Even as Sunday talk show pundits laugh at Newt’s follies (like his claiming that Freddie Mac hired him as a “historian”), they never tire of rhapsodizing about his supposed smarts. He’s “intellectually formidable” (Mike Murphy on Meet the Press); he’s “a very smart guy” (Matthew Dowd on This Week).
I think, though, that Paul Krugman, also on This Week, put it best: “Somebody said he’s a stupid man’s idea of what a smart person sounds like.”
The Newtifying begins about two minutes in:
