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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Newt Gingrich Wins. What It Means.

Mitt and Newt will both have trouble beating Barack Obama. Mitt's trouble will come from Obama. Newt's trouble from himself. But right now, the base doesn't care.

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  January 21st, 2012 at 07:07 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

“The base is revolting because they swept the GOP back into relevance in Washington just under two years ago and they have been thanked with contempt ever since.”

No candidate has won the GOP nomination for President without winning South Carolina since Ronald Reagan in 1980. But every one of those candidates who won had also won either Iowa or New Hampshire.

We’re now confronted with a designated front runner, Mitt Romney, who got less votes in Iowa in 2012 than he got in 2008 and who lost South Carolina. His reason for being somehow remains that he is “electable.”

If you read a lot of the Republican commentary coming out of Washington even before the polls closed, suddenly South Carolina is irrelevant and the hick rubes of the Palmetto state are just petulant children.

Actually, like with Iowa, it is a rather desperate scream to get another player on the field. It is a red flag. It is the giant “Danger” sign ahead for the general election.

Newt Gingrich’s rise has a lot to do with Newt Gingrich’s debate performance. But it has just as much to do with a party base in revolt against its thought and party leaders in Washington, DC. The base is revolting because they swept the GOP back into relevance in Washington just under two years ago and they have been thanked with contempt ever since.

Adding insult to injury, the party and thought leaders now try to foist on the base a milquetoast moderate from Massachusetts. Newt Gingrich can thank Mitt Romney and more for the second look he is getting. Base hostility will now be exacerbated by Mitt Romney’s backers now undoubtedly making a conscious effort to prop up Rick Santorum to shut down Newt Gingrich.

Consider, before going below the fold, that this is the first time non-Romney ads against Romney have been at parity with Mitt Romney. And that parity caused a rapid erosion of support for Mitt Romney. Parity in advertising, not superiority to Romney, was all it took to begin the end of his South Carolina dominance.

People are mad as hell they are about to be stuck with another boring, moderate, uninspiring choice that has at best a 50/50 shot at losing to the worst president since Carter. They are flocking to Newt not because they think he’s a great guy, but because right now, he’s the only one fighting for conservatism and GOP voters are looking for a vessel to channel their anger with Obama and their complete disappointment with the GOP establishment which is now embodied perfectly by Romney. They want a conservative fighter because most conservatives look back at Ford, Reagan, Bush, Dole, Bush, and McCain and see only the ones taking a conservative path against the Democrats actually winning.

Trump was a flash in the pan last year, but it was because he took the fight to Obama. And all of the others (Bachmann, Perry, Cain, etc) got their rise because at the time voters sensed they would fight back with them. If nothing else, in the last year, Newt has proven he won’t wilt like Mitt did yesterday under pretty basic questioning from Laura Ingraham or a month ago under routine questioning from Brett Baier.

Newt has taken the worst the media, Romney and the left can dish out, and he’s still standing and fighting with passion and eloquence. Sure, he’d probably be an erratic President, but right now Republican voters don’t care about his Presidency. They care about the fight with the left both Mitt Romney, and the Washington Republican leaders like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell don’t seem inclined to engage in.

In every way in the last two weeks, Romney has signaled he won’t fight for the base. He looks like a lost child when trying to answer the taxes issue. He couldn’t stand up to Santorum in the debate. He sounds every bit like Gordon Gekko, not Milton Friedman, when he talks Bain and free markets.

Basically, today’s vote is about Republican grassroots giving the Washington Republican establishment the finger. The base is angry, and right now, only Newt is left to fight for them, as imperfect as he is. We may still end up with Romney, but voters aren’t going to let him have it easily.

Party leaders who have invested so much in Mitt Romney might want now to ride on to a brokered convention and find someone acceptable to everyone. Because this most divisive and bitter primary in years is going to wipe out the GOP’s chances to win in November. And while few of the Romney advocates of the past four years will admit it, it is because they have tried to foist onto the base a milquetoast moderate from Massachusetts as energizing to conservatives as a dead battery.

Consider this related post by Ben Domenech a must read on this subject.

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COMMENTS

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  • http://www.neoavatara.com/blog neoavatara

    It means this is a race. Gingrich is going to be short of money in Florida, but momentum may narrow the margin.

    Romney cannot be considered the presumptive nominee, not now. He may still be favored, but it is now a real race.

  • goodgovernance

    To be clear, Romney is still the most likely to win. But at last, we’ve got a real shot against him! A brokered convention doesn’t look quite so unlikely now, either.

    Thank you, voters of South Carolina! And a big thank you to Rick Perry, for looking at the bigger picture when you bowed out of the race. His role in this pivotal moment will be remembered.

  • benko

    A coupla videos on the web Joe Scarborough and one other are talking about a brokered convention and e.g. suggested that Palin’s comment about voting for Newt was just to continue the contest.

    The same names that had been mentioned in the past were mentioned again (Jeb, Mitch Daniels…) with the additional comment that Mitch Daniels is giving the GOP reply to something or other (not that it means he has changed his mind).

    Erick, thoughts on injecting a new candidate into the election who has not been “vetted”? How many other people aside from Newt and Christie can handle themselves on their feet and deal as effectively with the coming onslought of MSM hostility?

  • drewlovs

    Romney was doing fine before the 2 debates where Newt did extremely well. The voters were looking for a fighter, and Newt delivered, while Romney fumbled around trying to find a reasonable answer to his taxes.

    The problem with Newt goes beyond his ability to put his foot in his mouth, however. Obama knows why Newt was reprimanded in the House, even if the voters don’t; it WILL leak out, and if you think the press will dig into how the information was delivered, please go back to Newt’s answer to the first question of the second debate: they do not mind watching conservative candidates burn.

    Further, how many debates do you think Obama will agree to if Newt is the candidate? One? Two? And if he refuses to debate Newt properly, who is going to call him on that? I was really hoping that if Romney ended up losing, the conservative candidate would be Santorum; now I have to hope Romney pulls it out, because Newt is just one set of negative ads away from another temper-tantrum, and Obama will be ALL negative.

    Count on it.

  • carolina

    Read my lips political elite: you have a rebellion on your hands and you better start listening to us!

  • carolina

    This may be an opportunity for the Tea Party to REALLY show the political elite and the dems that we are not going away!

  • marktx

    Two things that are abundantly clear tonight.

    1) Mitt Romney is dividing the party.

    2) If Gingrich wins Florida, the establishment will start to make serious attempts to get Jeb Bush of Bobby Jindal into the race.

  • CarolT

    I was shocked to see Drudge at 7 say it was Newt! My iPhone has not had an alarm from the Drudge app, it’s because he is in the tank for Romney.
    The mobile sirens were ringing that phone so many times Wednesday because of the ex-wife interview.

  • fightnright

    that Obama will agree at most to two debates.

    He may opt out of the final one, through some Presidential crisis. (Newt, better not plan to save your best shots for last!!!)

    And the debates the O. does agree to will be heavily steered by a panel of the farthest left moderators imaginable.

    Meanwhile kudos only to tonight’s winner. I’ll work my tail off for Newt if he is our candidate, no debate about that.

  • benko

    If Romney can’t even answer the question about releasing his taxes, a question he should have known was coming….

  • SteveM

    I hate the idea of the convention being anything other than a rubber stamp of what the primaries and caucii have indicated.

    First off, if neither Newt nor Romney has enough delegates to take it outright, why would either willingly throw those over to a stealth new candidate?

    Secondly, this new person would have to build an entire campaign organization from scratch, get it online and effective and raise enough money to compete with Obama’s hundreds of millions of $$$ in less than a month. That’s not going to happen.

    Thirdly, the most likely outcome of a brokered convention is that the Paultards get in there and start no end of trouble. Brokered convention? We better hope not.

  • http://www.RightonMainSt.com Mike Merrill

    Great article! I agree completely-nobody thinks Newt will have a cake walk, but now the notion that Romney is the only one who’s electable is out the window. Even with his bigger war chest and better organization, Romney’s campaign still lacks a key ingredient found among Gingrich supporters- passion.

    After the mainstream media ambush on Newt, he fired back with both guns blazing. He was articulate, passionate, and he defended the ideals conservatives care about. He’s not perfect, but he was poised under fire and he had the passion to fire up the conservative base.

  • bob08034

    It must not even be close.

    At my polling site in the Upstate there were a steady stream of people at around 3 pm. No lines, but people coming and going. I noticed there were about 50 signs up at the designated distance — around 25 each for Newt and Santorum, but not one for anyone else.

    Be interesting to see what happens in Florida.

    If a brokered convention happens, how about Lindsey Graham? He seems like a solid leader.

  • marktx

    Romney should never have run in the first place…at least not as a republican. Gingrich has more baggage than a 747 at takeoff.

    A brokered convention would provide for a compromise candidate that doesn’t have Newt’s baggage or Romney’s Massachusetts record.

  • babykaboomer

    Great piece, Erick. You’ve got your finger on the pulse of the base, for sure…and a strong pulse it is, too!

  • SteveM

    The formats will be Bamster-friendly. Look at last time:

    1. Jim Lehrer – debate was supposed to be about foreign policy.
    2. Brokaw – town hall format
    3. Scheiffer – supposed to be about economic policy.

    At least one will be a town hall thing, which lends itself to democrat populism and bullcrap (the dems will sneak in as many Occupy people to ask ridiculous questions as they can). Throw that debate away.

    That leaves 2. Scheiffer last time let Obama get away without answering any questions, instead focusing on drilling McCain on specifics. Toss at least one of the last two due to getting a moderator with an agenda.

    That’ll leave our nominee with 1 chance in the debates to knock out Obama.

  • SteveM

    So you’re going to surprise insert somebody at the last minute and expect them to take on a sitting President?

    Horrible idea. You’ll kill the Republican party if you do. For starters, you’ll never get anybody to agree on a compromise candidate. Then there’s the other problems – no org and no money.

    Practicality has to rule here, people.

  • jakeofalltrades
  • lightspeed

    You nailed it Erick. Just as Gingrich was cast aside by his party, so too has the conservative base been cast aside by the arrogant elites. Here’s to Gingrich continuing to shove it down their throats!

  • tercel

    Yes!!!!

  • clintonformccain

    The crying shame of it is that the vote SHOULD be about beating Barack Obama and doing something about this devastating economy, but no…. all the base cares about is giving somebody the finger.

    Clown show.

  • WillWong

    Gang of 14 and full of himself. Big time Rino.

  • jakeofalltrades

    If that explanation is true, the public is showing its first flickering signs of self-awareness.

  • clintonformccain

    NT

  • jakeofalltrades

    Pass.

  • ombd

    Newt won this on the basis of two debates. In effect, he ran against John King and, in a GOP Primary, that’s no contest. Once the smoke clears, people will remember that Newt’s running against Obama and not the media. The glare of the spotlight has not been kind to Newt in the past and it’s about to shine on him as bright as it ever has … http://bit.ly/qVdDUt

  • mikelindell2

    Gingrich has a real chance of dethroning the scripted cyborg now. We need every vote we can and Santorum could still play spoiler and allow Romney to win. If Romney wins, Obama wins. Rick S needs to bow out with honor like Rick P did.

  • jakeofalltrades

    :P

  • salemst

    If Newt is the nominee this conservative will vote Constitution Party.
    Romney’s my top choice, I’ll vote for Santorum or even Ron Paul if they’re the nominee. But Newt is the GOP’s Bill Clinton, and I’m not voting for an immoral grandiose windbag.

    Stick me with him in November, I’ll find the Constitution Party candidate and cede the presidency to Obama. And you can blame Erickson, Rush, and others for people like me sitting out the election.

  • jakeofalltrades

    Newt’s assault on them before the general is strategic. He’s Alinskying them. Of all the candidates, he has the greatest need to discredit the media. For the media’s part, they seem eager to oblige him.

  • bobguzzardi

    The Newt Gingrich voter was an Anti-Establishment Voter.

    Will the Elites of Wall Street and Washington hear or will they be in denial?

  • ethos

    Gingrich has taken advantage of Mitt’s record and his own debate skills to adequately push the narrative that he is the conservative candidate. This could be a southern trend but the message is clear, Romney as the Massachusetts Moderate is a meme that sells. Romney’s gaffes on his wealth need to be corrected, which is easily done but he needs to do it. Great play by Gingrich, Romney is weakened.

  • z06gal

    you knocked it out of the park with this statement:

    “People are mad as hell they are about to be stuck with another boring, moderate, uninspiring choice that has at best a 50/50 shot at losing to the worst president since Carter. They are flocking to Newt not because they think he?s a great guy, but because right now, he?s the only one fighting for conservatism and GOP voters are looking for a vessel to channel their anger with Obama and their complete disappointment with the GOP establishment which is now embodied perfectly by Romney. They want a conservative fighter because most conservatives look back at Ford, Reagan, Bush, Dole, Bush, and McCain and see only the ones taking a conservative path against the Democrats actually winning.”

    I am beyond sick of the GOP Washington establishment. They simply refuse to listen to us or stand up for us. At least Newt is telling it like it is. He may have baggage but I would vote for Daffy Duck of the current fraud.

  • bobguzzardi

    dead on point jakeofalltrades

  • floridaveteran

    We know why Newt was reprimanded. We also know that the courts and the IRS ruled that Newt was not at fault and everything he did was LEGAL.

  • oldlady

    down our throats. Yippee!

  • jakeofalltrades

  • fightnright

    if the man playing for the (R) team is Romney, he’ll lose.

    And I’ve been leaning Romney for the general. But I don’t believe that debating before a huge audience is a skill that can be learned, it’s a talent that can be polished or honed. But you have to love it, and be born a performer – brilliance, critical thinking skills, philosophical genius – even all of that bundled together just won’t cut it.

    Again, so tragic that the qualities needed to win the Presidency are not always the skills needed to govern effectively; or to be a successful President.

  • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil truth

    In these grim days, something that brings a smile is good.

  • floridaveteran

    I wonder if old people will like their social security cut by 30% when it goes under in a few years.

  • jakeofalltrades

    You guys came from behind for the win. If you want Newt to win, you’re going to need to focus on Florida. Romney’s lead is massive there.

  • carolina

    Romney’s economic plan is more Keynesian garbage.
    We will all be better off if Newt wins.

  • carolina

    Romney’s economic plan is more Keynesian garbage.
    We will all be better off if Newt wins.

  • bob08034

    According to the exit polls the vast majority voted because they thought he had a better chance against O.

    Who will do better in Florida, the guy who thinks all illegals have to go home or the one who thinks there ought to be a way for at least some of them to stay?

    What about Ohio? How will Mitt “factory closer” Romney do there?

    North Carolina — the Southerner or the Yankee?

    Most of the states that voted blue last time will vote blue this time no matter who the candidate is. Most of the states that voted red will vote red. Question is, which candidate can make a few states switch sides?

    Here in the South we like a fighter when there’s going to be a fight, and Romney proved (in the debates and on the ground) that it isn’t him. I drive 30 miles to work each day and see lots of campaign signs. I think there are two for Romney. At the polling place today lots of signs, but none for Romney. Because he isn’t a fighter.

  • http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula

    He will follow Obama around the country like some creepy stalker, and the media will make a laughingstock of him. Obama, meanwhile, will be too busy for this sideshow, being extremely busy with the concerns of the country. Send in the clowns.

  • bobguzzardi

    Newt is fighting the Elites of the Washington Wall Street Republican Establishment AND the Obama Media and Obama Big Government Bankrupting Polices.

    Newt, it turns out, is the fighter that lights up the base. How he will govern? Well, we have the Senate and House to represent Constitutional Limited Government.

  • jaykali

    Romney’s squishy debate performances have been annoying for sure, but squishiness is what we’ve learned to expect. The thing ab Gingrich is that the is ALWAYS another shoe to drop with this guy. There’s always something. Thats what’s frustrating. I think we can say sanatorum is dead. He might hang on a little while longer but now it’s 2 + Paul.

  • http://lukos.com Ed54

    is rarely a smart basis for decision making.

  • WillWong

    That was an awesome victory!

  • krish

    I am so happy that the South Carolinians (?) sent a clear message to establishment! Now all the washington pundits would downplay that this was a wierd election & Newt stole the election with debate rhetoric!

    I hope Rick Santorum (whiny, alway angry guy!) does not help Mitt Romney by staying too long in the race & attacking Newt…..I would like to see him drop out for the sake of conservatives so that Romney & the RINOs in washington do not get what they want. I hope he does not turn in to Bachmann (she was angling for the VP slot?) indirectly supporting Mitt by going after conservatives.

    Mitt could Not handle friendly fire from Laura Ingram or Bret Baier …he has 0% chance to beat Obama — one Liberal media special on his taxes or the company that was closed by Bain…he is a goner! Establishment tell us that he is the most electable!

    By the way one clarification to Erick’s posting –

    Massachusetts Moderate = Liberal anywhere else in the country!

  • krish

    I am so happy that the South Carolinians (?) sent a clear message to establishment! Now all the washington pundits would downplay that this was a wierd election & Newt stole the election with debate rhetoric!

    I hope Rick Santorum (whiny, alway angry guy!) does not help Mitt Romney by staying too long in the race & attacking Newt…..I would like to see him drop out for the sake of conservatives so that Romney & the RINOs in washington do not get what they want. I hope he does not turn in to Bachmann (she was angling for the VP slot?) indirectly supporting Mitt by going after conservatives.

    Mitt could Not handle friendly fire from Laura Ingram or Bret Baier …he has 0% chance to beat Obama — one Liberal media special on his taxes or the company that was closed by Bain…he is a goner! Establishment tell us that he is the most electable!

