NEWT'S SOCIOLOGY LESSON

He's done it again. Speaking before an audience of Republican governors in New Hampshire, House Speaker Newt Gingrich blamed the welfare, criminal justice and educational systems for a gruesome murderous rampage in which a pregnant woman and two of her children were killed. After the woman was shot to death, her assailants cut open her abdomen with a pair of scissors and pulled out her 8 1/2 month fetus, which survived. "Gingrich appears to have something approaching political Tourette's syndrome," says Washington correspondent John Dickerson. "The list of things he's said and had to apologize for is proving that point. People expected that once he moved from the back bench into the daily spotlight that he would be able to exorcise that tendency, but it may take a little longer than people thought. He is giving his political enemies an early Christmas present."