His bid is dividing her fans, some of whom object to his character problems and big-government tendencies. Beware, Tea Partiers.

When Newt Gingrich proclaimed in early December that he would be the GOP nominee, I argued that his success would doom the Tea Party. How could the movement survive a standard-bearer who once favored bank bailouts, No Child Left Behind, an individual mandate in health care, a guest-worker program, the costly prescription-drug benefit, and the nomination of Harriet Miers? Or a politician who lobbied for Freddie Mac? Tea Partiers once pledged that if they had their way, the GOP would never again have as its champion a federal-government-enlarging, entitlement-expanding Bush Republican, nor a career politician who sells influence to D.C. insiders. Elevating such a man would split the coalition's earnest reformers from its tribal partisans.

As ever, Sarah Palin failed to heed my advice. In South Carolina, she urged voters to cast a ballot for the former House Speaker. And on her Facebook page Friday, she attacked his critics in "the GOP establishment" for employing against him the always dreaded "tactics of the left."

She writes:

...This whole thing isn't really about Newt Gingrich vs. Mitt Romney. It is about the GOP establishment vs. the Tea Party grassroots and independent Americans who are sick of the politics of personal destruction... Newt is an imperfect vessel for Tea Party support, but in South Carolina the Tea Party chose to get behind him instead of the old guard's choice. In response, the GOP establishment voices denounced South Carolinian voters with the same vitriol we usually see from the left when they spew hatred at everyday Americans "bitterly clinging" to their faith and their Second Amendment rights. The Tea Party was once again told to sit down and shut up and listen to the "wisdom" of their betters. We were reminded of the litany of Tea Party endorsed candidates in 2010 who didn't win. Well, here's a little newsflash to the establishment: without the Tea Party there would have been no historic 2010 victory at all...



I have great concern about the GOP establishment trying to anoint a candidate without the blessing of the grassroots and all the needed energy and resources we as commonsense constitutional conservatives could bring to the general election... Now, I respect Governor Romney and his success. But there are serious concerns about his record and whether as a politician he consistently applied conservative principles and how this impacts the agenda moving forward.



How dumb does she think her Facebook followers are? Everyone paying attention understands that Gingrich himself is engaged in "the politics of personal destruction" as much as his opponents or the GOP establishment or the super PACs running attack ads in the Snow Bird State. And "serious concerns" have been raised about whether Gingrich has "consistently applied conservative principles." It's perfectly fine for Palin to prefer Gingrich to Romney. What rankles is her disingenuous pose as a neutral arbiter of fair play when she's clearly an advocate for the candidate who has said he'd find her a prominent place in his administration.