Chuck Norris, identified this election as the endorsement most sought after by Republicans, says he's throwing his considerable influence behind the campaign for president in 2012 of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich because "we need a veteran of political war who has already fought Goliath."

In a new column published on WND, Norris explains he agrees with Gingrich's statement that there is no enemy this year but Barack Obama.

Gingrich had explained, "We have no opponents except Barack Obama. I think that’s very important."

"I'm tired of watching our country being torn to shreds by those who think the answer is more government debt and control. I'm tired of being in bondage to a tax system that robs U.S. citizens like the King of England did before the Revolution," Norris writes."I'm tired of watching our sovereignty being sold by foreign loans and loose borders. And I will not sit back and merely watch this decay and degradation of the U.S. and then hand it over to my children and grandchildren to deal with."

In 2008, Norris' endorsement of Mike Huckabee propelled the former Arkansas governor to the top tier of GOP candidates and resulted in his best fundraising day ever. He then appeared in an ad with Huckabee, who explained his answer to secure borders in America during a presidency would be two words: "Chuck … Norris."

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The ad, which has been viewed millions of times, still is popular online years after the GOP nominating process ultimately picked Arizona Sen. John McCain:

Norris continued, "That is why my wife Gena and I have committed the rest of our lives to help Old Glory rise again to her heights of splendor. And that is why we are endorsing and standing with Newt Gingrich, because we believe he can lead all of us who have committed to the same."

Norris said the nation is under "assault" from "extremists outside our country and anti-constitutionalists inside our country."

"President Obama has tried and failed miserably to fix our economy, deepening us and our posterity into more than six trillion dollars in additional national debt – something he criticized former President Bush for as 'unpatriotic' and 'irresponsible.' Yet unemployment rates remain at higher levels than when Obama was elected, and the dollar is as unstable as the Middle East. "

Infighting and minutiae have no place in the argument, he said.

"Rome is burning, and we need to appoint the best firemen possible to rush in and put out her fury. What’s critical at this point is to appoint a commander-in-chief who can clearly lead America to a more solvent and secure future," he said.

He doesn't say everything about Gingrich is ideal.

"No man or candidate is perfect. We all have skeletons in our closet. If buried bones became unforgiveable bones of contention, the world would never know or will never know another Benjamin Franklin, King David, and others like them," he said.

It was the National Journal that said a poll of its political insiders conducted recently revealed the favorite celebrity among Republicans to give their campaigns a "kick" is none other than WND commentator Chuck Norris.

A reported 46 percent of the Journal's insiders named Norris as a welcome fighter in a Republican candidate's corner.

But it is a president the people will elect, Norris noted, not a pastor or a pope.

"And with the main stream media and a billion dollar Obama campaign coffer on the president's side, we need a veteran of political war who has already fought Goliath, because he will be facing Goliath’s bigger brother," he said.

He noted in recent commentaries he raised questions for voters to consider, including who is the most committed to the Constitution, who can rally and unify; who understands America, who can beat Obama, who can lead in Washington and others.

"For my wife, Gena, and I, we sincerely believe former Speaker Newt Gingrich is the answer to most of those questions and deserves our endorsement and vote," he said.

Chuck Norris warned he won't sit idly by and watch the U.S. being "torn to shreds."

Read Chuck Norris' insights on our nation, in "Black Belt Patriotism : How to Reawaken America."

The subject of a "game-changer" for the GOP recently was raised in TalkingPointsMemo by commentator Benjy Sarlin, who noted that roughly four years ago at this point it was all Chuck Norris.

It was this appearance for Huckabee that created a longlasting impact on the race then:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjYv2YW6azE

Chuck Norris said this year's battling among GOP candidates plays "right into President Obama and Saul Alinsky's hands. The fact is, that while the majority of GOP candidates think they're merely competing for the prize of nomination, they are running exact plays from Alinsky's playbook, often pitted by the main stream media and the White House, who are playing them like pawns with their questions, accusations, and innuendoes."

Shortly before his endorsement of Huckabee in the 2008 race, Chuck Norris had some fun speculating on what he would do as vice president himself.

"It really doesn't matter whose presidential ticket I ride on as vice president, since America will be a Chucktatorship when I step into office. If I am elected vice president, I promise to unilaterally fulfill these pledges within my first 30 days in office: If I win on McCain's ticket, consider the Middle East wars over. Our enemies are toast. If I win on Hillary's ticket, I promise you that Bill will stay out of the Oval Office and on his Total Gym. If he argues with me, I will put him on latrine duty throughout the whole White House. If I win on Obama's ticket, I will appoint Barack as co-editor with Oprah for my new political magazine, 'Uh-O!'" he wrote.

He said he would change Iranian president Mahmoud Ahamdinejad's name "to Smith or Johnson – just because I can. For as long as I'm in office, his country will be renamed from 'I-ran' to 'You'd-better-run.'"

He also said he would require government leaders "to follow the Constitution and Bill of Rights or deport them immediately to their new Guantanamo Bay offices in the newly incorporated U.S. territory of the North Pole."

And at Obama's election, Chuck Norris wrote: "Now that you work for me…

"After Election Day, I asked myself, despite the outcome, how can I work for our new president to help better America? Then the thought occurred to me, the first question that should be answered is: How will you work for me? After all, it is 'We, the People' of the Constitution for whom you are employed, correct?"