    By the way one clarification to Erick’s posting –

    Massachusetts Moderate = Liberal anywhere else in the country!

  • jakeofalltrades

    but that’s how it may very well be spun by Romney’s side. I thought that’s why Romney is ahead in Florida, but the breakdown is even more interesting.

    Romney leads in Florida among born-again Christians 31% to Newt’s 18%. VERY interesting… and honestly, what I expected.

  • nnisey

    I am not influenced by the media,debates,or the Republican establishment. Unfortunately the best candidate does not always win. Iam voting for Santorum in the primary. In November I will vote for the Republican candidate. Obama must be defeated.

  • jaykali

    If we were going to have 20 presidential debates ya man I would really think ab newt. But having one or 2 debates is not going to make up for all everything else we have to deal with.

  • http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula

    Seems like we shot ourselves in the foot from the start by eliminating any and all candidates who had the House Monkey on their back (Pence, Ryan, etc.) and then waiving the imaginary rule for Gingrich. This might be a very different race if some of those candidates had been encouraged and backed early on.

    Erick is spot-on and has captured the mood of the GOP conservatives and Tea Party members. The GOP establishment ought to take heed and quickly find a more acceptable candidate before we lose this thing, badly.

  • Spartan4Life

    They are not going to stop this freight train against Oblahblah.

  • bluerose75

    Good riddance! People like you continue to think the conservatives will sit back and take your garbage and then raise all the money, make the calls and get the vote out! Romney is a liberal to moderate from the Northeast, outside of the West Coast, the most Democratic leaning area. He would win not one single state in the Northeast and would not pull the South. It is the South Salem, not the Northeast, with places like Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado and Virginia that will win it for the GOP. Romney does not play well in any of those. He cannot fool true conservatives with his stance on Romneycare, raising taxes, funding for abortion and left leaning judges. The Establishment will not win this fight like they did with McCain.

    Like Rush says, conservatism wins when articulated properly, Romney never liked Reagan, his is not a conservative and when pressed would never hold his own with Obama. They are too much alike in governance. Liberals from the Northeast never win for the GOP and the same for a liberal from Arizona! They do not excite the base. It is the base that has the money, gets out the vote and makes the difference. Rush also claims the Consultants, Rove and Morris, worry so much about that 20 percent moderate mush and it never works. Reagan WAS NOT THE CHOICE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT….FORD was and he was a DUD and lost to Carter!! Ford was spineless, moderate and played the middle. Reagan on the other hand cleaned Carter’s clock, much to the chagrin of the Establishment, see GH Bush. Reagan still dominates the political field after 30 years since he won in 1980. Even Obama tries to tie Reagan for crying out loud!

    Again, people like you, would not have supported Reagan at that time. I am sick of it!! I wish Cain was still there…heck ever Fred Thompson, but at least Newt has some conservative ideals. Romney is a transplant that I believe has no true conservative ideals. Yes he did well in business and I like that…but so do most Wall Street Bankers, and guess what? most of them vote for Democrats! The fact is overwhelmingly Wall Streeters vote for the DEMS not the GOP!!

    Enjoy your seat….the base that gets excited will more than make up for you back benching moderates who never make the difference! I am sure you loved McCain and boy your excitement swept him into office…and hmmm whom does McCain endorse now???

  • wolfplus3

    you can not be serious that you’ll take your little ball and go home just because your fellow didn’t get the nod. How utterly infantile!! I don’t care for Mittens at all, but if he gets the nomination I will vote for him. Newsflash for you….Barry with 4 more years and no worries of another election will burn this country to the ground. If our chances are dependent on people like you, we’re sunk.

  • mong001

    and rightly so. While I like Newt, I think it’s likely he’ll implode at some point and we need a backup to stop Romney. Santorum is solid and has stronger favorability ratings among GOPers than even Newt.

  • Spartan4Life

    He will try and help Romney. His phone will be ringing from McConnell, McCain, etc.

    It won’t work.

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    Remember that in 2014 when federally-funded abortions are mandated by Obamacare. That’s on you!

  • rinowatch

    very well said. A Romney presidency could end the GOP if he screws the base. Newt was not my first choice, but Mitt was dead last. Palin became a sensation because she fought the media head on. Great analysis.

  • mong001

    remind me of those who called Romney the true conservative in ’08 and bashed Huckabee as a liberal. It’s clear that the establishment does not like socially conservative econonically populist candidates who are supported by the grassroots.

  • bob08034

    Yes, Carolinians is the correct word.

  • SteveM

    If it’s Newt, I max out in dollars to his campaign.

    This is no election to take our balls and sit at home if the outcome is something we don’t like. I said the same thing to Newt supporters the other day here and was branded a campaign operative for my trouble. Goes with the territory.

    Same goes for you: If you truly love your country and don’t like the track that Obama has us all on, then for the love of God don’t sit at home come November.

  • mong001

    keep up the good fight.

  • CarolT

    I wrote earlier that my iPhone did not send sirens that Newt won and was in the tank for Mitt. He did send the sirens. I was in the other room.
    Santorum is splitting the votes and I haven’t seen any of the debates this week, but from earlier ones he was always angry. I hope he suspends his campaign and endorses Newt.
    Thank you SC!
    I am also thrilled Paul came in fourth.

  • jakeofalltrades

    When Nixon snickers about his preemptive all-out nuclear strike on the Soviet Union resulting in the annhiliation of New England being “[t]he last gasp… of the Harvard establishment. Heh heh.” Line at 1:10; sorry, no embed available.

  • SteveM

    …is the ability to attack the premise of stupid questions. Here’s how all the debates will go for us, no matter the nominee:

    Moderator (To either Newt or Mitt): “It’s clear that you sir have an issue with poor and minority voters. Your party over the years had made use of racist imagery and clearly favors the rich. How can you expect to convince poor people and blacks to vote for you?”

    As opposed to what Obama will get:
    Moderator (To Obama): “As you finish up a historical and thoroughly awesome Presidency, please comment on all the things you could have done if not for Republican obstructionism.”

    I’ll give Newt this. He’d rip the head off the moderator right then and there. Mitt needs to stop being polite. We saw flashes during that debate with the stupid contraception question, but he needs to amp it up.

  • jakeofalltrades

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    Stop complaining about how we’re doing it.

  • ethos

    The Mormon and Adulterer shadow narratives will battle in the gutter, while records, ethics, and wealth battle on the main stage.

  • jaykali

    If the enemy is the republican establishment then we’re in trouble bc the thing is there’s a billion dollar sitting president we have to deal with in a few months.

  • ethos

    While the evangelical bloc looks to have a leadership crisis.

  • bluerose75

    Romney is starting to show weakness in Florida as well. Some local polls show him losing support and I live in Florida. He has help with Mica in Central Florida but that is offset by Crotty the former mayor in Orange County. Crotty is Newt’s Chair for Central Florida and he is very well connected locally…more so than Mica. People forget local politics is dominated locally…Crotty’s support will help Newt big time in the Central Florida corridor. A win in SC will spring board him into Florida and will open up more cash make no doubt about it. The local radio airwaves are already hammered with Newt ads and Romney so Newt is getting alot of ad time on the local powerhouse radio stations. The debates are not his only outreach at all. I am quite surprised how many ads he already has!

    Romney is also showing weakness nationally…check Gallup’s Jan 20th. Those plays will start working against him and he is no longer looking unbeatable…in fact, he is looking weaker! Now some may say Mitt’s loss in SC will put more attention on Newt but quite frankly if you have been running since 2006, yes 2006 (for the 2008 nom) and you can still not wrap up the nomination with every established robotron from the GOP Establishment endorsing you what does that say?

    The grassroots carried the 2010 mid-terms.,..you know the conservative kooks, the ones the moderates and GOP Establishment take for granted and then try to tell them to shut up and support some moderate!! Conservatives when charges win elections not moderates,,,,see Reagan, Bush 2004, Mid-term 2010, Congress 1994 and more. When we focus on moderates see 1990 (Bush), see 2008(McCain) and we lose!!

  • rinowatch

    Watch some bill whittle youtubes

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

  • Samsara

    he proved that he could be an effective conduit of the anger in the Republican base. Smart has nothing to do with it.

  • likeaglove

    You’re right about the next shoe to drop with Newt. It’ll happen. It always does. It’s easy to push his buttons. Someone will do it, and I think he will implode. Personally, I don’t like the guy. He is condescending and sanctimonious and has proven to be remarkably hypocritical again and again. That’s standard fare for most politicians, but Newt has made an art form out of it. I’d vote for him over Obama in a heartbeat, but that is only because of the how I feel about Obama.

    I can understand the contempt for Romney, but Newt? Seriously?

  • rinowatch

    Yep, that was the bullseye

  • WillWong

    Rome wasn’t built in a day! To be able to beat Obama, we must first beat the Republican establishment candidate!

  • bunk11

    I can understand people wanting to vote against Romney. I’m not thrilled with him. But I don’t see Gingrich as being significantly more conservative than Romney. Gingrich is way left on illegal immigration and cap and trade, and at some point voiced support for at least some aspects of Obamacare (the individual mandate). On top of that, Gingrich calls himself a Progressive and thinks Wilson and FDR were great presidents.

    I’d rather have Romney, who will talk left and govern left or talk left and be forced to govern right, than Gingrich, who like the two Bushes will talk right and govern left, thus expanding the federal government. At least Romney is up front about being a moderate.

    The only candidate I liked this cycle was Herman Cain. None of the others are worth voting for. I will, just to get rid of Obama, but I don’t see how Newt is better than Mitt.

  • bestweather

    How can any intelligent lifeform cast a vote for this serial adulterer, and liar? He is about as unworthy of being president as you can get.

  • jakeofalltrades

  • gipper823

    What are they thinking? That Romney and Gingrich are just going to say, “Oh sure, all that time and money and energy I just spent over the last year, I’ll just forfeit all of that.” Yeah, I see that happening.

    Your options are one of the 4 people on the stage. That’s it. If there were a better candidate who wanted it, he/she would have run.

  • capeconservative

    If you want to have a SC fellow in the oval office!

    No No No No to the aisle-crosser Graham!!!!! He is as bad as his good buddy McCain!

    It appears that the message from conservatives associated with the victories won with the support of Tea Party values is still being questioned…my advice to the establishment is…DON’T! We are full of principles and are unwilling to accept RINO’s of any shape, color, size or sex!!!! What is it that makes them believe we are ignorant? We are probably some of the most informed citizens of our country and are ready to do what is necessary to stop its ‘transformation’ by the current resident of 1600 Penn Ave!

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    They’re pro-life, “pro-family”, and neither of those issues can the President do anything about other than reinstate some EOs – Mexico City, etc – but that only has impact on the margins. The next SCOTUS nominations are critical and I wouldn’t trust either Huckabee or Santorum on those.

    Both of them have, at the foundation of their careers in government, a solid base of pro-big-government ideas and legislative proposals. Santorum has never led on any conservative issue. Not a one. He was occasionally a team member, but he just did as he was told. He’s got a solid record as a big ear marker, as a guy who has never found a problem government couldn’t solve and as a fundamental lover of big-government.

    We’re not dealing with “social conservatives” here. We’re dealing with people who are no different than Barack Obama in their love of big government telling people how to live their lives, the only difference is what they’re telling them. Neither Huck or Santorum, nor any of the so-called evangelical leaders is Conservative in any way shape or form.

  • Bill S

    And…any more promotion of a 3rd party will get your butt kicked out sooner. Get it?

  • rinowatch

    I’ll not trade a bit of liberty for a bit of security, and I am not hoping to be the last victim. We have to start the long march back to the constitution and we have to do it now. Big government reupublicans are not my friends.

  • capeconservative

    and now that Pat Toomey is in Congress, America is MUCH better for his presence!!!

    Specter rewarded Santorum and W for their support by crossing the aisle permanently…and the PA voters let him know they didn’t appreciate that move!

  • conservnca

    Newt was the only conservative left fighting for the base? What do you call Perry? While Newt was off enriching himself since out of Gov’t ,Perry has been fighting hard in Texas for the futures of his citizens.Who has done more to advance capitalism in the last 10 yrs. Newt or Perry? I was wondering why there was such a frantic push to get Perry out before the vote in S.C., now I know. Newt’s sudden surge was from the votes that were Perry’s. If Perry had stayed in believe me he would done awesome. The powers behind this whole support Newt know it.That’s why Perry had to go. If not ,why not just let him get out after today. Remember we were constantly told how low Perry’s poll numbers were. If Newt was doing so great on his own Perry’s few votes wouldn’t have hurt him. This is a joke.Trying now to convince Americans that they had no choice but Newt. We had an awesome choice and his name is Rick Perry.Everyone in his state’s media lied about him, National media did everything they could to belittle, humiliate, and make him non-relevant. He wasn’t ready for primetime? What a lie. He has 11 yrs of readiness behind him.Don’t give me that weak argument of” he was only capable of running a state, not the country”.The state he has been running is the size of a country! Iowa was taken from him with questionable practices. VanderPlaats and his dealings to which it is being reported that Perry turned down his offer, then suddenly Santorum’s numbers surge.We really had a chance with Perry. No personal baggage( except the made up stuff on the border and the vaccine),terrific record, better than any in the country, great morals, no offshore accounts,can take a punch and get right back up, and finally was running for office for you and me, not his own ego, need for power,or money,All he wanted to do was serve his country. It was a very sad day for us in this country when he was pushed out as one of our candidates, we really had a chance to turn the damage around. And jobs, oh my gosh we could’ve had jobs again. Now it will be nothing but fighting in our party, bitterness, vengeance and who knows.And one of the best things is he wasn’t for an individual mandate, or Romneycare.I just found out today in the healthcare law of over 2,000 pgs. on page 1,000and something, is a mandate for people under this insurance that will require them to have a chip implanted in their bodies. Don’t believe me,check it out for yourself.

  • paladin1

    right with this article! We the base, we the conservatives, are in revolt and with everything I have in this season, I will work to take back our party, punish the usurper moderate kingmakers and their candidate, and put the only man left standing that will carry many of the Rick Perry ideas of limited government and free markets. That man is Newt Gingrich. He is not all I could want but he is not the wink and nod puppet designed to be shoved down our throats!

  • steeltube

    Tyler was with Gingrich for 12 years and quit with a bunch of other unhappy staffers 5 months ago. He now runs the pro Newt super PAC “Winning Our Future” which put out the “King of Bain” video. Those who saw it are forgiven if you thought it was produced by the DNC.

    He was just on Fox claiming that Newt’s win was a victory for “populism” and Gingrich is the “populist” candidate. So now I am supposed to believe that the guy with a $500K credit line at Tiffany’s is the new La Follette or Bryan?

    How long before Romney plays that card?

  • capeconservative

    It appears that adhering to the Constitution, using common sense and reason are the first values to go once someone swears the oath of office. I am so happy that folks like Allen West and Mike Lee and Ron Johnson (and many others I will forget to name) who were elected by Americans with the same values have stayed true to their principles.

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    He will be having a big White House party on January 20th, 2013. He would love you all to attend.

  • avagreen

    WTH?

  • aesthete

    which conservatives have festered in since GHWB.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    .

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    The ones like ‘beastweather’ here.

  • OCBill

    I would also add that there’s a simple reason why Romney has a hard time articulating the Conservative message. He doesn’t believe it. He never has. He’s in favor of capitalism because it’s always worked great to make him money But there’s more to the conservative message than “Big Business Rocks!” Even GE’s Immelt thinks big business rocks, but I wouldn’t vote for him, either.

    Gingrich, as flawed as he is, at least understands the conservative message well enough to articulate it in a convincing way, even though he wanders off the reservation more than I would prefer.

  • OCBill

    I would also add that there’s a simple reason why Romney has a hard time articulating the Conservative message. He doesn’t believe it. He never has. He’s in favor of capitalism because it’s always worked great to make him money But there’s more to the conservative message than “Big Business Rocks!” Even GE’s Immelt thinks big business rocks, but I wouldn’t vote for him, either.

    Gingrich, as flawed as he is, at least understands the conservative message well enough to articulate it in a convincing way, even though he wanders off the reservation more than I would prefer.

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    I love reading your stuff.

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    The base is sending the establishment a message by nominating a guy who will be shreded by the MSM and the Left and lose to One-bama by double digits.

    Let me ponder this now….hmmmmmm…

  • usedtobelib

    If the economy improves, even a bit, Obama will beat any contender.

    If the economy stalls or gets worse, Romney will beat Obama, but Newt won’t.

    Under only one scenario can Romney win.

    Under no scenario can Newt win.

    I just returned from the home of my Dem friends, my bellweather couple.

    Husband and wife. Both life-long registered dems. The man, retired union member, his first job of 25 years in heavy industry lost to a company that moved from CA to Georgia. That company has since left the US.

    The wife, once owner of a successful small business that was meant to sell burgers, but she had to expand it to breakfasts in order to make it profitable. Sold it after 15 years, tired and worn out. Became the manager of a public school cafeteria.

    He will never vote for a Republican. She will never again vote for Obama. We sat with our backs to the tv, drinking coffee. The news team behind us had just finished talking about the Niners and their chances tomorrow, when they sequed into politics with her announcing, “Newt Gingrich has just been projected as the winner of the S.Carolina primary.”

    Never even turning to the tv, my best friend, my Democrat friend who dislikes Obama said, “I can never vote for that pompous ass.

    And there you have it. Like it or not, she is the bellweather vote.

  • mikeymike143

    that makes paul the only candidate that hasnt won a state. LOL

  • Wiseman

    Romney could win a 3rd party run. Newt with his right wing nuts like Eric, Limbaugh and Palin on one side and Obama with Pelosi and Reed on the left! Sounds like a winner to me. Tired of all the gridlock! Newt is a disaster waiting to happen. By the way, look for Rubio and Jeb to endorse Romney next week!

