Is Newt in Huckabee's Corner?

I've always liked Newt Gingrich, and I've always thought that he was one of the few in the Republican Party to hold firm to his Conservative principles. Which is why I find this to be, well, depressing:

Helping Huck [Mark R. Levin]

I am informed that Dick Morris and Newt Gingrich are helping Huckabee behind the scenes. Morris has been everywhere today promoting Huckabee.

First of all, the fact that this tidbit is being reported by Mark Levin--that brilliant champion of Reagan's Conservative vision--adds a lot of credibility to the rumor. Now, what Dick Morris does in neither here nor there to me, but if Gingrich is really helping Huckabee, I cannot help but to see it as a betrayal of hiNewt's Conservative pedigree--because Huckabee's record is anything but Conservative. Also, Newt had repeatedly said in the past that he himself would jump in unless a true conservative were to step forward, who had a chance of winning.. And now this? It just doesn't make sense, unless Huckabee has had a sudden Conservative epiphany, and unless I am completely off base about Huckabee's electibility. But it is hard for me to visualize Huckabee rising up and defeating a surging, charismatic Obama in a general election. First of all every Democrat I have heard weigh in on the subject (Juan Williams, for example) seem to be chomping at the bit for Huckabee to be the Republican on the ballot. Susan Estrich said the other night that if Huckabee is the candidate, she will be dancing at the [Democrat] Inaugural ball. I think many, if not most, Dems feel that way.

And even if Huckabee were to get nominated and then to muster enough support to defeat Obama, where is that going to leave the country? As Fred Thompson pointed out today, Huckabee practically made Arkansas into a sanctuary state for illegals. That coupled with Huckabee's harsh criticism of the Iraq War and his track record of repeatedly raising taxes--all these seem to run against the grain of everything Reagan Conservatives stand for. Which makes it all the more stupefying that Newt would be in Huckabee's camp.

Obama will not be an easy out--he is riding a big wave now. And even the markets seem to be reacting to the momentum of the blatantly Socialist Obama; the Dow was down 256 points today in the wake of last night's results.

Meanwhile, the Gingrich news from "The Great One" is not exactly raising my spirits about where this is heading. Nothing would please me more than to see Fred sneak up on the field in South Carolina, or Rudy to make a big showing later on. Meanwhile the back-stabbing McCain will probably win New Hampshire, which doesn't comfort me either. An aging McCain pitted against a young, energetic, JFK-like Obama seems to me to be more likely to turn out like Dole's run against Bill Clinton, than it would to turn out like Reagan's sound defeat of a younger, relatively inexperienced Mondale. John McCain may be a lot of things, but he is no Ronald Reagan. And neither is Mike Huckabee.

Pass the Xanax, please.