Okay, I don't get this

[ellid]

Newt Gingrich has been out of office for what, eleven years? And he was scarcely an elder statesman when he left, what with the mess of his personal life, his inability to throw Clinton out of office, and the failure of the Contract on with America once Ted Kennedy got his mitts on it in the Senate. Ginrich has "co-written" some very bad books with William Forstchen, an otherwise decent writer who should know better, and has made some tentative stabs at running at President that have fallen apart when faced with the fact that Gingrich isn't very popular with anyone, let alone the Republican base.

So - why is NPR asking him for his opinion about healthcare? Or anything else? I seriously don't get why he is any more relevant, or any more of a political force, than, say Bob Dole....