I don’t pretend to understand all the subtle machinations of U.S politics… but how is it that the top two contenders for the Republican Presidential nomination are named *Mitt* and *Newt*? In what circumstances does a newborn get named these things? Mitt & Newt sounds like a Vaudeville act or a French-Canadian comedy duo.

I don’t pretend to understand all the subtle machinations of U.S politics…

No one understands them, not even the people who pretend they do.

In Mitt’s case, it’s his middle name. I assume he uses it because his first name is worse: Willard. Of course, on the plus side, if he used “Willard” his campaign song could be “Ben”. Ratman Lives!

Newt’s name is Newton Leroy. More deliciously, his mother, in a TV interview with Connie Chung, called her boy “Newty”. He’s finding that harder to live down than all the scummy shennanigans he’s pulled in or out of office, including having a massive fine levied on him for ethics violations (mostly misuse of funds), and when he drove to impeach Clinton for an Oval Office hummer at the exact time he (Newty) was cheating on wife #2 with the woman who became (and still is, thus far) wife #3.

Newt sounds just like Neut to me.