  • jonerik

    And tailor made for the Tea Party sensibilities. Newts passion will rally that part of the base where Romney cannot.

  • capeconservative

    local talk radio Howie Carr Show yesterday – REFUSED to accept that his acceptance of the ‘recess appointments’ made by this president was WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!! I couldn’t get through, but believe me the callers who did let him know that the Senate WAS in recess and the appointments are not valid. He just kept repeating ‘we will just have to disagree on that point’ as each caller went into detail as to how it was Harry Reid who set up the rules during GWB’s presidency…but no no no…the good senator has swallowed the ‘got to get-along’ pill – to the DETRIMENT of our country!!!!

    He will get my vote in November because of the R – no other reason! We MUST regain the majority in the Senate if we are to undo all of the damage this president has done to our country. NO THANKS to our RINO congressional members!!!!

    When I read in Judicial Watch that one of the recent email dumps was one from Kagan (who should definitely recuse herself!) during the Obamacare mess, she wrote that she was ecstatic that Olympia Snowe ‘had come onboard’ – isn’t that nice…just one more New England RINO!!!!

    I believe that perception of Mitt Romney – just another New England Republican with no conservative values – is what is holding him back. And I believe it is a rightful perception.

  • capeconservative

    n/t

  • swi2522

    we need someone to dismantle the federal government and not look to get along
    the establishment repubs are spinless and will not fight
    i sometimes think they are the same as the marxist dems but dont admit it other than when voting

  • CharleyK

    Assumption 1: There will be two debates in the general election.

    In fact, if Gingrich is the nominee, there could be NO debates. Whatever Obama’s excuse for avoiding the debates, the press will support him. in that decision.

    So the Gingrich general election strategy needs to be prepared for this possibility.

    Assumption 2: Gingrich’s “baggage” makes him more vulnerable against Obama.

    It appears that Gingrich starts with more baggage than Romney, who has more baggage than Santorum. But the Obama cash machine will manufacture enough baggage to bury ANY Republican candidate. With each buried in baggage by election day, all Republican candidates will be equal in that regard.

    So the real question is NOT, “Who has the least baggage” The question becomes, “Who is best able to compete from beneath a mountain of baggage?” That seems to be Gingrich.

  • trickamsterdam

    ;) Meant in a constructive not destructive way.Thanks for caring enough to write something that long that you care about and want to share.

    BTW, about “chips planted in bodies”, if it’s true, insurance now requires a lot of weird stuff like that…the “chip” might be a new preventive treatment, not a means to track you.

    The main problem w/ ObamaCare is it forces the buying of insurance w/ no price controls (explodes deficit), will probably raise the unemployment rate at least two full points (red tape, taxes), and the mandate can be used as a precedent to make the Fed Gov make you buy anything in the future that is “in the public good”.

    Those are the main problems (there are others).

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    and those of his admin

  • capeconservative

    is very CONSERVATIVE! As are the northeast and northwest sections.

    It’s all the transplanted northerners in the southeast/southwest regions who mess things up!

  • deVere

    “Because this most divisive and bitter primary in years is going to wipe out the GOP?s chances to win in November.”

    When Obama and Hillary duked it out with charges of racism flying back and forth, did it stop the Democrats from winning in November 2008? Unfortunately not.

    The only thing that really matters in 2012 is the state of the economy ( and world) and nominating the correct candidate. The rest is background noise.

  • bob08034

    Who does better in Florida in the general, the guy who wants to send all illegals home, or the guy who thinks at least some should be able to stay?

    Under what scenario does a Republican win without Florida?

  • capeconservative

    honor the Constitution!!!

  • capeconservative

    oval office!

  • swi2522

    palin also helped and the rinos in washington will hate the conservatives even more
    maybe mcconnel and boehner and kantor will switch to the dem party

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    Is America ready to elect yet another adulterer to the White House?

  • jlrinva

    If Newt is our nominee, we’ll feel good: we conservatives will have a standard bearer who has positioned himself as a born-again conservative.

    Not the dull-as-dishwater capitalist moderate Mitt. Newt will destroy Obama in debates but Obama’s hate machine will destroy Newt’s credibility with independents and Reagan Democrats. In short, the voters we need to defeat Obama.

    Newt simply has too much personal baggage, and he looked really cute on that couch with Nancy Pelosi.

    Mitt may be boring and moderate, but he’s got a better chance to win the states that are actually in play. States like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida.

  • usedtobelib

    You’re overdoing it, Erik,

    For all your shouts that Romney hasn’t won over what you term the “party’s base” you’ve just as much evidence that Gingrich and the rest haven’t won over a majority of the party either. Or have I missed something? Does it look to you as if a majority of the GOP prefers Newt? Or Perry? Or any of the others.

    Seems to me you are inviting others to hoist you on your own rhetorical petard.

    I guess, by your definition, people who prefer a Mitt to a Newt don’t deserve to be called part of the “party’s base.”

    Your belittling of those in the party who don’t agree with your choice, who see others as shoving someone down your throat, don’t seem to understand that you are doing an awful lot of shoving yourself, on behalf of a man I wouldn’t trust with my dime.

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    I will follow…smile

  • http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula

    Double standard much?

  • swi2522

    since we are in florida lets get rubio to run
    the base will be excited and he would win the way reagan won reelection

  • capeconservative

    to speak out for him. Texas is lucky to have such a great governor and his position will be very important in the upcoming election.

    Ditto, New Jersey’s governor, Chris Christie. These men are very important and will be invaluable sources of support in the months ahead. Republican governors all across the country will be instrumental in a Republican VICTORY come November and America NEEDS that most of all!

  • freedom555

    I prefer Santorum but apparently he can’t win.

    I don’t even know who Romney is — nor does he.

    Newt is my choice now.

  • submariner45

    As much as the Sharon Angle/ Christine O’Donnell wing of the Party might think that we just need an unfiltered candidate to speak truth to power, Newt will get chewed up and spit out in the same way they did, it won’t even be close.

    The “base” has decided their purpose is not to win elections to advance conservatism, but to thump their chest and hoot and holler. There’s no rational look at issues (especially since Newt has the same exact “disqualifying” ideological missteps as Mitt), it’s just whoever yells the loudest. One way or another, your side is going to lose, badly.

    Newt will come apart at the seems, it’s not a question of if, but when. The question, is, will take down the entire GOP in 2012 with him.

  • capeconservative

    surprised!

  • deVere

    his flirtations with Liberals can’t hurt him much in the general election, just the primaries.

  • bob08034

    I didn’t see any anger at the polls today. Quite the opposite in fact.

    Looks like Romney carried two counties.

    Romney lost because he can’t fight. He proved it at the debate.

  • btpull

    In an 8 day period between Jan 31st and Feb 7th there are 6 primary/caucuses. The question is Newt disciplined enough to run an effective/competitive campaign in more than 1 state at a time?

  • sta46

    They had one. His name is Rick Perry.

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    The big question now is: Is America ready to elect yet another adulterer to the White House?

    Do you think?

  • capeconservative

    possibility of changing the administration!

    Just ask any MA resident how the current occupant of the oval office’s good buddy, Deval Patrick, succeeded in holding his office for another term by putting in a straw man to run 3rd party…works every time!

    And…one of the leaders of that little ‘trick’ is now associated with registering the 3rd party (presidential candidate unknown) in as many states as they can to see if they can pull off another ‘trick’ on a much grander scale.

  • eddie74

    If Obama refuses to publically debate Newt Ginrich at every challenge, then Newt Ginrich should still hold the Public Debate but with a second Empty Podium on the Left and two Teleprompter there waiting for the coward to show..

  • Jack_Savage

    Liberalism is an abject failure, and today there is more evidence than ever to confirm this. We see our future in Greece. We see the results of the “help” given to the poor and minorities in the utter destruction of the black family. Regulations and Obamacare have businesses bound and gagged. We accept $3.50 per gallon gas because we know how quickly and easily it could go to $7.00.

    The simple fact is that Romney accepts liberalism as a legitimate way of running things instead of the horror that it is. He might tinker around the edges, or he might leave things as they are, but he sure as hell hasn’t articulated any bold plans to turn back the tide. The key here is that Romney is perceived to be running in order to BE something (President) instead of in order to DO something (gut liberalism and its media apologists like a dead fish).

    Good Lord, all we want is someone who will fight. Someone who will stand up and say what we all see every day. Someone who is less worried about playing prevent defense and more interested in telling the truth. Someone who will call things what they are, then not issue twelve apologies and clarifications.

    Liberalism is indefensible, and Newt is the only Republican in the country who is calling everyone out on it. As long as Bill Clinton is a rock star on the left I don’t give a damn how many wives Newt Gingrich has, had, or will have. Until someone else is willing to fight, Newt is my guy.

  • capeconservative

    And he will continue to fight for what is BEST

  • sta46

    prince barry doesn’t have either the guts or the smarts to
    debate gingrich
    assumption 2
    the only one who is baggage free is Perry and look how well that worked out for him. The republicans bought into the meme and sent home the best person that ever could have happened to us at this juncture in time.
    way to go.

  • fightnright

    because of the historical importance of his entry, and refusing also to take his (McCain’s) *own side* in an argument, IMO, is one of the many many reasons the wishy-washy, mealy-mouthed McCain lost his own bid for the gold ring.

    Yes, the MSM swooned over Obama, ignored his lack of legislative accomplishment, buried every academic and personal record and the parade of radical enablers who groomed him and launched his career. And Obama ran as a moderate, not a liberal, which so many failed to notice, dazzled as they were by the star-power of Obama’s fellow-travelers, the sparkle of the fireworks over the Greek columns, and the glib silver tongue of an attractive new-comer and his glowing family, with such youth and promise..

    …how possibly could the craggy, tongue-tied, fusty senior McCain compete with this? Even Newt, deploying his tongue as the effective and quick sword as he has, would likely have failed in that position, as the press would frame his attacks on the mild scholarly Obama as harsh, bitter, and unseemly.

    But it is good that Mitt has had a chance to up his game in this contest while still in the early innings. Mitt looked so exhausted tonight that I’m now wondering about his stamina for the long haul – this week’s marathon is one of many to come, and even after that the real iron-man match just begins.

  • likeaglove

    I have the same feelings about Newt. Illegal immigration is a huge issue for me. My cousin was murdered by an illegal a few years ago. I know Romney has been a squish on this issue, but he has the backing of Kris Kobach (a hero on the issue). That speaks volumes. You’re also spot on with regard to Newt’s alleged conservatism on a whole host of issues. If Romney is suspect (and he is), then so is Newt.

    Like you, I really liked Cain. We desperately need an outsider to go in and uproot the deadwood in Washington.

    Beyond that, I fear that Newt is a guarantee of four more years of Obama. People have long memories and won’t soon forget his history. I don’t know that Romney can win in the general, but I feel certain that Newt can’t.

  • Bill S

    .

  • sta46

    the one candidate who would have actually dismantled the federal government?

  • trickamsterdam

    Thank you, South Carolina. A state finally votes that didn’t vote for Obama in 2008, and look at the result we get…

    As someone who was born in NY and grew up in PA, I now officially forgive you for the Battle of Gettysburg. Congratulations on finally being honored by me.

    Gov Perry needs to be remembered here. He was at about 6%,, and that?s about the margin I?ve seen. Together Newt and he beat Romney. And who can blame them for wanting too?

    Sen Santorum needs to go. Now. Put whatever pressure was put on Perry. Promise him AG if he wants it?Santorum?s a hard worker, and you obviously don?t need to be too smart for AG.

    FL is going to be very hard. I know that state?it?s huge and a lot of people are transplants. Romney?s attack ads will work there. It?s even more reason for Santorum to go. And for him to go NOW!

    PS ? For all you ?anti-brokered convention people?, did you notice the conservative wing of the MSM hasn?t been as hard on Newt lately? Rush says the R powerbrokers want Newt to extend this thing to force a brokered convention. Coincidence? No, I?m afraid I don?t think it is.

  • capeconservative

    plans for America!!!! Enough with the negative ads – start feeding his plans for turning this sorry ship of state around and back on the right course to LESS GOVERNMENT intrusion in our personal and business lives.

    Let Mitt throw around the negative ads…they will only show him as a bitter negative person.

    As has been proven with this SC election, the American voter is NOT as stupid as those in the establishment believe!! We are HUNGRY to hear our presidential candidate’s POSITIVE plans to bring our country back to the values of our founding fathers and the CONSTITUTION!!!!!!

  • aesthete

    they sent up there. Heck, that scumbag (Clinton) is much more popular today than the two family men who have been elected since then.

  • swi2522

    BUT I KNOW ITS NOT MITT

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    True?

  • Jack_Savage

    “Elect another…”

    The better question “Is America ready to send yet another Republican moderate Presidential candidate out to pasture forever after he gets his ass kicked by an utterly incompetent, corrupt Democrat?”

    Well, Nick?

  • usedtobelib

    are wrong?

    Okay, okay, you think they represent the “establishment.”

    I get that.

    However, what makes you think that everything they’ve said about Newt is wrong?

    The man is manic, the man suffers from delusions of grandeur, yet you think he will better represent you, the little guy?

    wow.

  • daveinthed

    Well, RedState/Erick, you got what you wanted. Newt, the man without integrity or values…the man who sat on the couch with Pelosi lecturing us on global warming…the man who went to bat fopr Freddie Mac and raked in $1.6 mil doing so…the man who slimed the Swiftboaters and threw Obama’s class warfare in Romney’s face. He won tonight. Happy?

    Good God, we are now exactly like the LIBs. We’ll give anyone a pass for anything. In fact, we’ll cheer our guys on even more if they crap on their familes and thumb conservatism in the eye again and again. All they have to do is shout and get red-faced at someone in the lamestream media. That’s good enough for us as party now. By giving Newt a big “thumbs up” and a free pass for all of his “improprieties”, we have just relinquished the high ground on moral “values”. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Nominating Newt will be a DEATH MARCH for our party, for the cause, and for this election cycle. Good luck with that, folks.

  • maybenexttime

    Romney is on the ropes, but he is far from out of it. Jeb’s decision to not endorse hurts Mitt in Florida. A Gingrich win in the Sunshine State puts this race into something resembling the Twlight Zone. There are a ton of moving parts in this scenario, including a brokered convention…which would render tonight a moot point.

    When it comes to money and organization, Newt is going to have problems matching Romney down the stretch. However, this race seems to be evolving beyond the traditional templates that used to decide elections. If GOP voters want a guy who will “hoot and holler” then Gingrich is their only choice.

    I suspect the GOP establishment is working frantically on plans to take out Newt before Florida votes. If they succeed, Romney will get back on track and stumble across the finish line. It won’t be a pretty sight, but for those afraid of Gingrich taking down the Republican party, it’s better than the alternative.

  • fightnright

    will be portrayed – the common, abrasive, spotlight-seeking ‘Rupert Pupkin’ loser, the bad boy once sent home to sulk by his own party, running after and yapping at the heels of the royals. ‘The dogs bark’, the media will snicker, ‘but the caravan rolls on’.

  • capeconservative

    throw stones! I’ve heard that one all my life! Those among us who are without sin… However you want to say it…let’s face it, we ALL have fallen short of our expectations. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is a good policy…

    I’d prefer someone who acknowledges their imperfections than to have someone who has LIED and LIED and LIED AGAIN.

    (Perhaps I am mistaken and am responding to someone who has never made a wrong decision in their life and had to suffer the consequences.) If not, remember “judge not lest you be judged”

  • swi2522

    obama will still lose to newt in a debate even though the moderator will be trying to protect him
    newt will destroy him and prove that obama is an empty suit
    obama proves affirmative action does not work

  • usedtobelib

    he’s been campaigning, like everyone else?

    If ever there were a candidate and backers who thought him to be “ordained” is was Perry–jump in, w/out putting down any roots, present himself to people who’d never met him, and expect to get their votes.

  • Jack_Savage

    Like she would ever, ever vote for a Republican. Ever.

  • romeg

    like moral vanity.

  • capeconservative

    By the way one clarification to Erick?s posting ?

    Massachusetts Moderate = Liberal anywhere else in the country!

    Senator Scott Brown – the man who won ‘the People’s Seat’ and promptly forgot who ‘the people’ were that voted for him!!!!!!

  • usedtobelib

    anger” of the average voter in the general ….because they AREN’T angry like you are. DO YOU GET IT? They AREN’T ANGRY….THEY ARE SCARED.

    So they will re-vote in Barack Obama versus Newt. Newt SCARES them. Obama doesn’t. As representative of the whole of the GOP, they now be SCARED of the GOP.

    Get ready to lose seats as well as the Presidency.

  • Tbone

    they would have been supporting Rick Perry, not a loser like Santorum. Now they can take their sanctimonius selfs on a hike because Santorum is nothing more than a political carcass.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    Here’s a hint: The most electable candidate?
    By definition, he’s the guy who can run the campaign that wins the nomination.

    If Gingrich, underfunded vs Romney, can beat him, dont underestimate him versus a weak incumbent President.

  • trickamsterdam

    “I won’t vote for that pompous ass”? Her future’s on the line and that’s how she’s deciding it? And if the economy improves even a bit, Pres Obama’s unbeatable? Yeah, sure…that’s why Sen McCain had a lead in 2008 until Wall St crashed.

    Well…I don’t agree w/ your scenario. I think either Romney or Newt can beat him.. Either can obviously also lose to him.. A candidate a brokered convention can beat him too…and even more so.

