Myra MacPherson: The Real Newt Gingrich Is Only an Archive Search Away

Reporters, listen up: Stop calling Newt Gingrich a “scholar.” In fact, spend some time learning about his real history.

Yes, Gingrich calls himself a “historian,” but there was a time when reporters went to the clips to check things like that. Now, ironically, even with great Internet access, looking up yesterday to help explain today is too often a lost exercise.

Gingrich has been getting the smartest-horse-in-the-race treatment from the media in the roller coaster ride of surging, then fading presidential polls. The “scholar” and “historian” adjectives aren’t just used by cheerleading conservative pundits, but by reporters who state it as fact.

The Washington Post just published an embarrassing gusher regarding Newt’s smarts — with no examination of  his decidedly more street slugging than scholarly record and use of smears and gutter language against opponents. The piece raved about how he led his children in reading at night. Imagine that....