Newt As GOP Opening Act

I happened to catch some of the exchanges on Fox News' 'The Five,' it's uneven replacement for the departed Glenn Beck program at 5pm, earlier this week, after the CNN GOP presidential debate.

The name of the program is a play on the time of day and the program's composition- five Fox News contributors. Former CNBC options program participant, now-rebranded Fox Business Channel personality Eric Bolling notionally chairs the group, which includes brainless and lone liberal Bob Beckel, former Bush press secretary Dana Perino, Greg Gutfield, and what seems to be a rotation of any of the following: Kimberly Guilfoyle, Andrew Napolitano, Monica Crowley and Andrea Tantaros.

When I saw it, Gutfield was discussing the one-liners exchanged during the debate. Several people gave Bachmann credit for her quick comeback to Rick Perry about what offended her about his HPV vaccination decision.

Gutfield focused on Gingrich and his wonderful retort when someone asked him about voters being scared by Romney's or Perry's remarks concerning Social Security, which was, paraphrased as closely as I can recall it,

'No, not when they're being scared by President Obama every day.'

But Gutfield went on to say that it's pretty clear that Gingrich has these things canned and ready to fire off when appropriate.

Since Gingrich has had so many campaign missteps, and ranks so low among the candidates in the polls, I thought perhaps he could be given the job of being the official GOP debate warm up comedian.

Before the debate, Newt could appear like a talk show host and give a 10-minute monologue. Like the late Johnny Carson or, now, Leno or Letterman, neither of whom I watch, Newt could work through a patter which noted recent Democratic political actions and gaffes, getting laughs as he verbalized zingers which embodied Tea Party and/or conservative viewpoints.

This way, we'd all benefit from hearing Gingrich's humor and wit, without actually worrying that someone might mistakenly elect him president.