    Why won’t Gov Romney release his tax returns exactly? I can only assume it’s because he has SOMETHING TO HIDE and doesn’t want us to know about it until he already has the nomination locked up.

    Tell your “friend” that. This isn’t a friend like on a self-help show is it?…That is…the “lifetime democrat” is you, “used to be a lib”? I’m kidding. ;)

  • romeg

    I call him what he calls himself: Former candidate for the Republican nomination.

    I would have loved to see him standing where Newt is now but he wasn’t able to pull it off. He simply wasn’t ready to engage at this level of play. Perhaps he will be the next VP or will run again and be better prepared next time. But this wasn’t his time and he chose to step aside and endorse Newt.

    If Newt is good enough for Governor Perry, then he’s damn well good enough for me.

  • aesthete

    The fact that they can’t or won’t find employment in a field where they can benefit their fellow man indicates that their “values” are skewed. Internalize this truth and respond accordingly.

  • Jack_Savage

    This is politics, not church. We are fighting against liars, thugs and criminals, and you want to bring tea and crumpets and strongly worded statements.

    You better believe I want someone to shout and get red in the face besides me, and if anyone else besides Newt had realized that we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

    Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse than liberalism, and if people with “values” won’t fight it head on and in terms people can understand, just exactly what sort of “values” do we have?

  • freedom555

    He rarely strays from the message.

    Sad to say, The Message is so clearly ‘calculated and contrived’ that any robot could spout it .

    Mitt is all caution and control——-NOT the full functioning human being I want to guide my country.

  • capeconservative

    to the lady who was never a true Republican since she immediately changed horses right before the election!

    BOTH of their decisions were not to my liking. But as I’ve heard so many times during my life, the only people who make mistakes are those who have the gumption to do something. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but at least you’ve given it your best.

  • http://docweasel.wordpress.com docweasel

    For the first time since Perry imploded, I feel a bit of hope about our chances in November. If Romney is the candidate, I’ve long felt, we lose. Here’s a good analysis of one reason why:
    http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/01/21/why-romney-lost-part-i/

    The South, just like in 2008, won’t vote for a Mormon, period. He’ll do worse than McCain did, probably lose some Southern states Bush won.

    I don’t think Gingrich can win, but maybe the brokered convention, as remote a possibility as that may be, will bring us Daniels, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie (I know he’s suspect, lately, but better than Romney) or someone else (dare I hope for Paul Ryan?).

    Mitt is finished, mark my words. Once Obama proved he could beat Hillary in a few primaries, people came around to the fact they were not alone in hating her, and what Glenn Reynolds calls a “preference cascade” starts, as people find they are not alone, that others feel as they do, and their protest vote is not wasted.

    Romney has no constituency but the GOP establishment and Mormons. They won’t be enough to save him.

  • jmag

    It’s also entirely possible that you’d get a fairly organized person, such as Paul, who would probably be worse than someone new thrown into the mix.

    We could win 2012 with a flawed candidate and then lose it again in 2016, but we could also lose in 2012 with an even worse candidate and not even be taken seriously in 2016.

    The trick is getting the right flawed candidate nominated. It’s better that we decide this in the primaries, rather than take a gamble on what the delegates’ true allegiances may be if we went to a brokered convention.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    Newt can try to get debates, but he wont.

    That wont matter much.

    2 debates of Newt shredding Obama’s record will be enough.

  • aesthete

    Accusing the non-Romneys of being unreasonable, irrational, counterproductive, and focused on their emotions just because they don’t support your guy isn’t the best tack for getting them on your side, even if your right. One might almost call it an unreasonable, irrational, counterproductive “strategy” designed to satisfy the emotions of Romney supporters, rather than to help Romney or achieve conservative results. (I call it being an immature, stunted whiner who can’t deal with failure, but that’s just me.)

  • rdcjr

    You might not feel that way IF you had seen his speech tonight. On MOST issues it would be very easy for a conservative to wrap his/her arms around them in agreement. Paul is not a total loon as some here would seem to believe. As a matter of fact Newt just agreed with Paul on the issue of the FED and sound money and mentioned him by name in his victory speech. How so many people that call themselves conservative here can be so against the freedom and liberty that Paul promotes is baffling. As conservatives, we should be more like Paul than different. We differ on foreign policy although Paul is right that we should not be fighting sanitized wars. If we are going to go to war we should declare war then unleash the FULL power and might of our armed forces, annihilate our opponent, then get out and come home. Don’t get me wrong, I am a Newt supporter. Is he perfect. No. He is a flawed human being saved by grace like the rest of us. Yes he is. (If you aren’t saved we need to have a chat) I have read many of his books and he is, without a doubt, a man that has spent an enormous amount of time pondering our problems, working on solutions to those problems, and then placing those solutions in books and websites so we can study them. Who else has done that? It’s not his fault many are too lazy to read his writings. In other words he comes into this election prepared to be President day one when most of the others don’t have a clue how to fix all of the major problems that are before us. Go Newt!

  • bob08034

    How many people aren’t burnt out on hearing about politician’s private parts?

  • bob08034

    Who want’s to be painted as afraid of Newt?

  • greyeagle

    You are correct about Perry. I am still very angry about how he was treated and the lies that were told about him on numerous conservative web sites. Perry was out best chance for conservatives to succeed. I don’t think he will ever run again. I would not blame him.

  • aesthete

    I would think. It’s more likely after two family men who were miserable failures, and in the midst of a recession, certainly. I know that for me, the details of Newt’s harem and scummy personal life are completely irrelevant. Then again, I’m way past the point of caring about The Most Important Election Since [Insert Date That Will Make Me Sound Impressive/Ostentatious To the Viewers] — just give me my ballot and pass the popcorn.

  • pttx333

    you certainly know all of the buzzwords that Paulites use. Amazing.

  • pttx333

    you certainly know all of the buzzwords that Paulites use. Amazing.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    Perry got bogged down defending Gardasil, calling opponents of a non-conservative tuition for illegal aliens policy ‘heartless’ and saying ‘oops’ iin debates. He simply wasnt prepared well in his run … Perry never hit his stride, leveraging his great Texas and conservative record into an ARTICULATE message to win votes.

    What’s done is done. It’s Gingrich or Romney now.

  • maybenexttime

    If Gingrich pulls off a win in Florida (especially with a double-digit margin) then Newt might not have to worry about discipline all that much. Romney has to stop the runaway train before the 31st. Otherwise, Colorado, Nevada, and Minnesota might begin shifting towards the Gingrich Mojo. He’ll suddenly have the air of inevitability.

    We’ll find out how good Romney’s organization and SuperPAC is over the next ten days. The upcoming debates will be interesting. Romney will have to re-invent himself rather quickly, and I believe the pressure to release his taxes will become overwhelming. If he doesn’t release them before Florida votes, I think Mitt will have problems. Even if he does release them, there could be “issues” with those documents that further erode his once-powerful electability argument.

    This suddenly has become a fascinating spectacle. Romney dropped 20 points on Intrade this evening. Guess who went up 20 points?

  • greyeagle

    is not a natural born citizen and neither is Rubio.

  • bob08034

    Newt has a better chance of winning Hispanic votes in Florida than Romney.

    What will Obama say in Ohio and Pennsylvania about Romney closing factories?

    How many Republicans will stay home because they just don’t see that much difference between Romney and Obama? I see a difference, for sure, and I’d definitely vote for Romney if he’s the candidate, but will everyone?

    Gingrich is the candidate who worked with the other side and got things done. Balanced budget, welfare reform. That can play well.

  • capeconservative

    that he will continue to play an important part in the 2012 election by being the governor of one of our largest red states! We cannot discount the importance of our governors in winning this MOST important election in November.

    We all know that the mainstream media loves to take every opportunity to show our candidates in the least flattering light. And we also know that the mainstream media HATES conservatism with a passion and will leave no stone unturned to destroy us.

    I wish there would be a major change in the entire election process before the 2016 presidential election. We need to stop these foolish endless debates where moderators try to force THEIR liberal issues up as ‘gotcha’ questions – they do NOT allow our candidates to present their own positions.

    Rick Perry is a man of class and I wish him many more years as governor of his great state. Thank you, Governor Perry!

  • romeg

    Less than a month ago, Newt had been written off in SC.

    It is a new race and even with virtually NO organization in FL, Newt will do far better than expected at this moment.

    Newt is not impervious to attacks, scurrilous or otherwise but at least he can command the stage and the audience. He is capable of inspiring listeners.

    Mitt, a talented and capable administrator, is boring as hell. He couldn’t beat John McCain in SC or FL in ’08 and he won’t be able to beat Newt inf FL in ’12. However, Newt it fully capable of defeating Newt in FL.

    If he stays focused on defeating Obama and inspiring people to follow and support him and his vision, he will win. If he lapses into his old ways, his tendency toward tedious, tendentious self-promotion, then he’ll fall short and we will see a dull and uninspiring Mitt win the nomination and maybe win the White House but only if he learns how to win the audience the way he has won the media and the current RNC leadership.

  • greyeagle

    early voting started here today.

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    The presidential debate with One-bama on one side singing “Let’s stay together” and Gingrich the “angry white guy” on the other side waring his “Share Me” sweat shirt.

    “the details of Newt?s harem and scummy personal life are completely irrelevant.” Hiding your head in the sand is not a strategy. Newts scummy behavior will be front page news for the duration of the campaign. It will be relevant to the voting public especially the millions of women who have been hurt by scummy men.

  • rdcjr

    what happens when we vote for a 3rd party. We got a finger wagging “I did not have sex with that woman” Bill Clinton. As an aside, I find it funny that the very same media that just loves Clinton to this day and glossed over his flings would get on their high horse over Newts past indiscretions. With age brings wisdom and it certainly seems Newt is indeed a changed man that has sought forgiveness from a loving God. If it’s good enough for God it’s good enough for me.

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    n/t

  • capeconservative

    the one perfect man/woman in bestweather?????

    Must be nice – for most of us, we accept we have fallen short and appreciate being recognized as ‘back on the right track’

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    maybe

  • romeg

    with Obama in absentia. It would be great political theatre to have an empty lecturn for Obama and to pose question to him and then play video of his previous responses to those questions or to have a surrogate stand in for Obama.

  • greyeagle

    Romney may not do as well as he thinks. The state is controlled by Republicans for awhile. The County I live in is mostly Republican. Not many Democrats bother to try and run.The East Coast and down to Miami is more Democrat. A lot of Dems have not switched parties, but vote Republican in the General.

  • AceInTX

    I’d watch it from here….the blam stick won’t be far behind….

    As for:

    I?ll find the Constitution Party candidate and cede the presidency to Obama.

    Don’t let the door hit you on the way out RINO!!!

  • thereyougoagain

    I agree with Erick that neither Mitt nor Newt are positioned well to beat Obama. It seems the world has tired of Mitt in one short week and he won’t be able to articulate a message that would even half as exciting as Newt’s. He is tone deaf to the issue of his tax returns and his fabulous wealth and has blown his chance to explain the Bain Capital situation. Worst, he can’t touch the soul of the GOP base, which has now been awakened.

    Newt, on the other hand faces down the worst negatives of any potential candidate in the history of polling. In a recent Examiner article, Newt’s negative favorability ratings in three distinct polls taken just last week are 27% / 17% / 26%. Those are the worst numbers in the history of poll-taking for a major party nominee. When Hillary was boasting negatives just below 50% in 2007, all of the Dem pundits were sweating bullets.

    So now we’re left with these two to choose from and neither will probably yield a victory in November.

  • capeconservative

    of the current president’s past associations during the last election didn’t get through to you?????

    It’s okay to ignore someone’s entire past, schools, drug use, association with unrepentant terrorists and America-hating ministers, but you believe that Newt’s personal life – which HAS been made public and for which he has accepted RESPONSIBILITY for…is going to trump all of his opponent’s hidden foibles, many of which may border on ________________

    Your closing statement “It will be relevant to the voting public especially the millions of women who have been hurt by scummy men.” tells me one thing – that you do NOT know women! When someone is hurt, why would you think they would condemn a general populace? Not everyone carries hatred to such an extreme as you are trying to project. Count me out on this one!

  • rdcjr

    Newt’s plans are all over the place. Go to his websites. Read his books. Listen to him speak. What else is he supposed to do? http://www.newt.org/solutions and http://www.newt.org/21st-century-contract-america are just two of them. It’s all out there and easy to find. Books too.

  • romeg

    Prior to the election results virtually NONE of the participants in their focus group had settled on a candidate.

    After it was announced that Newt had won so decisively virtually ALL of them had settled on Newt. Why the switch? Because Newt now has the aura of electability and Mitt has lost some of that aura by virtue of his defeat in SC.

  • 1bunny

    that if Obama wins re-election that Perry will run in 2016. So he is not beaten down never to be heard from again as much as the GOP elite and MSM would like.

  • AceInTX

    The conventions are run by the same state committeemen who gave us Reince Priebus. They’ll drive Romney down our throats anyway…and cuss us like dirty dogs for not being smart enough to do what we’re told

  • rdcjr

    I’m glad you have never made mistakes. I’m glad you have never had to eat crow for those mistakes. Gingrich is flawed and has made mistakes just like the rest of us. Yes, even candidates for President aren’t perfect. Unless it is Obama of course……….at least in HIS own mind. I’ll take an imperfect Newt over the Marxist in the White House and day. And I’m trying to be kind to the Marxist.

  • fightnright

    is that so many conservatives seem willing to place all of their chips on a critical race for the future of our country on the outcome of the debate forum ALONE. (The political arguments about Romney v Newt’s records and electability are splitting our party in many states, thus are peripheral to the ‘debates’ question under this discussion.)

    The idea of a single Newt debate isn’t going to happen; it wouldn’t be watched by half the country anyway (no steel-cage match there!) – and for the ones who DO watch, it would be only Newt preaching to the choir.

    Absent the primary debates, how many here would have been – how many here WERE in fact for selecting Newt for the general elex before this one SC debate?

    If this one shot great-Newt-debate strategy fails, or is broken by circumstance (real or contrived by Obamites), by a ‘fixed’ debate format or shrewd moderators, then all we are left with is a guy with higher national negatives than McCain or Romney ever had.

  • JSobieski

    Communication skills matter. People ask questions of the candidates in town halls, in interviews, etc.

    Romney has clearly been behaving as a football team sitting on a lead. He never seems to make an affirmative case for himself. He is most concerned about avoiding unforced errors.

    In contrast, Newt tries to hit home runs all the times and can embarassingly whiff.

    Both candidates need to move towards each other a bit in terms of style, but Newt is closer to what we want than Romney is…. from a communications perspective. We just need Newt to implement a 3 second delay before expressing every thought.

    Far harder to turn cautious Romney into a true advocate.

  • lineholder

    Not just for Newt or Romney or any other Republican candidate, but for all of us and for the future of our country!

    I’m really hoping that Newt will utilize the people on our side who have such tremendous knowledge and passion for the Constitution of the United States to reinvigorate the vision the founding fathers had for this nation. And there are so many options…some of them incredibly simple, even down to music (remember Hank Williams’ last song?) and art.

    Let the left spin its webs! We can win the confidence and respect of the American people instead.

    I’m hoping he’ll at least try, because regardless of the outcome where the nomination is concerned, if he succeeds in this much, he and those working with him will have done this nation the greatest of good deeds for this generation and the next!!

  • greyeagle

    GOP establishment will not accomplish much. They have totally misjudged the voters. Florida started early voting today. I don’t think Romney will win Florida.

  • David123

    they opposed Dede Scozzafava

    http://conservatives4palin.com/2011/12/rick-santorum-a-traditional-conservative.html

  • rickperryreport

    …and she HATED Newt for Wife v. 3.0 for a long time. But tonight she got excited. Best lines were about the XL pipeline. Amazing that CNN didn’t break for commercial. They played the entire thing! (I heard Fox News broke away for a Goldline commercial. ::snark:: shank::

  • rickperryreport

    takes a lot of money to run on Super Tuesday. You think Jeb Bush paid his dues and can raise enough funding for all of us to see? (if you count Perry-Bush connection) a Jeb Bush campaign will be Bush v. 4.0. I doubt it flies.

  • Samsara

    This will be the Republican establishment’s argument against Newt.

    From the Hill:

    Henry Barbour, a top Rick Perry fundraiser who endorsed Mitt Romney after the Texas governor dropped out, said Gingrich could not beat President Obama and would cost Republicans many House and Senate seats.

    Barbour told The Hill that endorsing Romney and coming to his South Carolina rally was a “very easy decision” because of Gingrich, who he said would turn the presidential race from a referendum on Obama into “the adventures of Newt Gingrich.”

    “Newt would be a disaster as the nominee,” he said. “He will put the House at risk. He will put our chances of taking the Senate down the tubes.”

    “He’s too polarizing a figure to win the White House. He can’t win independent voters and we can’t win the White House without independent voters. He would be a disaster for our down-ticket candidates and our gubernatorial candidates.”

    http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-presidential-primary/205603-new-romney-surrogate-says-gingrich-could-cost-gop-congress

    Thats right Mr. Barbour…the bland candidate always wins. As to independent voters, they are by nature swayed by the candidate who can make the best case. Newt has shown he can do that. Governor Romney has not, yet. He has won through organization and money. Now he has to prove his ability as a campaigner in a real battle. If he can’t beat Gingrich in a “fair” fight with the entire GOP establishment and FOX news on his side, then Mitt is the one with “electabiliy” issues.

  • Jeff

    Three states in and 47 to go and you think it’s down to two when all the candidates are more than a little bit lacking.

    This is the worst GOP field in my memory of 32 years of voting.

