Rush just said “Newt stands for an IDEAL, Mitt stands for getting himself elected”

This sums it up well.  Newt stands for conservative principles of smaller government, individual freedom, individual responsibility, pro life principles, Christian values and freedom (even if he is not a perfect model).  Mitt repeatedly will say anything to get elected, just look at how he distanced himself from RR in his prior elections, and how he changes his positions to suit the election he is trying to win.

Newt is principled and yes, grandiose at times, but grounded always in conservative principles.  Romney has pulled out all the stops, including blatant lies and misrepresentations to try and win Florida.

Newt needs to SLAM him tonight, much as he will SLAM Obama in debates this fall.  Show the people why we need a principled fighter not an unprincipled moderate to have any chance to beat Obama.

Well, that wasn’t so bad! A clearly bitter ex offered nothing new and ABC even played Newt’s debate response! ABC even sort of discredited her by pointing out that she met with an arms dealer and allegedly asked for millions to try and influence Newt. I wonder how much, someone paid her for tonight’s interview.

She also discussed Newt asking for a divorce and she guessing there was someone else which makes the whole “open marriage” claim harder to believe.

This should not hurt!

South Carolina, I think you saw the kind of visionary conservative that we need to beat both Romney and Obama this week. I urge you to be bold and vote Newt!

I still see Rick S as a solid guy and an option i could live with, but boy he sounded bitter tonight. I can’t imagine such a negative tonality could help.

Rick Santorum appears to be a great man, a solid republican and a wonderful retail campaigner.  He is not a nationally viable candidate at this time.  He may have won or tied Iowa but let’s face it, he cannot beat Romney and cant beat Obama.  Imagine the impact a Santorum exit today or tomorrow could have on the Gingrich campaign.  It would stop the “drudged” up old story from a bitter ex wife and build fast momentum for Newt.

I know there are Santorum fans here despite his big government leanings and I applaud him for his campaign to date.  Like Perry, I think he has a lot to gain by stepping out and joining Newt.  It would be a massive help to Newt and given their friendship, I am sure Newt would take excellent care of him.  It would also set him up for another run in 4 years should Obama win.

God Bless you Rick and all of your supporters, but now is the time to go.  The impact you could make will never be bigger or more important in this cycle.

Newt needs to stand up and state very clearly for the media, that this Bain business is NOT an attack on capitalism. It is an attack on the ethics, character and decision making of a man who wants to be President. Just like Newt must answer for every vote he has cast in his career, so must Mitt answer for the decisions he made, especially since Mitt made his job creation skills an issue.

Newt must be clear once and for all that he is a free market capitalist in every way. This is about Romney and his character and ethics. It certainly sounds like, in at least a couple of Bains many deals, that those ethics may have been lacking. If that is the case Romney owes the people a defense of his actions or an admission of poor decision making.

Conservatives like Rush need to realize that this is about one man and his ethics and mindset NOT an attack from the left as he has so often claimed.

I am sensing the Newt momentum has stopped and is likely slipping.  I continue to believe that he is the smartest and most consistently conservative of the “electable” candidates.  The primary chinks in the armour seem to be the fannie/freddie consulting and the individual mandate.  His primary opponents are hitting him hard – and I fear it’s working.  The fact is, despite those past actions, he has made it crystal clear that he does not support ObamaCare and will work hard to repeal it.  What more can he do to make that issue go away???  The Fannie/Freddie deal is a little stickier, what can he do to get past this?

I think he will make an outstanding president in the Reagan tradition and can easily beat Obama, but he has to beat the other republicans first.

My blood starts to boil when I see all of the supposedly conservate commentators and pundits say Newt is “unelectable”. Against Obama, of all people, an extremely smart, reasonably conservative candidate who has a track record of balancing the budget and working sucessfully with a Bill Clinton is unelectable? I cry foul!

How can that be true? Certainly Newt was at one time a polarizing figure and the face of the government shutdown, but people, that was close to 20 years ago. This is a new Newt. He is older, kinder, and gentler but just as smart and just as consistently conservative. When faced head to head with Obama he can certainly beat BO.

The polls that show Romney does better against Obama right now than Newt are entirely irrelevant. Once he is the Nominee and gets all of the press coverage and people in the middle meet the new Newt that will change quickly.

Stop the “unelectable” mantra. If you don’t like Newt don’t vote for him, but don’t compromise and vote for somebody else just because you think that are more electable.

I say good riddance to David Brooks. In his piece today, he sounds like any other mainstream media leftist hack in excessive praise of the Obama transition and appointments so far.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/opinion/21brooks.html?_r=1&ref=opinion]

Where exactly is the conservative in this so called conservative columnist?

The Obama appointments from my (hopefully conservative) perspective have been awful. They have been extremely liberal. They have been Washington insiders (Change??). They have been Clinton people (Change?). The fact that he can applaud these says to me he is gone forever.

Unfortunately he will continue to call himself a conservative columnist/commentator and this will encourage the media and those on the left to ask all of the “true conservatives” to be more like him.

More like him? Are you kidding me? If the conservatives were more like him we would have no points of difference at all from the center left.

Good riddance David.

