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Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and a new Grassroots Champion.

By: cheetah2 (Diary)  |  January 23rd, 2012 at 11:58 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

The people have chosen their champion, imperfect and flawed though he is, to go against the establishment. No more business as usual. With poll numbers out today showing Gingrich ahead of Romney in Florida, it is confirmed that the base is in full rebellion. The future of Newt Gingrich is in his own hands now. If he can keep his ducks in a row and show wisdom in what he says, he is going to pull this thing off.

In my humble opinion,  Governor Rick Perry was the catalyst of something huge the day he resigned and endorsed Newt Gingrich. Sarah Palin recommended  voting for Gingrich in South Carolina as a strategy to stop Romney from becoming the inevitable nominee. Perry went much further and gave the Christian, small government and socially conservative stamp of approval to him. Chuck Norris and Michael Reagan then followed suit, adding emphasis.

Perry tanked in the polls because he did not initially prove himself to be an effective spokesman for grass roots conservatism, not because people did not believe in his cause or his sincerity. This gave far greater weight to his endorsement than would be expected from his poll numbers. The timing was also perfect to offset Marianne Gingrich’s interview. Perry’s statement about redemption along with Gingrich’s intelligent, forceful self defense in the Charleston debate turned a negative into a positive for him.

Gingrich stomped on his opponents in South Carolina, and followed up his stunning victory with an inspiring speech. I imagine that I was not alone as a Perry supporter in this being my first real exposure to Gingrich. I saw him in the debates but didn’t pay close attention. I never saw him give a speech or interview before. He made a great first impression on me. I for the first time saw in him a man I could picture as my president.

Here is a must read article by Dan Riehl explaining how conservative groups are beginning to coalesce around Gingrich and how that can lead him to victory in the days ahead. In his article, Riehl states:

“Mitt owns the political and financial establishment that has run Washington post-Reagan and gotten us to where we are today. For all his imperfections, I see the possibility for a coalition to come together around Gingrich with names like Tea Party, Palin, Perry, Jindal, the conservative grassroots and Americans just interested in serious political reform. There is also plenty of room for reform-minded evangelicals and libertarians in that coalition, given the various factions and leaders.”

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2012/01/newt-the-tea-party-palin-perry-reform-evangelicals-etc-.html

As Rick Perry said in his resignation speech, this is far bigger than any one person.  I haz hope again.

 

 

COMMENTS

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  • romansdaughter

    Yes, I feel the same way about Gov. Perry that his endorsement was huge for Newt, as I think lots of people actually really liked Rick Perry, they just were afraid to vote for him as they leaned heavily on polls and what the pundits say. That is why I am not happy with the conservative pundits, including some here on RedState as they felt obliged for their own reasons to run down good candidates. I am not going for any of the candidates that are left in the primaries but in the General I will pull the lever for whoever unless it is Ron Paul. I much prefer Newt than the other 3 but none of them are thrilling to me. I think Perry did right in endorsing Newt and I hope if Newt wins that he will do what he promised to Perry about 10th amendment rights etc. But I am not holding my breath as I am facing the reality that we probably will have Obama again for another 4 years. Yuck! Am I a pessimist or a realist? I don’t know but I know God is in control and his will, will be done.

    • cheetah2

      I see a definate parallel between what happened to Governor Perry and what is now happening to Mitt Romney. Both fell short on the debate stage. Romney has also in addition been unequal to coping with some mildly hostile interviews. He ought to fall harder and faster that Rick Perry did.

      Bottom line, Perry actually is the guy we want for president with his heart felt and rock solid core conservative principles. We could trust him to run our country. However, people apparently did not trust him to be able to beat Obama.

      Romney on the other hand has no core conservative values and can NOT be trusted to turn our country in the direction it needs to go. Now he begins to look like he is too wimpy to battle Obama. He is left with nothing going for him at all.

      Santorum is a great guy with a good personal life, which is important. He is fairly conservative and well spoken. I just don’t see him as a leader, and he lacks relevant experience to be the president. He never gets any traction no matter how hard the evangelicals push him, so I presume others see him as I do.