    I hope some new face emerges a la Bobby Kennedy did in 68′ for the Dems – someone with some personality unlike Mr. GIngrich who has too much personality, one who isn’t the face of Mr. Corporate, one who doesn’t sound like he needs coaching to put together a compound sentence, and one whose views are more than a bit acceptable to most Republicans.

    The GOP should be hoping and praying for a late entry a la Bobby Kennedy in 68′ for the Dems – or for a brokered convention that nominates someone the 60% of the country who are not GOP will vote for…, otherwise it will be four more years of Mr. Obama – and I’d rather have knitting needles poked in my eyes than four more years of him.

    Anyone who is excited about any of these guys needs to check in to a mental health clinic.

  • greyeagle

    Let’s see, he had back surgery about 6 weeks prior to the first debate and was wearing a back brace and obviously in pain. TX was burning with wild fires, and Obama refused to make a disaster declaration until several people died. FEMA showed up, sent a number of firefighters home, while the fire was still out of control, and grounded several airplanes that was used to spread water. Perry was trying to debate in this mess and was attacked by Bachmann and Santorum over essentially two non-issues in two debates. It was a pile on. So in the middle of this mess, yes he should have been better prepared. He had 3 bad debates then the rest were good, but he was ignored, denigrated by the media and supporters of other candidates. So yes he is out, but he had a lot of help being tossed.

  • okpensfan

    Simple. Newt will stand up to Reid. Romney won’t. End of story.

  • rickperryreport

    .. if he attacks the press. Newt comes off as a streetfighter defending what he believes, whether he believes or not. There is an authenticity issue here, not a willingness to fight. I am sure Romney would love to fight, but he knows fighting drives up his negatives.

  • greyeagle

    You are speaking words of wisdom and I fully agree with you.

  • Common_Cents

    Unreal. Especially for some new candidate? unvetted? no organization? no practice?

    Nobody save for Ronald Reagan reincarnated could pull that one off.

    Gingrich is tapping emotion, something GOP fails to do often. Obama won on pure emotion last time. Gingrich makes a good case and can tap emotion, a great combo. Romney is a robot.

  • APA Guy

    Newt will win the White House…and we’ll have commanding majorities in both chambers of congress.

    So let it be written…so let it be done.

  • Common_Cents

    They aren’t going to go down easy.

    Gingrich will have to fight a couple battlefronts. But I think it can be done. Gingrich is tapping emotion that Romney can’t.

  • DinosaurConservative

    As horrible as Obama is, I am not an ABO person and will not be voting for any of the GOP field in the general for the third pres election in a row. That is the only way I know to urge the GOP to present someone halfway decent. That said, the nomination of Gingrich (or Santorum) will lead to the loss of both houses of Congress. Just nominate Romney, or preferably Dr, Paul, neither of whom can win, but will not drag the ticket down.

  • Finrod

    JFK once, Clinton twice.

  • Common_Cents

    There is a little appeal to Paul, promising him a Fed audit or something. Paul focusing on taking down romney would be a big help. Santorum won’t last FL. Would be smart if he dropped after SC.

  • aesthete

    President McCain and Jeremiah Wright can attest to the power of using personal impropriety or a shady past to convince voters to stop caring about issues that got them into the ballot box, and to start caring about something that doesn’t affect them. Newt has a hill to climb, but this isn’t the Southern Baptist Convention; these are the people who vote for scummy state politicians and Congressmen in their states every election.

    This issue isn’t as important as you’re making it out to be, either for the Republican base or for independents. Right now, the issues on the table are a failing two-party system that isn’t responsive to voters, an incredibly weak economy that could kick into DOOOOOM mode at any point, a foreign policy shift from the Middle East to the Far East, and massive government going on an unsustainable spending spree, in addition to an already unsupportable trajectory from pre-Obama programs. Who or what Newt puts his peeper into (and chronological order of same) has nothing to do with these issues, much like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers had nothing to do with wrapping up the war in Iraq, preventing an economic meltdown, or healthcare provision (the issues in 2008).

  • txteach

    are natural born citizens – born here in the good ol’ USA” – their parents were legal immigrants but that’s not part of the qualifications.

  • Tbone

    You are a totally worthless waste of oxygen.

  • Tbone

    All he has to do is become a Jew hating, 9/11 truther and promise to disband the military and close down the Fed.

  • pttx333

    You’ve not voted GOP for the past two elections and won’t in this on? That can only mean you either support Ron Paul or Obama!

  • aesthete

    http://nolanthomas.hubpages.com/hub/Sexual-Affairs-by-US-Presidents

    Of the seven men, only one was voted out of office as President (LBJ), and he was not voted out for sexual conduct. So that’s actually 11-1.

  • fightnright

    that Newt’s negatives will also be driven up by his contentiousness, at least amongst those who don’t self identify as conservatives/Republicans, if Newt takes his battles public by dogging Obama on the campaign trail, and if he is shown to casual/indy voters in MSM news reports as loud, red-faced and abrasive on the stump. I don’t know that moderates would perceive that as ‘authenticity’.

    Mitt Romney may be onto something re: snark, at least so far as casual voters are concerned, but I’ll have to watch head to head Obama/Gingrich Obama/Romney polling as the campaigns progress to see how that develops.

  • texasref

    Don’t even TRY to sell me some compromise Romney-Gingrich ticket with a Ron Paul keynote address.

    Gingrich or Bust!

  • texasref

    Newt will win that one, too.

  • texasref

    :-)

  • Common_Cents

    We tried that already. A politically correct gentlemanly debate taking the high road will guarantee a loss. Romney DENIED there was any media bias today on the campaign trail. FAIL.

    We need a Georgia Bulldog to make the case, confront the thin skinned obama, and channel the frustration of America.

  • Common_Cents

    But remain positive for the remainder.

  • texasref

    and his name is Newt Gingrich.

  • CharleyK

    Obama’s stated reason could well be, “My opponent is a skunk and I don’t associate with skunks.”

  • texasref

    Erick, you nail perfectly how I see the impact of this result on the race for the presidency. Your analysis is always right on, and you don’t just have your finger on the pulse of the base…you ARE the pulse of the base!

  • lapert

    You are severely under-counting the number of adulterers who have run for the white house. Jefferson, Harding, FDR, Eisenhower, LBJ, among others. And I would be shocked if no presidential election losers haven’t as well – they just aren’t remembered because you know they lost and all.

  • Common_Cents

    At first the media will try to smear Gingrich.

    But it’s a brilliant strategy.

    Newt gets all the major media 4 hrs after obama

    Newt gets to reach any independents that come see obama.

    Newt gets the last word, w/ advance notice of what obama said.

    newt must be persistent and not abandon the strategy.

    Obama will be pressured and will look like a loser dodger.

  • lizaz

    Romney couldn’t beat McCain in 2008 and look what happened to McCain. We must have someone who can outflank the current WH occupant!!! We must!!!!

  • deVere

    If he wanted to marry into my family I’d say NO WAY. However he only wants to be President of the USA, which isn’t as important. Being a cad doesn’t necessarily stop a man from performing well as President; look at JFK.

  • bob08034

    I think contempt is why Obama’s poll numbers were so low, for so long. I don’t think he can win an election on contempt.

    I also don’t think he’s so humble that he won’t believe he can win the debate.

  • Samsara

    nt

  • Common_Cents

    Gingrich won women/married women. HUGE.
    Tea party
    republicans
    men.

    romney won one category. Those Reps making over 200k. OOOOOOPS.

  • rickperryreport

    When I was teaching kids how to fly jets, the best technique I used was to start the mission debrief with a mighty fine compliment of part of the student’s performance. It opened them up to be receptive to the grueling critique that followed.

    Newt followed that model tonight in a way. He complimented them all. Tomorrow, in Florida, he starts fighting for what he believes in. That is, critiquing.

    Only brown shoe clerks sit around on their butts reading daily polls to define the mission.

    When you’re in combat, the warrior spirit Newt is displaying trumps all MS Windows programs, especially Powerpoint, and particularly Excel. Damned paper pushers (-;

    I still miss Rick Perry, though )-;

  • texasref

    and putting a guy up there who can articulate conservative values, not Massachusetts Moderate values.

    Conservatism wins every time it is tried.

    And as for your derisive comment about the “clown show,” all I can say is…

    Clowners gon’ clown…

  • bob08034

    What has DeMint done? Despite what I said earlier, I’d have a hard time voting for him.

    “Aisle-crosser Graham?” That’s half of what Gingrich is running on — being able to cross the aisle and get things done.

  • Common_Cents

    And is turning the tables on them.

    do you think Juan will confront Gingrich? do you think John King will think twice? do you think other obama lame stream reporters will think twice? oh yeah.

  • texasref

    But first anger…watch the hellfire rain down on Newt between now and Super Tuesday. Women have NOTHING on the Establishment wing of the Republican party when it comes to being scorned.

  • Common_Cents

    There is not much resistance to Gingrich in FL at all.

  • texasref

    nt

  • aesthete

    Harding as my example, instead of JFK. JFK did ineptly blunder into nuclear conflict with the USSR, after all.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    First – It’s NOT a bad field.
    Santorum, Romney, and Newt are ALL better candidates than McCain was in 2008. Better than Dole in 1996 as well.

    Second – It LOOKS like a bad field, because it has been a tough bruising primary. Well, that is toughening up the candidates. They are getting fully vetted. Had Romney not been challenged on Bain and taxes, it would have been an “October surprise” that would have sunk him. ROmney must work harder to win Tea Party and conservative support.

    Third – The primaries dole out the delegates and the winner of the most delegates wins the nomination. SIMPLE. Romney is geared up to do just that unless he is stopped by a strong ‘not-Romney’.

    ONLY Gingrich is strong enough to stop him.

    Fourth – A brokered convention or late entrant winning is a fantasy. It wont happen.

  • fightnright

    (Rick Perry?)

    “He’ll be baaahhck” – someday, though this week was a heartbreaker for so many sincere conservatives.

    (seriously, you know perry still has his role to play in the party; he’s young enough; and at the right time and place, will be even better)
    St. Teresa d’Avila: “patience obtains the goal” =)

  • Common_Cents

    He might lean to limiting debates but will be goaded into doing them. If Gingrich is persistent in calling obama out as a chicken loser, it will resonate.

  • carolina

    !

  • carolina

    !

  • usedtobelib

    And he’ll never win the Oval Office. A guy with a perceived IQ of 100 can’t win the White House.

  • Common_Cents

    Romney reveals a glass jaw with a Perry OOOOPS in the debate the other night. He cannot think on his feet. He cannot debate beyond sound bytes. He fumbles badly when challenged and confronted.

    He isn’t prepared for questions about his wealth/taxes? seriously?

    It’s not even what romney says, its HOW he says it. He inspires ZERO confidence.

    Romney is risky. The establishment media is trying to combat that.

  • carolina

    was just reported on CNN

  • usedtobelib

    If that’s so, maybe we ought to have a talk with them about bigotry.

    I wonder if fundamentalist hatred of a Mormon is really evangelical-envy…you know, that Mormons might win more converts world-wide than they do?

    Do you suppose that could be the source of some of their problems?

    After all, these people think you can pray away the gay.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    ..

  • usedtobelib

    is the new Ross Perot.

  • Common_Cents

    There is not much of an overhead ceiling for him if he plays it right.

  • usedtobelib

    voters.

    Or do you live in OZ?

  • usedtobelib

    Got news for you–the minute Newt went nuclear on Bain, he killed the Republican Party. It IS dead.

    While the far right has spoken of leaving the party, I think, of all wonders, it will be the GOP that leaves the Republican Party next time around.

  • deVere

    Her name was Carrie Phillips, and she spent the years of his presidency touring Europe. Harding really loved her, and wrote her an amazing 800 pages of love letters, which she kept secret until the end of her life in 1960.

    Most of the stories about Harding were invented nonsense, especially “The President’s Daughter” by Nan Britton. The truth is Harding handpicked one of the strongest cabinets in US history, turned the depression of 1920-21 into a decade of prosperity by cutting taxes and spending, made a great civil rights speech in Birmingham Alibama, and worked himself to death in the service of the American people. He is very deserving of the gratitude of the people he served.

  • aesthete

    nt

  • Common_Cents

    Hope that trend continues in more states. A good sign for the general.

  • usedtobelib

    Points well made. What is wrong with Erik for not seeing this and more?

    The more is that Newt come directly from the diagnostic manual-he’s a textbook narcissist.

    Look it up, people. Every single descriptor fits him.

  • gekster

    Thanks for removing the doubt. ;)

  • aesthete

    had a taste for graft — and love or no, he wasn’t very discreet about his affair, or respectful of his state of matrimony, loveless as it was.

    We do agree that he was a terrific President, though, easily in my top three of the modern era (had an awesome VP, too).

    LBJ, now *there* was a terrible guy and a terrible President…

  • usedtobelib

    Barbour about politics.

  • gekster

    is someonr with a 50 IQ complaining about someone with a 100.

  • fightnright

    so far as the mealy-mouth deferential approach of McCain went. My opinion has always been that Mac’s utterly failing meta-narrative during the campaign was that of the humble yet heroic underdog that everyone in the US just *had* to love and honor (preferably with a vote).

    But I do think that the glowing presentation of a ‘moderate’ Obama during his first campaign (as I described above) with no record, would have been tougher for a feisty Gingrich or a bloodless Romney to beat then than it would be now, when we see what O. has done to our economy and our world standing. That’s why Obama was presented then as a gentlemanly moderate, instead of a McGovern – with no clearly articulated partisan vision – and it did work for the libs.

  • annie54

    200,000 Absentee Ballots have been cast. It’s going to be difficult.

  • runner12

    I am not a huge Newt fan, but I am beyond thrilled that SC stuck it to the establishment. The same establishment who orchestrated a media blackout on Perry and who try to undermine the Tea Party at every turn.

    This may be one of EE’s best diaries. Newt has baggage, but he beat the DC establishment tonight. That is a big plus in my book.

  • conservnca

    Nice to hear from someone who knows Perry was the one who would’ve succeeded.I don’t agree he wasn’t ready.There were traps set for him all around and not enough on our side to back him up. If he had the backup he deserved I know he would still be fighting today. It’s just that everyone he trusted abandoned him.
    It wasn’t the libs that surprised him it was his very own.The tea party, radio that said they were for conservatism, the ones that said we needed a candidate like him,evangelical leaders and the list goes on.Sarah Palin for goodness sakes.
    I guess it the country that’s not ready for a candidate that will really do what is best for the country.I pray he will run again, but then again after the way he was treated, America doesn’t deserve him

  • Samsara

    The message I got from Mitt’s concession speech was that he will not drop out. With money, organization and the establishment behind him, why should he? Add to that the expectation that Newt will self-destruct at any moment….this may well be a long primary season. Not what I expected at all.

  • Lesstressrx

    We already have a guy in the white house with a perceived IQ of 100, his name is Barrack Obama….

  • conservnca

    I guess that means you won’t ever win the Oval Office either. Quit bashing Perry. There are other sites for that

  • allydiercksmeier

    Governor Perry was the only true conservative candidate. Instead of looking at his record (longest sitting Governor in the state of Texas, I guess he had to be doing something right) he was torn down, and ridiculed for his early debate performances. The people have spoken, they don’t want a leader, they want a candidate that can take down the lame stream media. Wow, so much for our Hope and Change. Same old same old, a repeat of 2008, here we go again

  • duramater

    I saw the vicious treachery unleashed on Rick Scott in FL campaigning against establishment endorsed McCollum. They continue to sow seeds of dissension and undercut the gov. still.
    Whoever they perceive cannot be controlled is their target.

    The GOP estab. in FL called Romney as their guy early on so it’s gonna be ugly down there. There are other financial and ethnic factors at play, too, but it all gets back to elitist power struggles in GOP.

  • lakeshore

    Too many non-Conservatives, and even many Conservatives, can’t stand him. No one with negatives as high as his can possibly win. Come back to reality and start seeing this through the independents eyes, since THEY decide elections. They always vote for someone they feel comfortable with, or vote AGAINST someone they don’t like. How many of you Newt supporters have taken the time to ask non-GOP types what they think of him? Remember, they are still allowed to vote. You’re hearing what you want to hear, but many decide on what they see. All Newt has going for him is his ability to press your buttons in debates. If you show me polls where he actually has a chance of even tying Obama, then maybe you can start feeling good about this. I’m WAY more to the Right than Romney, Gingrich, or Santorum (all will flip-flop and have) but I’ll take my chances with Romney or Santorum to win against Obama over Newt, who has ZERO chance. The sooner people wake up to that truth, the sooner we can either accept that this time, we’re stuck with another moderate (Romney) or we need to push for a Conservative alternative NOT named Gingrich.

    http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/america-hates-newt-gingrich/326161

  • annie54

    n/t

  • Change Jar Conservative

    RAND not RON.

    Someone mentioned it here the other day, but what if Ron Paul has enough delegates to push Gingrich over the top, but the deal is that Rand has to be the VP.

    Then Ron would have set up his son to run in 2020 after two terms of Gingrich or maybe even go up against Gingrich in 2016.

  • WA_Cowboy

    NT

  • Change Jar Conservative

    He’s a moderate to liberal in a conservative state.

  • deVere

    There’s no evidence I know of that Harding himself ever took a dishonest penny from his government service.

    Of course he appointed Albert Fall as Secretary of the Interior, and Fall took a famous black satchel of cash from oilman Edward Doheny which may have been a bribe for the Teapot Dome oil lease. Fall insisted it was a loan, but was convicted; Doheny was acquitted! In any event Fall was the senior senator from New Mexico when appointed, and chairman of the Senate Interior committee. On paper he was very well qualified, and when approached by Harding, Charles Evans Hughes suggested Albert Fall for Secretary of State! But of course Harding recruited the superbly qualified Hughes for that job. Harding simply had bad luck with Albert Fall.

