Country first?

I'm trying to stay off politics -- too depressing!  But a few points:

(1) Gingrich has won the SC primary in the most ugly way possible. I thought Bush beating McCain by claiming he had a black baby was the pits. But that was done in secret, in anonymous phone calls. Now, it is all out in the open. Gingrich essentially took it out on a uppity black man (Juan Williams: saying that work was an abstract concept to him), called Obama a food stamp president and someone who could be outsmarted in a debate ("I want to see his college transcripts", as if it was unbelievable that a black man could do well at Harvard).  Gingrich decided not to dog whistle his racist trope: he catcalled his way to victory.

(2) I see that Romney has said he is going to release his 2010 returns. Theories on why he was so reluctant center on two possibilities: he pays less as a fraction of income than Buffet's secretary and that he may have moved his money offshore to the Caymans. I suspect that there is a third, more damaging revelation lurking. George Romney used to pay "only 37%" as tax, and the reason it was so low was his substantial contribution to the Mormon church. I think Mitt is screwed in the Republican primary regardless of whether he paid very little to the church (Mormons won't forgive him) or whether he tithes so honestly that this contribution (to what evangelicals consider a cult) dwarfs his taxes.

(3) Democrats are gleeful that Gingrich has won. Have they thought about the country we'll live in if Gingrich wins the nomination and the economy continues to tread water?  Obama will lose (personal approval and awfulness of the opposition not withstanding), the Democrats will lose the Senate, the Tea Partiers will feel empowered and the country will lose another 8 years to right-wing incompetence.

The country needs a capable government. And that, unfortunately, means that you (regardless of your partisan politics) should be hoping for a moderate Republican nominee.