      Gingrich also is lacking in the area of experience, but I don’t believe there is any task the man could not accomplish if he sets his mind to it. He is the best option we have left. He has the qualities to be able to beat Obama. He is never unprepared, how could he be with all the information stored in that massive brain. I trust him to overcome the baggage, because he has so far with no problems. I do not completely trust him to stick with conservative principles as I do Governor Perry, but have hopes he will carry out the great plans he is presenting to us.

      I looked at his web site, and his plans are quite similar to Perry’s and he adds emphasis in some important areas that Perry did not. Perry had nothing in his plan about education reform except get rid of the NEA. I know he favors school choice as well and that was enough for me to go forward with but this is just awesome:

      “Institute a Pell Grant-style system for Kindergarten through 12th Grade. Per-pupil school district funding should go into each child

  • carolynr

    With all this polling business…there is one that stands out. 85% of the country thinks we are heading in the wrong direction. So…who is ahead of who concerning whether we vote for Obama or X is a moot point. America does not want Obama.

    Now..how are we going to get rid of the dirty tricks, the election fraud, Obama’s Justice Department to right the election returns? That is the question. Another question is this. We have to find some solution to Illegals. We cannot allow them to break the law….however, Obama is working overtime to woo their vote.

    I don’t want to sell out my principles…..but I would do ANYTHING…just about to get Obama out of office before the USA is gone forever.

    Any suggestions on this. How do we fix this? Oh…and there was something of interest in the debate last night…wet foot/dry foot. They are treating people from Cuba differently than people from Mexico? That’s a big deal. Look…I’m a nice Irish Catholic girl…I am not pro-illegal…but how do you address that. If you are living in Mexico, are Mexican with the drug lords ruling your area…do you want to leave? I would. Are they any different than Castro? Oh, with the exception that the USA provided some of the fire power. This is a juggernaut that someone is going to ask sooner or later. How would you address this? The Cuban vote in FL is Republican. One of our future hopefuls is Cuban (Rubio)…so how do you explain to Juan from Mexico that his flight from Mexico is not as important as one from Cuba?

    Do we change the entire law? That’s a possibility and allow legal immigration. Do we deport Cubans back to Castro? What happens to the support of the Cuban vote for Republicans?

    Like To Hear Ideas On This.

    • Flagstaff

      **”They are treating people from Cuba differently than people from Mexico?”**

      Yes, they do. By law. Has to do with hundreds (maybe more, maybe less) of escapees from a communist dictatorship being offered safe haven under a well-defined rule as opposed to millions of citizens of one free country attempting to take advantage of a neighbor by illegal entry. It’s actually what Congress is supposed to do–write laws governing general public behavior, intended for the good of the citizenry, not the newcomers.

      **”who is ahead of who concerning whether we vote for Obama or X is a moot point. “**

      Perhaps for the moment, but that is, after all, the final question that has to be answered before the campaign. If X marks the wrong spot, there are plenty of misguided souls who will be willing to choose the O over the X.

      There are many conservatives who think that Newt Gingrich is a pretty close approximation to Ronald Reagan. Others, consciously or not, recognize that he may be closer to Barry Goldwater.

  • TexasTami

    ..reiterates the Newt momentum being based in “redemption’ and “forgiveness” of a president’s character IF he can get the job done. We have many examples of “fallen” presidents that achieved much. One of my least admired presidents is FDR, who cheated on his wife Eleanor with Lucy Whats-Her-Name. Just saying the words “cheating on his wife” brings JFK to mind. Of course, in our lifetime, Clinton. George W. Bush, the “redeemed” drinker. Obama, the smoker and cocaine user (at this point, however, Obama is not “forgiven” anything because he’s made such a mess of things). But the point is this: despite Newt’s baggage, he is electable because he enunciates the conservatives’ positions with passion and clarity. We’re willing to forgive his personal failings IF he can get us out of this mess.

    I had to take a second look at Newt, too, when Perry stumbled and never regained his political footing. Thank God for men of courage like Gov. Rick Perry. He reminds me of Reagan, and we desperately need another Reagan. But even Reagan was flawed at the time with divorce. Right now, however, we have Newt, who may end up as another Reagan. At least, he pays homage to Reagan. That will have to do for now.

    • cheetah2

      that will EFFECTIVELY fight for them he is going to win, baggage or no baggage.