    Harding has also been blamed for the supposed crimes of his campaign manager and Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty, who was investigated by the US Senate after Harding’s death and actually found “not guilty”.

    So if you are going to accuse Harding of having “a taste for graft”, what is your evidence? Or does one simply need no evidence to libel Warren G Harding?

    As for his love life, Carrie Phillips demanded that Harding divorce his wife, and he refused. Carrie then demanded that Harding vote against war with Germany (she was very pro-German) or else she would expose their affair. Harding responded by voting for war. When he was nominated for President he informed the Republican bosses of his affair, and the 800 pages of letters, and they paid Carrie a large sum,, including a lifetime annuity, to leave the country.

    I’m disgusted with Republicans who implicitly trust Democratic historians and journalists (like H,L, Mencken), and repeat over and over the baseless lies about Warren Harding. He deserves better, especially from members of his own party!

  • pttx333

    n

  • clowngirl

    I suspect more and more will realize that as the campaign goes on.

    Was working till late and haven’t seen Newt’s whole speech yet – has anybody got a link?

    It’s hilarious seeing so many articles trying to keep going with the “Romney is inevitable narrative” with increasingly weak justification.

    Even funnier reading that the Romney camp is trying to spin the last week as “great” for Romney and “terrible” for Newt.

    I’m actually not expecting a particularly drawn out primary. It seems more likely Newt’s momentum will snowball and Romney will lose in Florida and drop out after Super Tuesday like he did last time.

    I also think it’s notable that Romney (and others) prevented Newt from winning Iowa by going ultra-negative/lying.

    Newt won (primarily) by rising to the moment.

    As, I believe you put it, he’s showing the mettle to be President.

    We don’t need a brokered convention. Our best nominee is already in the race.

  • annie54

    I quit what I’m doing and look up. Perry takes command of the room when he speaks, regardless where it is. He and Anita are a really gorgeous and nice couple.

    I really liked one of his last statements in his final speech, which was, “Things are going to be good no matter what I do.”

    I MISS HIM.

  • pttx333

    have been to slam him like the others. With Perry’s endorsement, Newt couldn’t very do that, and I don’t believe he would have anyway.

  • SoFiMil

    that would be the kiss of death. Call the flaming sane racist what he is – a flaming sane racist. That ticket would represent the quintessential establishment modus operandi.

  • aesthete

    My knowledge of Harding is from years ago and quite superficial; thanks for the education. I’m still not keen on calling anyone who has an affair a stand-up guy, but I get your point vis a vis levels of personal failing.

    Question, since you seem to know a lot about the subject: which do you prefer, Coolidge, or Harding — and why?

  • pttx333

    ashes and sackcloth … I miss him, too. What a guy! He isn’t done, though, he’ll be back on the national stage in other capacities. And, thankfully, he is still my Governor.

  • stumpy

    middle finger! :-)

  • SoFiMil

    Winner-take-alls are about to start. No way will Santorum or Paul outright win even one state. The margins would have to be Newt and Romney each getting about 49% of the delegates. Even if Santorum or Paul one 1 or 2 states each, the margins for a brokered convention is extremely small. Three delegate rich candidates are needed for this to happen, such as a 45, 35, 20 split.

  • Locked and Loaded

    You are making no sense at all.

  • Locked and Loaded

    You are making no sense at all.

  • avagreen

    I was wondering the same thing myself……

  • avagreen

    His presence is commanding. One more good reason to get him off the stage…..

    However (and this isn’t original with me) with the way things were being used against him, I’m thinking that with the course of things as they were running, he saw another path to be able to win for the people, so he punted for right now.

  • Common_Cents

  • Common_Cents

  • olds88er

    Romney already has the endorsement of three Cuban Congress-members in South Florida. And Rubio is close to endorsing him. Then Jeb Bush and the Governor of Florida will endorse Romney.Romney also has grown sons that speak fluent Spanish. That makes for a powerful pack of supporters.

  • conservnca

    to have to say you are right. I wonder what will happen when the emotion of Newt beating up on the media,the establishment,and the left dies down. Will those who gave Newt a standing ovation have jobs when the rally cry ends?
    It’s great to stand up finally and fight back, but then what?Perry only suspended his campaign.Why aren’t we begging him to get back in? He will create an environment for jobs, he knows how. Newt doesn’t.He will create an environment for business’s to come back from over seas. Deal with the parts of government that have a strangle hold on our freedom.I can’t believe we let him slip through our fingers. He’s what the tea party said they wanted in a candidate.I just don’t get it.
    I like Newt, this isn’t about that. His accomplishments were years ago. This is a whole new environment that he hasn’t had to deal with before.Perry’s accomplishments are past and present.He’s still creating jobs everyday.He’s never agreed with global warming or single payer healthcare. He has been consistent. I just can’t believe we want to elect another good debater. I thought we have all been crying out for a job creator

  • deVere

    But Harding’s achievements impress me more.

    Recruiting Hughes, Mellon, and Hoover for his (and Coolidge’s) cabinet.

    Ending Wilson’s “red scare” by freeing Eugene V Debs and 23 others from prison.

    Ending the 1920-21 depression by cutting federal spending by almost 50% and cutting taxes from 73% to 25%.. The big difference between Harding and Hoover is that Harding followed Andrew Mellon’s advice, and Hoover did not!

    His October 26, 1921 Birmingham Alabama speech advocating civil rights for Negro Americans and denouncing lynching.

    Beginning the federal budget process.

    Harding’s major diplomatic achievement was the Washington Naval Treaty which was effective for 15 years in stopping the naval arms race. Coolidge’s Kellogg-Briand pact to outlaw war was well-intentioned but unfortunately useless.

    They were both very good men, but Harding’s achievements impress me more.

  • wingnut43

    Newt will fight Obama and Obi’s MSM lapdogs tooth and nail. Yes he is an adulterer, but so what? He is smart, thinks on his feet, debates well, and is ruthless when it counts. And he has been around the block more than a few times, so he knows how things work. Of these 4, I think Gingrich is the best candidate to take on Obama. I’m not saying it will be easy, but at least he has a fighting chance.

    Mittens will never beat Obama unless everything breaks his way. Obama will portray him as Gordon Gekko, and Mittens will have big trouble with Hispanic voters in the southwest, even in Texas. Santorum might be a good VP candidate for Newt. Paul is way too out there on foreign policy to win an election.

  • wingnut43

    Perry may be a great governor of Texas, but his debate performances showed that he is not ready for the big stage. It isn’t just a matter of being inarticulate. He said too many howlers that would scare away voters. I think he simply started too late and never properly prepared to run for President. It usually takes years of preparation to get ready for this.

  • wingnut43

    After Newt has been tempered and forged by an arduous primary campaign against Mittens, he will be fully ready to take on Obama The Magnificent.

    And you are right about the Mormon thing. No Republican would dare bring up Mormonism in a debate or ad, but Obama won’t play so nice in the General Election. If Mittens is the nominee, Obama (or his X Team) will run ads depicting Mormonism as a demonic cult. I can imagine the ads now. They will have ex-Mormons in shadow describing heinous acts, and even things like winged demons having sex with the congregation during communion. They will have Mittens shown as Gordon Gekko with vampire fangs. They will take stuff out of bad movies and portray them as true in advertisements with a straight face. Obama’s nastiness will know no bounds. If Newt is the nominee, Obama will bash him for adultery, etc, but as everyone has already heard that stuff it won’t move the polls as much.

    Mittens position on immigration will also make him a hard sell in TX, and Obama could conceivably win that state over Romney.

  • wingnut43

    None of the above named candidates is demonstrably fitter to take on Obama than Gingrich. Jeb and Daniels both have big problems that prevented them from running, Christie is backing Romney and is not properly prepared to run himself. If Newt wins after a long primary campaign, he will be in good fighting shape at the end. And he will have to be. Obama will use all the powers of Incumbency to make himself the only rational choice for voters in the fall. The big kahuna will be his long awaited mass automatic refinancing plan for underwater “homeowners”. He will arrange things so the supplicants who apply for the refis won’t get the money until Obama is safely reelected. Ditto for student loan forgiveness. It is hard to vote against an offer you can’t refuse.

  • wingnut43

    Obama does not have to debate, and if Newt is the nominee he won’t. Obama would debate Mittens – and would destroy him. I think Newt is clever enough to use a refusal to debate against Obama, even with all the Media covering for Obama.

  • wingnut43

    If you want a narcissist, there is a big one in the White House right now.

  • wingnut43

    The party bosses royally screwed up in Delaware in the midterm. They should have guaranteed Christine O’Donnell the nomination for the House seat and cleared the way for Castle to run for Senate without a Primary opponent.

  • wingnut43

    If Newt is the nominee, there will be NO debates. Obama will make all kinds of excuses, but in reality he will be afraid of losing big. So Obama will concentrate on airing billions of dollars in advertising and giving MSM interviews instead.

    A question – how many billions will Obama need to buy up ALL available TV ad slots for himself and the Democrats, so there is none available for the Republicans or anyone else? With 5 billion each from Soros and Buffett to his Super Duper Pac, could he pull it off?

  • wingnut43

    I can’t see Mittens running 3rd party. The GOP establishment would turn on him so fast he wouldn’t know what hit him. This simply ain’t gonna happen.

  • wingnut43

    If Newt is the nominee, there will be no debates. Obama spends billions on ads, and plays his ace card – the mass automatic refinancing plan that has been expected for a year now.

  • wingnut43

    Romney performed badly when he gave an interview on Fox a while back. He is not that good when he is forced to stray from his talking points.

  • buddyp

    …so I can’t resist.

  • hwgood

    “the worst president since Carter” ? I’d say Bam-Bam’s the worst leader we’ve had here since King George III.
    And the RINO NC wants to run Bam-Bam lite against him.

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    there is no mandated surgery in ObamaCare…that is, unless one needs to undergo a prefrontal-lobotomy in order to accommodate it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_reform_in_the_United_States#The_2010_Federal_Reform_Legislation

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act

  • 6t9boss

    It was a good night for Conservatives and NOTICE to the Carl Rove RINO?s and GOP ?Establishment- Liberals? that we want someone with Bold ideas for President.
    Newt sent eveyone ?packing? last night! Why!???.because he best represents the Conservative views and has the political experience and KNOWN ability for taking the fight to the left; something Santorum lacks ( at least publicly)
    I just loved how the Comentators (You know the ones that are SUPPOSED to on our side) just ripped into Newt?statements like: ?My sources tell me Newt will bring the ticket down 10 points!? Once again the GOP ?Establishment ? Liberals? are trying to ignore what many want in the Presidential race????? a candidate that is actually Different than Obama and will actually stop this madness!
    Question now for all the Carl Rove RINOs? and pundits??..Are you willing to beat up Newt SO BADLY that if he is the nominee you have NO STANDING to support him?

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    Recalling the phases of the dying process [regarding both the body and the soul] as per Elisabeth k?bler-ross, after shock/denial/anger/bargaining/depression…there is acceptance. {Ref: On Death and Dying}

    Let’s watch all those pro-Mitt pundits exhibit these traits, and see how quickly they arrive @ the appropriate endpoint….

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    …making it a bit more difficult for The Newt.

  • WillWong

    but there is no need to blame EE, Rush, or anyone else for your action! If Obama gets elected and the country goes down the tube…..all those who sat it out like you will just have to blame yourself and have it on your conscience.

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    …noting his own foibles.

    EVEN HIS SUPPORTERS…
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/gingrich-wins-south-carolina/2012/01/21/gIQAICk8GQ_blog.html#pagebreak
    …WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO RAISE THIS POSSIBILITY.

  • dudette

    is fine. he will be ready for 2016. Believe me Ohole’s IQ is nothing write home about. If it were we would be seeing all kinds of college records, etc…He is lazy mentally and repugnant morally and his rampant homosexual behavior would lose him the black vote if someone like Brian Ross would tackle it as he tackled Marianne G. O turns my stomach i would vote for my 15 yr old cat over that evil skank and his beard.

  • dudette

    and cheats on his beard all the time.

  • dudette

    had an abysmal staff in terms of competence. Maybe with some retooling and more time he will be able to come storming back in 2016. He was my choice all along. Dang.

  • dudette

    well, that hasnt worked with O so far. Need more prayers.

  • dudette

    Macaca was so stupid anyone can see thru that, even the voters.

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    …but we must deal with reality.

    As I had predicted during a chat with Guzzardi an hour ago…
    http://www.politico.com/playbook/
    …Mitt is going to try to attack The Newt’s character…
    “ROMNEY TO STRESS CHARACTER IN FLA. DEATH MATCH WITH ‘COMEBACK KID’ NEWT”
    …although, recalling the ads run already, it probably won’t work.

  • paco12348

    I disagree with Erick’s premise about the base revolting……! We are revolting but not for the reason you stated.

    Listen up Big Head Republicans
    The people spoke to you with the SC Gingrich win. The people said the day big Republicans pick our candidates and ?allow? us to vote is OVER. Many of you came out BEFORE the race had barely begun saying Romney was the only one that could win over Obama, and others said they would never vote for Gingrich. My own Senator said that. I went online and read all the trash I could find on Gingrich and he?s still my pick. When he walks into the White House those that will not work with him can close the door as they walk out. We want term limits to get rid of grudge holders, elites, ?the chosen?, and just plain dirty career politicians. We want to return Congress to ?the People?s Congress?. Remember the ?little people?, the ones that work and pay taxes so the Congress we have now can waste it?
    Romney is a good man but with him nothing will change. I?m sure he will clean up a lot of Obama?s mess but it will be the same o, same o. Our government is out of whack and Gingrich will change that. Obama touted ?hope and change?. He destroyed our hope and Gingrich is giving it back. He will also return our pride in the government and hopefully the elites, the liberals, the Obama?s and all they represent will depart these shores. Hopefully the Liberal media will return to Journalistic values and discontinue the slobbering pandering to any political party.
    WE WANT THIS COUNTRY CLEANED, DECONTAMINATED AND RETURNED WITH A CONSTITUTIONAL SEAL OF APPROVAL.
    Here?s my wish:
    Gingrich to win the Presidency and to select Paul to clean up and eradicate the Federal Reserve. I would like to see Romney involved with cleaning up the economical mess and Santorum to work on Social Programs.

  • bobguzzardi

    is the enemy. The Bipartisan WallStreetWashington Establishment has been selling our the productive taxpayer who works, saves and invests for too long.

    Who would have expected that a Philandering Lobbyist would be the agent of change?

  • WillWong

    He will go to every stop 4 hours after Obama and gives his rebuttal each time.

  • bobguzzardi

    Rick Santorum like the voters of Pennsylvania know Santorum.

    Rick Santorum is all talk and he sold us out for his own power and privilege.

  • paco12348

    If the House of Reps. hadn’t fought so hard to against the entrenched House members Obama wouldn’t have lost as much as he did. I’m proud of the TP members. We need to replace the old heads, the career politicians. We wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in today if we had been changing politicians. They’ve been there for 30 years or more, so tell me, if they were doing their job why are we in such a mess?

  • bobguzzardi

    thoughtful and comprehensive, BOLD COLORS, thanks Paula.

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    …which should also reassure us-all.

    http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=86E3C23F-13CB-4831-ACA4-B95EE12DC959

    7) Rick Perry?s backing mattered

    Yes, Gingrich?s margin of victory was far bigger than what Perry was pulling in the polls.

    But Perry?s decision to drop out of the race and endorse him gave Gingrich a momentum boost and the imprimatur of the person to galvanize conservatives. And it helped drown out media noise surrounding his second wife Marianne?s interview with ABC News.

    Perry may have been a bad candidate, but he is known as a good surrogate. And his decision to get behind Gingrich with a full-throated endorsement, at the right moment, was key.

  • bobguzzardi

    thanks Jake lifted me up

  • circlegranch

    for whichever Republican gets elected. America, fire Ken Salazar and his sleazy, under-handed tactics and deliberate efforts to shut down any domestic fossil fuel and nuclear energy production, and watch our economy catch fire again.

    Give Rick Perry the job of opening up this nation’s energy capabilities and as Newt says, an American president will never again have to bow before the Saudi king.

    Under Secy of the Interior Perry, all supplies of oil, natural gas, coal, wind, solar and ethanol will be managed by the private sector and the govt will stay out of it, especially when it comes to funding and subsidies. Alot of Iowan ethanol subsidy lobbyists will be looking for a new line of work.

  • swi2522

    your wrong and sc proves it
    the tea party and most working americans respect her. here values match ours and the problems in washington are easy to fix if your goal is to make americans life better. take a chain saw to the gov and reduce it by 50%

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    First, EE should be praised for his essay…and the background work that obviously informed it.

    Second, however, a few comments recorded earlier…
    http://www.saveardmorecoalition.org/node/5848/rick-perry-hes-guy?page=3#comment-27105
    …necessarily recall the [negative] impact of his earlier posts.

    Specifically, it was not necessary to push-out Perry, although [as noted supra] there is little question that this event helped The Newt @ a crucial moment. This contrasts with the task to nix Santorum ASAP, for humility isn’t among his strengths.

    Third, enjoyed the Coolidge/Harding educational experience [and myriad other insights] posted here; it’s why this is the go-to site for blogging [and Politico.com continues to provide salient details].

    Fourth, the task-at-hand…now that the TEA Party Movement has been resuscitated…is to prompt TPM-activists to become increasingly active locally [as Perry will try to do, aggressively, per the speech by The Newt].

