Bill Clinton without the charm

Is a perfect description of Newt Gingrich, according to Emmett Tyrell. Naturally, Gingrich is not at all fond of the frequently-made comparison:

Newt Gingrich insisted Wednesday in Miami that there was nothing similar about his personal failings and those of Bill Clinton—even though both men were having extramarital affairs in the late '90s. And Gingrich, as speaker of the House, tried to impeach Clinton over his. Pressed during a forum at Univision—the Spanish-speaking television network—about the hypocrisy involved when “at same time he was doing the exact same thing,” Gingrich was indignant. It wasn’t the same thing, Gingrich repeatedly insisted. “I didn’t do the same thing,” he said. “I didn’t lie under oath. I didn’t commit a felony.” He added that in his own divorce depositions, he told the truth—which Clinton did not when asked about Monica Lewinsky.

Indeed, while it may not have been entirely the same thing, the fact that Clinton was more reluctant to volunteer the truth doesn't make Gingrich any better — it simply supports the contention that there's an underlying dishonesty to Clinton's character (a dishonesty that seems deplorably obvious once one manages to get past the 'charm' of the man).