      Right now Gingrich has to prevail against the horribly negative attacks going on against him in Florida. He failed in Iowa because he lacked the funds to fight back. Now he has the financial resources so this is his biggest test ever.

      I have a lot of sympathy for Newt because the attacks so remind me of what Romney did to Perry. Perry struggled defending himself. I think Newt has a better shot at it.

      I watched the Monday debate yesterday. Newt did NOT lose and handled himself very well. It was said that he floundered without the audience participation. I think it handicapped all of them to an equal degree, not just Newt. He did not whine about the controlled audience the next day, but just gave his opinion when asked about it.

      I am praying he has his best debate ever on Thursday. He needs to shine, and I know he can!

      He says his 2 grandchildren are his debate coaches and talked affectionately of how they prepped him for the Monday night debate. Whatever we may say in criticism of his personal life, he is obviously a loving grandpa who enjoys his grandkids!

      • romansdaughter

        Perry tried to defend himself and did very well many times but no one of the media wanted to listen to him. He would go on Fox and rebut everything and then Fox would get the talking heads to just down play or ignore what Perry actually said. I am wondering how Perry could overcome all the media blackout for 2016. What can you do if even the conservative media is against you?? I am thinking of Newt right now, at least some of the Conservative media is sticking up for him,,,not Fox or Hannity or Glen Beck or Levin. I agree with Joe Hyde we are going to have to start making lots of conservative blogs etc and start really promoting conservative values and not Republican. I am independent cause I am not really a fan of most of the Republican candidates either…I can’t stand the Established Republicans either, they never do anything in Congress and look at how low an approval rating they have in Congress. We need to throw the bums out. Sorry Cheetah I had to rant for a bit.

        • nancysabet

          MSNBC, FOX, CNN: their mission

          • lizzie

            and so glad you are ok. I used to comment as K2K with you when I could, and was wondering how you were recovering from the past week.

            Take heart re: “MSNBC, FOX, CNN: their mission

          • romansdaughter

            Thanks for the great videos…I just love them.

  • lizzie

    Gingrich was the closing speech. This was broadcast live that night, and C-Span re-broadcast it several times. Gingrich owned that night.
    http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/IowaRon

    I might add that Romney was too busy speaking in Washington, DC on Nov. 4, and Governor Branstad publicly denounced Romney’s disrespect for Iowa’s GOP Ronald Reagan dinner.

    I was surprised that Perry went full-throated Texan that night in Des Moines, Iowa, when I had seen him go full-throated statesman in Manhattan in September (and changed Obama’s speech on Palestinian Statehood at the UN two days later) and full-throated Yankee quoting Daniel Webster at the New Hampshire State Legislature.

    But your post is not about Perry’s campaign, but about his superb timing and language on January 19, 2012 in South Carolina.

    Politico gave Rick Perry full credit for changing the results in SC.

    Considering the baggage that Churchill carried (Gallipoli in WW1, changing parties) during his years in the wilderness, and Lincoln’s failure to win re-election to the House and the assault on his “ignorance” – turned around with his Cooper Union speech.

    sometimes, the Voice is what wins at times of peril.

    Just as an aside, Gov. Christie’s in-your-face-Joisey-style does not bother me because I lived in NJ for seven years, but all the people who think Chris Christie is the answer, – well, no – he is just another Romney’s conduit to Wall Street. money. I wish Gov. Christie well in cleaning out the dungheaps that Corzine left behind, and hope he thinks being Romney’s main surrogate is helping because it most certainly is NOT.

  • Ausonius

    Christie kowtowed today before the liberal god named DIVERSITY by sending a practicing homosexual to the Supreme Court of New Jersey. And that the man is an Afro-American is just icing on the appletini.

  • dlg00

    I was just discussing on another blog how Reagan was the 1st vote I ever cast…twice, and I didn’t have to hold my nose. Now Mitt is attacking that Newt wasn’t a real Reagan man. I have a wonderful new article that was written by a man who worked in the Reagan Administration. It is a bit long, but well worth the read. Blessing

    http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fspectator.org%2Farchives%2F2012%2F01%2F24%2Freagans-young-lieutenant%2F&h=6AQGs-fxyAQE-6dxokdQqnpSq7YF4kLvSyBxuQTbGxzPGuQ