Newt Gingrich is the greatest example I know of the Political Peter Principle.

“CNN) — Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich stands by his support for a Palestinian state, his spokesman said Saturday, despite his comment about an “invented Palestinian people” that has drawn fire from leaders in the West Bank and from a GOP rival.

Gingrich backs a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, said his spokesman, R.C. Hammond. But the Gingrich camp made no apology for the remark — which some Palestinian leaders declared “racist” — saying the former House speaker was simply referencing “decades of complex history.”

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who has negotiated in talks with Israel and the United States, said the remark shows “how really despicable things can get” in American politics.

“Such thinking should be an alarm and concern for the world,” said Erakat, calling it “the most racist statement I’ve ever seen.”
Gingrich made the comments in an interview that aired Friday with The Jewish Channel, a U.S. cable channel.

“I believe that the Jewish people have the right to have a state,” Gingrich said in the interview. “Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire. And I think that we’ve had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, who are historically part of the Arab community.”

He added, “And they had a chance to go many places and for a variety of political reasons, we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s. I think it’s tragic.”