    Fifth, Guzzardi and I have been assembling potential-appointments for The Newt. We would want the press to be forced to listen to Sarah Palin [press secretary] daily @ 2 p.m. We would want the leaders of three doomed-for-extinction Departments to be Trump [Commerce], Bill Bennett [Education] and…Perry [Energy]. Veep-Toomey would expend considerable energies with liaison [with BOTH Houses], and HHS-Secretary Krauthammer could ASAP cleanse all traces of ObamaCare from D.C. Scalia could be asked to be A.G., affording the opportunity for a younger appointment [of comparable stature] to the SCOTUS. Fred Thompson as Interior Secretary could be provided the opportunity to liaison with the land/nature he adores. Bachmann could handle Interior until she were to resign to run for Senator…and, by then, Perry would be prepared to supplant her [without injecting her with Gardasil to hasten her departure]. Cain and Paul could join the Fed, and every effort could be expended to avoid appointing Santorum to any powerful position [because he could pull a Huntsman...who also would necessarily be shunned]. Mitt could be trade-rep until replaced by Trump…prior to his resigning to run for Mass. Senate against Kerry. Dick Morris could be avoided, also, for his shifting-predictions [delivered so authoritatively] are legion. Although he endorsed Mitt, John Bolton would be provided State, and Curt Weldon could be justifiably resurrected @ Defense. And all those “conservative” pundits who shunned Perry…should themselves be shunned.

    *

  • elayman

    “The sooner people wake up to that truth, the sooner we can either accept that this time, we?re stuck with another moderate (Romney) or we need to push for a Conservative alternative NOT named Gingrich.”

    Otherwise finding something else to do on election day if this is our nominee.
    Newt is even forced to respect that Jon is brilliantly clever and the most intelligent and knowledgeable candidate in the GOP field after, or even tied with, himself. Give the front man his flair, Huntsman has it down on the substance and on the merits of an electable conservative governing record.

  • celador2

    Jeb Bush made a long statement parts of which were quoted today in an article in which he says he would not endorse at this point despite approving the field overall.

    He criticized the candidates harsh ‘tone’ on immigration and warned they would lose the Hispanic vote in Florida as they are the deciding swing vote in his opinion. Jeb is so opinionate on the presidential primary he might as well be a candidate.

    The article did a background run and reminds us Jeb has a very high approval as governor and that Pres Bush his father endorsed Romney. Jeb singled out Romney for criticism on Immigration citing the term ‘magnet’ that Romney had used as out of line for Florida. Newt had toughened his stand in deference to the SC state law.

    Jindal backed Perry and may be on board for Gingrich now.

  • truebeliever

    what it means is we present an arrogant, Washington insider as our nominee that alienates the moderates and independents that we need to bump Obama. The ultimate snake oil salesman that was will say anything to get elected and then do otherwise if he makes it into the white house (which he wont).

  • jaykali

    I guess. I don’t know that I trust Gingrich to be able to hold the thing together for a primary, then general, then presidency. He’s too erratic to me.

  • celador2

    I thought that now at last is it the time for Perry to rise into the light as a fitting candidate for president. All the reasons you cited on his personal life and job exerience as a governor that presided over a million new jobs in a recession are reassuring to voters–usually.

    Rick Perry is steady and can be trusted. So says his record. And, in a general election Perry would draw voters for his life’s record.

    A clue why Perry left so soon when there was a void may be in Fox exit polls or maybe phone polls. Incredibly 2/3 of GOP SC primary voters considered the media debates important in their decision. Eight of ten Gingrich voters thought the debates important or they were the reason for their Gingrich vote. Gingrich regained his stride in SC debates.

    Panel talk later made some sense. Hayes said we went from ‘Who can defeat Obama’ to “Who can defeat Obama in a debate”

    Hume said Gingrich voters SC wanted someone who can stand on a stage and articulate their views strongly.

    There will be only two or three presidential debates and one VP late in October.

  • Common_Cents

    LOL, her questions were pathetic. She was trying to get Newt, but she was so timid, afraid of being Newtered that she came across terribly. Gingrich owned her and was nearly laughing while answering every question.

    Newt’s eviscerating of King and Juan is sending shock waves through the entire slime media.

    It only takes one man with some courage to shatter these passive aggressive media slimeballs.

  • jaykali

    My wife thinks he’s a dirtbag. He’s got the ego of Obama, the morals of Clinton, and the sex appeal of John McCain.

    But he is a good speaker and debater no doubt about it.

  • jaykali

    Well said. What Erick and the gang have done is turned Mitt into ‘establishment’. The non-Mitts must win at all cost and it doesn’t matter who it is. I don’t remember Democrats constantly referring to the field as non-Hillary’s in 08. But this cycle we are obsessed with everyone who isn’t Mitt and Mitt is like the emergency backup option if absolutely everything else we try fails.

    I am waiting for the next Newt implosion. He is the opposite of cool and collected. Now the upside to that is his fire when he’s on the attack which I think we can all agree is GREAT. If we had 30 debates for the primary I would feel alot better bc that is the means by which he pulls himself out of the ditch every 2 weeks. But what would have happened if there were no debates last week when his ‘open marriage’ story broke? We aren’t going to have a bunch of debates to bail him out every other week. If somehow he wins he’ll get some free airtime for sure where he has some soundbite to reporters or at a townhall that is particularly titillating for sure. I just think he is too erratic to hold it together for 10 months and then for an entire presidency.

  • elayman

    So hear what ? Gingrich running ads against himself ? Because he has been part of this Washington elite establishment for a half a century, and, unfortunately, there are voters dumb enough and blinded by their hatred of the opposition to believe the crap that gets spewed in the name of populism.

  • jakeofalltrades

    Do you want a food stamp president or a paycheck president?

    He really is fighting for conservatism here. But can he win against BHO?

  • mikeymike143

    good observation. : )

  • Common_Cents

    Even though the media doesn’t report it.

  • JSobieski

    In fact, I am glad to see that a lot of people perviously hardened against him are becoming open to supporting Newt.

    The is to give Newt time to either prove himelf or implode/self destruct.

    Newt handled his win in SC perfectly.

    In the future I hope that both Newt and Romney land some punches on each other so that we can see (1) whether Newt can stay in good Newt mode and (2) whether Romney can become an advocate for America rather than just a narrator for his resume.

    The possibility of “good Newt” is what makes 2012 better than 2008. I am cautiously hopeful.

  • clowngirl

    Newt seems to be paving the way for a Santorum exit/endorsement as well. :)

    Santorum’s probably just waiting to see if Newt can maintain his momentum — if it becomes clear that he’s continuing to gain, I would expect Rick to drop out.

    A bit troubled by his prior endorsement of Romney though. Perhaps he doesn’t share the conviction of so many of us that Romney should be avoided at nearly any cost.

    I didn’t watch Romney’s speech yet but read that it was very negative and a stunning contrast to Newt’s.

  • jakeofalltrades

  • jakeofalltrades

    Awards diary in the making…

    “Newtered” – awesome!

  • Common_Cents

    Gingrich isn’t afraid to call obama out and give concrete examples, without hating obama.

    Gingrich gives alinsky examples and questions why media never investigated obama.

    It was freakin brilliant.

  • jakeofalltrades

    We tried Sarah Palin once already.

  • jakeofalltrades

    Exactly what about Rubio and Jindal’s births was unnatural?

  • celador2

    Obama is long winded as can be. Before Axelrod got his message more concise Obama ran on and on at his staged townhalls. He would not agree to a seven hour debate as Newt calls for imo.
    But he might just agree to a slimmed down version without a moderator. It is the no mod debate that Gingrich wants.

    I doubt the WH campaign team would risk that much free flow face time to the public but its possible.

    Obama is a windbag who likes to talk!

    Now, that is one I would view if it ever happend. A no moderator, no host debate one on one.

  • jakeofalltrades

  • APA Guy

    …Romney should he get the nomination. I confess here and now that one of my biggest concerns in this election was the possibility of Romney steamrolling everyone with no opposition – then getting whipped by Obama, who was battle-tested by a bloody political battle with the Clinton machine.

    Whoever emerges (hopefully Newt) will be far more ready to take Obama than he would have been before…and that’s ultimately a great thing. But my sense of it is that Newt is ready to move in for the kill.

  • jakeofalltrades

    phat

  • izoneguy

    To once and for all time – shatter Mittens idea that he can be President.

  • jakeofalltrades

    [hyperbole]

  • JSobieski

    I don’t think he is particularly smart regardless of measure, i.e. IQ, grades, standardized test, etc.

    Obama is a Chicago union leader thug in the guise of a professor.

    Have you ever seen a professor speak less about ideas than Obama?

  • JSobieski

    So long as voters punish a candidate for excessive non-productive rhetoric, it would be great for the candidates to continue to improve.

    Lets see if Newt can stay disciplined. Until then I welcome having Mitt Romney as an insurance policy against bad Newt.

    If good Newt stays in good Newt mode, Obama is bloodied more than he is helped. Take advantage of the free media

  • downstateray

    South Carolina validated almost every preconceived stereotype of the southern conservative block with its vote on Saturday. Bubba dont like yankees. Bubba dont like snarky media types. Bubba likes loudmouths. Bubba likes a fight even if it dont make sense (splashing in the pool is fun). Bubbs dont remember too good. Bubba will always sell the cow to the city slickers for a handful of beans.

    The infighting within the SC GOP caused this mess. The governor and the house speaker do not see eye to eye. And the national politicians like Scott, Graham, DeMint stand around wringing thier hands instead of taking steps to bring the party together.

    Consider this. If you agree with South Carolina, you want the man with the most ex-wives and the largest credit card bill, the man who foolishly claimed credit for the shut down of the government that led to the reelection of Clinton and the dems taking back the house, the man who gets kicks out of congress by his own party for ethics violations,the man who heralded the individual mandate in health care, the man who sits on the couch with Nancy Pelosi, the man who tours with Al Sharpton, the man who claims he has the ear of conservatives and takes millions from Fannie and Freddie, the man who forgot to get his name on the ballot in his new home state (yes sadly he never went back home to georgia), the man who went up to NY in support of the liberal and against the conservative in am important house race, the man who threw Paul Ryan under the bus, the man who decries ‘vulture capitalism’, the man without a political organiztion who plans to run around chasing Obama yelling ‘debate me debate me’.

    Oh so you say he can give a fiery speech. Parlor tricks and sound bites wont get our side over the top in November. We need a few ideas. We need someone at the top of the ticket that will carry in more conservatives to house and senate.

    Somebody better step up soon. (And dont get me started about senator slash).

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    indtee

  • paladin1

    to Gingrich. He is not Rick Perry but he is as close as we have left in the field. His ability to actually stimulate and excite voters with not only his debates and speeches, but also his ideas. He will need good advisers who won’t be “yes men” because he will need to be kept on task and guided but I think he can win both the primary and the general. People underestimate the rancor held by voters toward Obama and I believe they will vote for anyone who can convince them they are able to extract our country from the ruinous state we find ourselves in thanks to Obama.

    I also note that, if the South Carolina vote is an indicator, that the womens’ vote will not go against him. It is reported that he won a plurality of women voters at about 36%.

    We can’t let the disingenuous propaganda of the media and the Romneyites affect the facts. They will do all they can to convice us he is unelectable and will do everything in their power (see EE’s front page about money to Santorum) to make him fail.

    We must regain control of our party from the moderates and the liberals who would move us toward the Dems until there is no light between us. He will stop that if we do our part and get him elected. Who knows; maybe Governor Perry might have an place in a Gingrich administration.

  • annplato

    Newt was seduced by his first wife when he was a teenager (with today?s norms she might be charged with pedophilia!), then a possessive wife wanted him all for herself (and that doesn’t mean that she didn’t want to share him with other women, but NO ONE else, including the American people), then another woman picks him up and finally Gingrich can be what he wants to be: a man of the people! Men like him are not running after women; WOMEN run after him, then when they realize that they cannot have him in his entirety, they hate him.

    I know men like him and I don?t necessarily hold them responsible for what happens in their private life! It takes TWO for tango, especially in a marriage!

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    ~no~text~

  • jakeofalltrades

    8)

  • annplato

    an election without debates in the general?

  • jakeofalltrades

    He claimed it was just a media stunt.

  • annplato

    They are ALL good but not perfect! And that’s the truth! Fear of the onslaught of liberals and the MSM makes US timid to go for ONE (ANY) of our candidates full strength. LOSE THE FEAR, NEWT IS HERE and he is NOT afraid! Get some courage in following a TRUE and FEARLESS leader! That?s how wars are won!

  • flowergirl70

    I totally agree that Newt is a Grandiose Windbag. Immoral doesn’t even begin to cover his past escapades. That we have now stooped so low that we even consider this man for the Presidency is astounding.

    I will vote for whoever the Nominee is, because anyone would be better than Obama. But, I will not be happy about Newt or Mitt. Neither of them is the man that Governor Perry is and he was kicked aside because he wasn’t a “Grandiose Windbag”.

    I won’t vote the Constitution Party because that’s a vote for Obama.

    I also agree that we can blame Conservatives who did NOT get behind the guy who is the True Conservative, who had the best record of accomplishments, a Patriot who served his country and a man who would have beaten obama. That man is Rick Perry. Where was Palin, Erickson, Rush and the so called Values Voters and Tea Partiers? If they had backed Perry in the beginning, he would now be the Nominee. Look what choices we now have!

  • rwgrammy

    Why not just man up and vote for the ONLY candidate who will actually “preside” over our country in accordance with our constitution??? Don’t you have the courage to give freedom one more chance?

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    This is a rhetorical question, of course.

  • lastgopinillinois

    I’ll take gridlock everyday compared to COMPROMISE that gets us another 1.5 trillion in debt,
    stupid supercommittees designed to fail and void the power of congress,
    legislation that grows the size of govt,
    promotes more wealth redistribution,
    legislation that increases TAXES and or regulations

    Need I go on !!!
    Compromise is what got us HERE. I want OUT.

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    but to save America, we need tea partier conservatives occupying all power chairs in DC.

  • rickey5825

    If Romney can’t even beat Newt with all his baggage,what makes you think he can beat Obumble? “Immoral grandiose windbag”? He claims that he has repented and found forgiveness, strength,and wisdom in his new faith.You don’t believe him?You know his heart ,do you?Grandiose beats milquetoast in my book and what politician is not a windbag?
    Obumble is a grandiose Marxist windbag!Waste your vote if you want 4 more years of Obumble,but then no whining from you during the ensuing collapse of the U.S. as we know it!You will be partially responsible!

  • rickey5825

    More unworthy than the coke snorting Marxist currently infesting the White House?

  • carolynr

    Before you get on me…there is no bigger fan than me of Governor Perry. I KNOW what he said was true…I saw it. EE has a point, his staff would not let Perry be Perry. But..there were other factors at play and these are: His back problems..pls. google fused spine and see how much that takes out of a person on a nomal schedule…let alone running the POTUS; he did not do well in the debates, I believe partly because of poor prepping until Will’s wife came in and partly because of his back. The most important was that the insiders did not want him in DC. All the goodies gone..no compassionate conservatism where they could spend money. Like he said…Washington DC no more wants me there than the devil wants to drink holy water.

    We should have gotten behind Perry…but how do you convince people on the fence when Perry was not doing such a good job in the debates. Can he take it to Obama NOW…yes…but early on…no…or so it appeared, mostly because of the spine. Like Perry said…a day late a dollar short. It wasn’t his time. Hey, even the Evangelicals abandoned him for Santorum. He was the one..but now let’s just pray we get out of this mess.

    Remember…Gingrich did task Perry with the 10th Amendment Project and we can all help Perry there.

  • jakeofalltrades

  • txpat

    Honey just take a chill pill it will be ok.
    We southern folks don’t cotton to Yankees?
    I think it’s not where he hails from that is the problem.
    He a flip flipper, and we don’t trust him.
    We southern folks also don’t cotton to the elite media, establishment part of the party forcing Mittens down our throats.
    I like to say to Mittens and company y’all enjoy y’all visit to the south.

    “praise the Lord the south has risen again”

  • carolynr

    Unquestionably Perry HAS run rings around all these people as far as RECORD. First the fused spine…it is getting better but that contributed to poor debate performances. I mentioned IT above. Concerning Iowa…this is politics…do you think Iowa reflected anything near the truth of the Republican Party…much less Conservatives?

    90 days prior to the caucus you could register as in Independent. Think about this…if you were Obama and you wanted a sure win…who would you want to run against? Romney. Romney’s big argument…we have to win the middle and then tried to paid himself as a Conservative. Dems registered as Indies…that is why he lost by just a few votes. Ron Paul’s guys will always be there. But..WHO was the ONLY candidate that would not go for their GD ethanol…Perry. Money Talks…and that is what they wanted. Vander Platts needed to come across Conservative…BUT ALSO MAKE THE IOWANS HAPPY…So he went with Santorum because Santorum LIKE ETHANOL SUBSIDIES. Two candidates opposed subsidies…Perry and Paul. That’s it.

    So you don’t have a “pure” Republican primary…just like you did not in NH. They don’t reflect anything. Besides…WILLARD lives in NH. This was a favorite son business…and ego thing.

    Washington needs to be dismantled and returned as near to the Constitution as possible, including the amendments. Gingrich has tasked Perry with the 10th Amendment Program. Maybe he is onto something…and one thing we know…Perry BELIEVES IN STATE’S RIGHTS.

  • Scope

    project long before Newt “tasked” him with it. Read Fed Up. That was Perry’s ultimate downfall, because we have a whole lot of voters that don’t even know what the 10th Amendment is, and don’t care to know. It doesn’t have a catchy name like Dancing with the Stars.

