Gingrich goes full-on birther

Jonathan Chait at the New Republic dives into Newt Gingrich's headfirst dive into birtherism this weekend:

Citing a recent Forbes article by Dinesh D’Souza, former House speaker Newt Gingrich tells National Review Online that President Obama may follow a “Kenyan, anti-colonial” worldview.
Gingrich says that D’Souza has made a “stunning insight” into Obama’s behavior — the “most profound insight I have read in the last six years about Barack Obama.”

“What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?” Gingrich asks. “That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.”

As Newt finds himself being outflanked on his right by the Beck/Palin connection, he's found himself increasingly playing to the wingnuts because that's the path to the nomination.

But D'Souza is an equivocating nut, and I don't care if he recently became a college president. I wrote a piece about an evening spent with him. He's an arrogant apologist for the right who can operate only in the realm of his theoretical. His theories don't adapt well to the real world. Hell, his nickname is Distort D'Newsza. But both are smart, educated men embracing whackjob paranoid ideas. As Chait alarmingly notes:

"Gingrich was once the most powerful Republican in America and remains an influential figure within the party. D'Souza has done stints at the most prestigous conservative think-tanks. The line between man and kook is getting harder and harder to discern."

Or, as Bob Cesca notes: Everybody knows you never go full Birther.

Media Matters captures the Morning Joe reaction. Interesting that Gingrich makes Scarborough look reasonable.