Dark Side of the Newt

Of course, all the buzz and smoke around the rising Newt was focused yesterday on his silly pilgrimage to The Donald. (Here are all 26 shots at Zimbio) The most worthy pics of the event, interjecting some subtle parody into the mix, come from Getty’s Spencer Platt, including this one where Trump (he wishes!) is more aligned with the microphone, and this one panning out to appropriately minimize this shallow spectacle.

More informative, however, was Newt’s Town Hall on Saturday in Staten Island shot by Getty’s Michael Nagle. Of course, the photo above (along with this variant) is the keeper. It reveals the dark, maniacal and deviousness side of Newt he’s managed to mostly keep in check this past week with all the intoxicating-as-crack attention he’s received.

As more of a Russian Roulette game than a presidential campaign, though — Gingrich on his second set of staff after Callista drove off the first bunch — things were not exactly roses in Newt-land on Saturday. If you click through the slideshow, you’ll see that several people (at least one is identified as Occupy) tried to take matters into their own hands. So at least in this case, there was actually something comprehensible to hang the death stare on.

(photo: Michael Nagle/Getty Images caption: Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich speaks at a town hall meeting on December 3, 2011 in the Staten Island borough of New York City. Gingrich, who’s seen a surge in polls in recent weeks, plans to attend Mike Huckabee’s Special Republican Presidential Forum on Fox News, after this town hall event hosted by the Tea Party of Staten Island..) caption 2: Security personnel remove a disruptive man during Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s town hall meeting on December 3, 2011 in the Staten Island borough of New York City. Gingrich, who’s seen a surge in polls in recent weeks, plans to attend Mike Huckabee’s Special Republican Presidential Forum on Fox News, after this town hall event hosted by the Tea Party of Staten Island.)