Newt Gingrich is a recurring nightmare.

I thought, when he fell from power at the end of the Clinton years, we’d be done with his grandstanding and demagoguery.

But he just won’t go away.

He helped organize the tea baggers, which isn’t something to be proud of, given that many of them were foaming at the mouth.

Now, he’s making noises about running for President, and I just can’t imagine there’s a groundswell of support for his royal pudginess.

On Sunday, he went on—where else?—Fox News to condemn the Democrats for daring to pursue justice against the highest-ups in the Bush torture gang.

Said Gingrich, in high dudgeon: “What we're seeing now, in a very sad way, is as bitter a partisan attack on the Bush people, as much as we've seen since the McCarthy era. The degree that they're putting specific people at risk for criminal prosecution is unprecedented in modern America."

First of all, this isn’t McCarthyism, not even close. The Bush folks aren’t being singled out for their political views, but for their lawlessness. This isn’t a witch-hunt. We already know the small group of people involved in the conspiracy to commit torture. And the attack on them is not designed to instill fear in masses of people around the country. It’s designed to hold accountable the handful of people who may have committed felony crimes in office, crimes that shame the nation.

Why shouldn’t these people be “at risk for criminal prosecution” when there’s prima facie evidence that they committed war crimes?

Gingrich wouldn’t know McCarthyism if Tailgunner Joe returned from the grave and sat on his ample lap.

Hey may not want the laws to apply equally to everyone, but that’s supposed to be our system of government.

He may want to familiarize himself with it before he gets a chance to run it.