Noonan - "Gingrich is Inspiring--and Disturbing." Well worth reading. Update: Mike Potemra thinks so too. He writes:
I think this is one of the best attempts to understand Gingrich. (How might Gingrich himself phrase the same sentiment? “This is the most fantastically impressively written newspaper column since Gutenberg invented printing”?) What makes it so remarkable is that is scrupulously fair and even-handed — doing justice to both Gingrich’s immense talents and his (in my view) disqualifying weaknesses — without ever being mealy-mouthed.
Added 12/10/11 - Ross Douthart in "The Tempting of the Religious Right"warns religious conservatives not to throw their support to Newt:
[...] a religious right that rallied around Gingrich would be putting the worst possible face on its cause and at the worst possible time.
His candidacy isn’t a test of religious conservatives’ willingness to be good, forgiving Christians. It’s a test of their ability to see their cause through outsiders’ eyes, and to recognize what anointing a thrice-married adulterer as the champion of “family values” would say to the skeptical, the unconverted and above all to the young. [more..]