People can decide for themselves whether it matters or not, but for the record, Newt Gingrich was (based on his own words in 1988) a Rockefeller Republican. I point that out only because these days Gingrich likes to present himself as a “Goldwater Republican.” Ronald Reagan was a Goldwater Republican; Newt Gingrich was not.

The difference between Rockefeller and Goldwater is substantial. For the unaware, a Rockefeller Republican in the early 1960s is roughly what a Massachusetts Moderate would be five decades later.

If Gingrich has changed his mind, that’s fine and good. His achievements in the conservative movement are impressive enough; he really doesn’t need to pretend he was something he wasn’t.