So we learn today that Newt Gingrich has officially joined the Has-Been Politician with a Newspaper Column Club, via a column in The Washington Examiner. Say what else you will about the man—that he “has always been considered a prospector in bold and counterintuitive thinking;” that he’s currently “at the zenith of influence in conservative Washington,” that he’s been a more insidiously divisive figure than Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter combined—but at least we can be reasonably hopeful that we’ll be treated each Friday to a thoughtful, revealing, and perhaps even inventive column.

Oh, and let the “Newt 2012” speculation begin anew.