I read in the Libertarian magazine Reason, that Libertarians were expected to vote for Obama by a greater than 6-4 margin. When I worked on my first republican campaign in 1988 (JKFP) most of my colleagues were self described small government libertarians. It strikes me as a sad state of affairs when our party cannot win the vote of this group.

The question is why?

Has Bush totally lost for our party the small government position? If so that is too bad, because I don’t think he ever claimed to be a small government conservative and he most certainly did not govern like one.

Have the socially conservative positions (particularly on drugs and gambling) scared some libertarians away from the party?

Have other libertarians been scared away by things like the Patriot Act?

Regardless, of the reason we have clearly lost most of them.

So can we bring them back?

Can a Libertarian who thinks marijuana should be legalized sit comfortably in the same tent with an evangelical Christian conservative?

When Reagan was the president he managed to bring these groups together but I would argue that the split began in the ’88 primary when, Bush, Dole, Robertson, Kemp and even Ron Paul all took different factions and I don’t think we have put them all back together in a meaningful way since.

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?

Is our Constitution really not important to them?

This is a very strange issue. It could be put to rest so easily by BO by just producing the original and the issue is over. The only reason I can think of not to produce it, is it does not exist. This, by itself, does not mean he is not qualified to be president it just means like many of us he has lost or misplaced his original birth certificate.

But either way, he needs to offer some definitive proof that he is constitutionally qualified before the Electoral College meets. Why does he need to stall and evade? Just admit the truth and prove his citizenship some other way – unless maybe, just maybe, he can’t.

I cannot fathom why the media will not report on this subject – last I heard that were dozens of lawsuits going on yet no mainstream media coverage. Go figure.

BO may rewrite the Constitution before he ever takes office. Frightening.

Help!!! Virginia is in danger of making a habit of being a blue state.
The political calendar is pretty light in 2009 but Virginia will provide one of the first referendums on the BO presidency. In November 2009 Virginia can reclaim its rightful place as a Red State (without even a shade of purple) by electing a solid conservative Bob McDonnell as Governor.

The democratic field is wide open but may not be for long – former Clinton hack Terry McAuliffe is talking a big game and touring the state telling everyone about all the money he has and why that makes him the best candidate to run the state. He is apparently also insinuating that if he wins the primary, some of his fortune will go to help democratic delegates in their races. The Virginian-Pilot called this a not –so- subtle quid pro quo.

The problem is, that the guy really does have the cash to back up his claim and with his name recognition and ability to spin until the cows come home this guy would be a formidable opponent for an attorney general with nowhere near the same level of name recognition.

My plea to conservatives nationwide is to start discussing the Virginia race. Talk up the importance of a republican win in the first year of the BO presidency – in a state that voted for him. This race needs publicity and Bob McDonnell needs our support both with our $ and with our voices.

Winning Virginia in 2009, builds key momentum for the midterm elections in 2010.

Let the market do it’s job. The Automakers are failing because they have bad union contracts, make poor and not very innovative products and have a bloated and ineffective supply network of waaay too many dealers.

I know I have heard the doom and gloom about all of the related companies that rely on the automakers and this is true but they are not going anywhere. If GM ends up in bankruptcy, then they will simply restructure make better contracts and make better products to bring them through the downturn much like airlines or many other companies have done.

But what happens if even restructuring doesn’t work? Don’t you think some smart, young entrepreneur would come in – at least at some price – to buy the company’s assets and build a new, leaner, better, faster automobile company that would employ many of the same people and still buy from most of the same suppliers.

So even in the “worst case scenario” we as a country end up with a better and more competitive company in the end.

Make no mistake, there is one loser here and that is the unions. The failure of the auto companies is a major indictment of unions and their failure would be devastating for the future of unions.

Watch out for a nasty battle. The unions have tons of money, BO’s ear and will not let these union companies fail. That is a shame.

21 months. Thats right 21 months until Labor Day 2010 when the mid-term election season will kick in with national media coverage. Conservatives need to redouble our efforts to win the battle of ideas in the trenches between now and then.

We can start (restart) a movement here folks. No matter who we are or where we live or work, there are battles of ideas to be waged. We are all on the team and we are all to be held accountable for the results in 23 months when the votes have been cast.

But to win, we need to engage. Engage at home with your kids and spouse. Engage with your neighbors. Engage with your co-workers. Engage with your Church, with your golfing (or hunting or fishing) buddies. Engage with your weekly card game. Engage strangers on airplanes and in taxis when you travel.

Engage how? Thoughtfully. Passionatley. Relenlessly. Remind folks of the things we stand for like small government, lower taxes, strong defense, God, free speech, free markets and empowering people not government. When Obama goes against these values as he will at almost every turn, speak. Be that voice in the wilderness and try and get into a few peoples heads.

If a few million of us can be passionate in the trenches, I know we can each change a few minds with our ideas over the next 23 months. Do the math folks. If just a million conservatives took up this challenge and if each of us could change the opinions of just 3 or 4 people in the next 23 months then we have a net gain that can make a huge difference in the mid-term elections.

You are all on the clock. How many minds can you change in the next 23 months? I think if we focus on the bedrock principles and keep it simple like Reagen did we change the minds of more like 10 peaople each – in fact, this might be a landslide in 2010. Let’s do this thing.