send a message to our Party and America that the Republican Party is conservative and far from
defeated or demoralized."

John Oxendine
Oxendine Working for Georgia

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