Ask Newt Gingrich about most things, and chances are that he will sneer condescendingly at you. But ask him about his mom, who died in 2003, and he will probably cry, something that we had previously suspected he was not physically or emotionally capable of doing. If you want to be cynical about it, we all saw how tearing up helped Hillary Clinton in the 2008 campaign at a time when she, like Gingrich, was facing defeat in an impending primary. But watch the video, and you can tell Gingrich’s tears were genuine. Which is not to say that flashing a softer side couldn’t help him, too.