  • carolynr

    however, he does know how to bully, which he has done on the campaign trail to voters who have asked him questions that he found necessary to correct. There was an article in one of the papers that Romney was “already perceived as out of touch”. WOW…isn’t that a surprise..but I digress.

    I know this sounds sexist…but Romney is prissy. If we were going to use likenesses to dogs…Gingrich is a bulldog (Georgia one at that) while Romney looks like a French Poodle….not the toy one..standard size.

    Appearance is everything. Romney does not know how to fight and we will see that when he tries it out next debate to win over those that believe he can’t. I bet he flops…because he is too self-righteous.

  • carolynr

    nt

  • carolynr

    and we go through all those processes before we change or accept. Santorum should be first. Oh…and what the Paulbots…they will stay in the anger stage forever…and that is not good for the plurality of the vote for Republicans.

  • txpat

    I think that they are trying to bully us to fall in line and support Mittens.
    If you don’t support Mittens it will be scary, we will have 40 days of darkness, the world as we know it will stop turning. We will see the destruction of our country, etc…
    Let them get their panties in a knot over we not Romney voters.
    We will unite and we will fight for our country, and God willing beat them.

  • carolynr

    The Damon Corporation and the largest Medicare Fraud in history. Who took over the company to manage it…BINGO…Bain Capital and who was the person who was to help management get righted. WILLARD MITT ROMNEY. So, after the company was fined $119 MILLION in fines…people were asking about Romney. His replies…he didn’t know about it … second answer…he was not involved with the company at that time. BOTH were false answers. The Damon Corp. was bought out by Corning. Romney was not found guilty of any wrong doing because he was a board member. However, remember…the economy is his wheelhouse and they asked him to help with their management. Another nail in Romney’s coffin.

  • carolynr

    Project and I believe that this will do more to keep Gingrich in line more than anything else. The states might just realize that this was ALWAYS the way to do.

  • carolynr

    misunderstood. I always knew that Perry was 10th Amendment. I thought I heard Gingrich say more than once that he was re-invigorating this and wanted Perry to head up a more pronounced project to reshape DC. I could be mistaken…but I am almost sure…he (Gingrich) said this twice. Again…nobody is a bigger fan of Perry than I…but this might be a new reboot with more national attention.

  • cbartlett

    Make sure you read “The Rick Perry Report” (two parts). Excellent report on the campaign and exactly what happened. As a lifetime Texas voter, this was an eye-opener. I have lived here and voted for Perry in every state-wide race he has run in and had no idea that the liberal media AND the GOP establishment have been manipulating Texas voters for so long. If this is happening all over the country, God help us in the future. We certainly need to concentrate on getting true conservatives in both houses of Congress to keep Newt (hopefully) in line. We, the people, need to take charge!

  • cbartlett

    PLEASE, please, look up “The Rick Perry Report” (two parts) – eye-opening information on the media and GOP establishment campaign against Perry – he didn’t stand a chance in this environment. I am having difficulty reading newspapers or watching any news show or debate after reading this.

  • Scope

    a whole lot more than we have been on the state races for House and Senate. It’s a presidential election year, and everyone has been only focusing on the presidency. We are in January, and not much has been brought forward about the down-ticket races, except for Moe Lane’s posts. If Obama wins re-election, or any of the remaining candidates win the presidency, they can’t accomplish many of their goals without the work and support of the Congress. It is becoming increasingly more important to concentrate on those races. I promise the Democrats are all over those races like flys on a horse manure pile, while we are all distracted by the presidential race to the exclusion of all else.

  • lineholder

    https://twitter.com/ppppolls

  • snowshooze

    It doesn’t even make any sense.
    And I don’t think much of ” Following ”
    The lead dog is the only one with a view…
    The rest are looking straight into their future.

  • lineholder

    That’s why I asked if anyone else was on it tonight….thought maybe they could give us the “buzz”, LOL.

  • snowshooze

    nt

  • snowshooze

    And my Facebook account is unrecognizable… I think it is called farmville.. people asking me for nails and stud roosters..

  • cbartlett

    Have you seen the 2-part write-up in “The Rick Perry Report”? Excellent chronicle about the Perry’s campaign and lots of info about the liberal MSM manipulation of the public. Don’t think the average voter has any idea how much they are being brainwashed.

  • allydiercksmeier

    conservnca must have been listening to the same conservative station that I was listening to Saturday morning.The host was talking about the Obama health care bill, he didnt mentioned surgery, neither did conservnca, the host referenced under class11, paragraph 1 includes a class 11 device that is implantable. The host then mentioned that on page 1004? it describes what the term data means in paragraph 1, section B. I googled it, and found it myself.

  • JSobieski

    By suspending the campaign, the campaign can still raise money to pay its debts.

    I wouldn’t read anything into the word “suspended”

    What you say about Perry is true, but he has never had to deal with DC—a place that is more screwed up than Austin.

    Bush was a pretty good governor after all, and look how that turned out.

    Newt has experience taking on entitlements and fighting bureaucracy—-seems pretty relevant to 2012.

  • conservnca

    As if he didn’t have enough to deal with as per your list of very difficult issues, on twitter was Joshua Trevino saying “had drinks with ev-Perry staff last night(Jan.21),said loathing of the D.C. based campaign consultants was set to eleven”. This is just one account of so many working against him,
    Come on, back surgery, fires in his state, federal gov’t opposing his people for emergency relief(and he and the citizens of Tex. helped so many during Katrina), getting in late and then having to not let betrayal all around you consume your reason for running, I think with all this (plus much, much more)he was a better candidate then most could’ve been.Newt just had Romney attack ads and look how he reacted.
    Rick Perry is a leader like this country has not seen in awhile. Maybe that is why it seems so many Americans didn’t recognize him as that.What a shame. He would’ve led America to make history again, only in a positive way.
    Everyone should read the piece in “TheRickPerryReport” on what the liberal press and activists did to him in his own state when they knew he would run for President.To endure what he has had to and still be gracious,doesn’t name names and remains a real gentlemen is the kind of man I hope we will have one day in The White House.

  • conservnca

    Sorry tried to correct my misspelling (grayeagle) before it posted

  • davesinsanantonio

    child who takes his ball home so the others can’t play anymore.
    If you would do ANYTHING to advance Obummer’s chances then you are a traitorous fool. Obummer will do more, huge, damage to this country by appointing radical activist judges, and sneaky statist bureaucrats, and issuing totalitarian executive orders that will be the destruction of the very fabric of this nation. I you do as you threaten, then YOU are as great a danger to America as Obummer and his marxist flunkies! And hiding behind a supposedly purist rhetoric will not fool any of the rest of us.

  • grimeska

    I have been a loyal Republican all of my life, come from a family with generations of Republicans on both sides, some who have held office, but if Newt is the nominee I will register as an Independent and wash my hands of this embarrassing bunch of buffoons. This entire ‘Jerry Springer’ show of a nomination with all of these pathetic Tea Paryt loons changing candidates weekly has been utterly ridiculous. They couldn’t pick a decent candidate if you reincarnated Ronald Reagan and put him in the lineup. He would not be ‘conservative enough’ or too rich or too hansome or too establishment…sheesh. I am sick of the lunatics running the asylum in this party. Now because of said lunatics with the help of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Levin and the likes of distorted sites like this one which are too many to name we could end up with horrible flawed, Newt Gingrich. I am sure Obama and the Democrats threw a party and laughed their butts off at you idiots who are cheering him on and voitng for him this weekend. They have got so much dirt on this mand sitting there waiting to unload it once he is nominated it will be almost comical if not so sad. Once again the Republican Party had it in the bag with such a failed President and they just had to shoot themselves right in the foot….stupid.

    Newt Gingrich isn’t even as conservative as Mitt Romney and he is on the list of the top corrupt politicians in Washington, much less his horrible personal life. Mitt Romney has lived a good and moral life…devoted husband, father, grand father and church leader. He has performed admirably in all of his careers and was never invited to leave by his own party. His record of success is amazing. But who cares about that, the rednecks want a good ole redneck who like to fight with everyone. Who cares whether he can lead the country or do anything abou the economy…he’s hateful and rude and arrogant and can likes to make other people uncomfortable….yee haw ….we’ve got a winner here y’all!

  • atillathehun

    As an independant from MA. who certainly is a conservative in thought, word, and deed, it seems to me that Rush is correct in that any articulate renunciation of Alinsky and Marx along with the fundamental return to constitutional principle will win the election.
    It is preposterous that a person winning in MA gets picked to run nationally on the Republican ticket.

  • john454
    Last time voters came up with McCain, one of the “Keating Five” from the biggest savings & loan scandal of the 80′s!!

    Now they vote for Newt who was brought before the house on ethics violations in 1997 and was forced to resign…but NOW people want to run this guy for President!?!?! Are you friggen kidden me?!?!

    And then wonder why they can’t get their guy in office…DUH!

    There is only ONE guy that is running for REAL change and that is Ron Paul, all the rest are just standing there telling voters what they want to hear, until after elections. Then it’s all forgotten.

    Ron Paul for President 2012

  • sowa1

    He is a good debater, so is Obama. Would you have voted for Obama is he would have said that he would “fundamentally change America into a Euopean Socialist Country? He did say he would close coal plants and his regulations would make our electricity soar. They are beginning to do that. I could name a million more stupid comments that most Americans failed to recognize. They like a smooth talker. A person to promise all these wonderful things. What we got is a person that is destroying the U.S. I will not vote for Newt, I want a person that knows how to change things in Washington to create the atmosphere for job creation. Romney should not be punished for working hard, saving and investing and being able to live the American Dream. Those that attend church are asked to give 10% of their earnings. Romneys does and now it’s some terrible thing. Really? Fox News and others give Newt free air time. Ask dumb questions. Constantly playing Net’s telling the Media off, Romney and his taxes. No wonder Newt won. No need to see Romneys taxes because no one will understand them.Also,No Obama vetting going on on Fox or the drive by. Obama campaigns constantly, and the tax payers are paying for it, not the DNC or his campaign. Rotten politics thru and thru. Sick of lies want jobs.

  • tngal

    don’t you have a newsletter to read? Sorry joh454, but the change your candidate wants to implement is scary.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Homey don’t play that.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    ,

  • snappy101

    “Basically, today?s vote is about Republican grassroots giving the Washington Republican establishment the finger.”

    Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner. And the finger is extended to the TV cable news media arm of the party because they come into my home every day beating the drum for Romney’s inevitability and they started at Iowa, for cryin’ out loud. I am so angry at them.

    The Republican Machine, as I like to call the GOP establishment including Fox News, did not understand how much we went kicking and screaming when they told us conservatives to shut up, get in line and vote for McCain in 2008 and now that they used us to get a majority in the House suddenly we are petulant little children throwing a tantrum and worthy of their disdain because we won’t back their guy. That would be the same guy, Fox News told us was treading water with 25 percent while the Machine went courting all of the other girls to run. It was only after all of the other girls said “no” to their proposal did the one with the same 25 percent become Mr Inevitable. What changed to make the flip flopping flounder “Mr Inevitable” overnight? Maybe if they got off their NY/DC butts and actually talked to people outside of the big cities in other parts of the country they wouldn’t be so shocked. The only part of the national political arm that ever comes into my suburban neck of the woods in the southeast is GOP donation request envelopes. Here’s my message to the Republican Machine. Send your flippin’ fake surveys with requests for money to the Independents (your new mistress) and don’t let the screen door hit your elitist butt on the way out!

    Oh, and by the way, Newt Gingrich is the most Inside The Beltway person on the stage. He’s a man with ideas who has never held a job where he’s had to implement them. All talk, no action. I love you, Rick Perry, but I’m not voting for him, either.

  • Juggernaut

    you people have ruined the conservative movement just as Romney has.

  • Juggernaut

    so don’t make the mistake in thinking you have a clue.

  • claudeod

    Newt reminds me of Gen. Patton, a military genius no one could match in battle but inclined to get his shorts in a knot and say something that gets him in short term trouble. However, like Patton, Newt is a tour de force of brilliant thinking, and we need that right now, warts and all!

  • claudeod

    Newt reminds me of Gen. Patton, a military genius no one could match in battle but inclined to get his shorts in a knot and say something that gets him in short term trouble. However, like Patton, Newt is a tour de force of brilliant thinking, and we need that right now, warts and all!

  • Juggernaut

    Perry is smarter than hacks like you think. Find a media interview and eat your words. You are still a liberal and you are a tool of liberal thinking coupled with the dumbed down tomfoolery that liberalism infests in weak minded voters.

  • claudeod

    Mitt’s Mormon base has shot it’s wad early with absentee voting,

  • Ann_W

    Based on what are you saying that? Now they keep track of the religion of absentee voters?

  • shadowmane

    If Romney is the nominee, this conservative is not voting. Mitt Romney will not beat Obama, and I won’t hold my nose for another yellow-backed liberal Republican.

    Salem, its people like you and I who are going to cause this election to go badly. I simply won’t vote for Romney just because he’s the Republican candidate. I’m looking for a Conservative. If I don’t get one, I refuse to vote. I’ll vote the down ballot and leave the Presidential ballot blank.

  • shadowmane

    How can any intelligent lifeform cast a vote for this Northeastern Blueblood establishment liberal stooge? He is about as unworthy of being President as you can get.

  • geah

    not only is a fighter he knows where all the bodies are burried.. If God has forgiven him, I don’t want to be overriding the God of us all.

  • 4suramcan

    A rare thing nowadays, words of wisdom.

  • woode

    anybody but Romney; then, anybody but Obama.

  • jqcitizen

    The citizens of this Country will determine who is electable. The establishment, consisting of the Republican and Democratic Party apparatus, the news media, large unions, large corporations and other large lobbying groups have for years tried to use undue influence to insure that candidates that met their acceptability criteria. This criteria was not necessarily the candidate that was best to represent the best interest of this nation as a whole, but instead the candidate who would put their particular interest first. We do not have to accept this. As was shown in the 2010 mid-terms, when citizen groups concerned with what has been done to our Country stand together, we can force change. This scares the powers that be, but must continue. If it does not we can expect more of the same. More trashing of our Constitution safeguards, individual rights, micro-management of our economy, destruction of our educational system, destruction of our currency, destruction of traditional American values, moral bankruptcy, and on and on.

    As our Bill of Rights and Constitution acknowledges ” we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights” among which are the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.To ensure these rights the Founders created a constitution republic giving minimum powers to the central government, and vesting most in the citizens, who could then allow the state and local government the powers require at those levels. They recognized that the citizens of the States had more control over those entities than they would over the central government. Unfortunately, over time we have allowed this balance to be slowly eroded, with our latest occupant of the White House deciding that he can ignore his oath and the out-dated Constitution at will to accomplish what he and his minions believes is best. That is apparently a European style socialist or a communist system which has never succeeded. We can and must challenge and require our elected representatives and judiciary to put a stop this abuse.

    As to candidates, I supported Romney in 2008 because I felt he was the best available candidate at the time. After, considerable research of available information, I will support Newt Gingrich in this primary, and if he is not nominated I will support the GOP candidate who is selected to oppose Obama. We cannot afford four more years of his lies and crap. Nor can we afford an egotistical third party, which will do nothing but aid his re-election chances.

    Gingrich is hands down the most knowable candidate regarding the important issues we face, he knows the history of this Country, he is a Constitutional conservative, and above all he demonstrate that he can develop and execute through aggressive leadership a plan to change our direction which will include a rapid return to the Constitution principles, the free and fair markets, and American values which made this Country great. He can and will be America’s candidate.

  • cbartlett

    to Joe, the author of The Rick Perry Report, to encourage him to use his excellent skills to provide reasearch and write-ups on Texas candidates for House and Senate. In particular, KayBailey Hutchinson is retiring and that Senate seat really, really needs to go to a true conservative – she has been known to be a little wishy-washy in the past. Last time I looked, there are at least 4 running in the R primary – no telling who the Dems will put up. We also gained 4 House seats this year so there are lots of races wide open, but everyone is way too focused on the presidential circus to pay any attention. I agree – the Dems don’t have this distraction and are going to take advantage of the situation. We really need to jump on this – NOW.

  • ludah

    To: salemst – If Newt gets the call and people like you sit out the election then the blame will be on you and them. obama is the worst President in the history of our country (my opinion) and if he gets re-elected then our economy and our country will more than likely be near its end. obama is the GREAT PRETENDER, I don’t even think he is an American citizen (he has a stolen SS#, he won’t release his birth certificate because he probably doesn’t have a U.S. certificate. I’ll bet his college transcripts show he attended college as a foreign student. He wants to take away the work ethic and re-distribute the wealth. Opprotunity and potential is what contributed to the greatness of our country and to replace it an entitlement system will destroy the innovation and work ethic. obama is bad news because he’s either real stupid or real smart, I’m not sure which. But, I do know he is a great pretender/destrucutor. At least Newt has ideas and past accomplishments in government. Newt may not be the best but he is far from being the worst. obama has been on the job for 3 years and he is lost; he’s way over his head. Like I said, “obama’s bad news”.
    P.S. So what if Newt has been married three times, I know people who have been married more times than that and they still contribute to soceity. Politics is a dirty business and no one is perfect. ABo!

  • Common_Cents

  • Common_Cents

    nt

  • capecodma

    Romney is the inevitable nominee.

  • samfox

    “Imperfect as he is…” is one of the understatements of the year if not decade.

    HERRRRE’s NEWT!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niRK-sZg5jY&feature=related

    http://www.newswithviews.com/Nelson/kelleigh121.htm

    [Click Part 2 of above link for more on Newt. VERY telling!]

    http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin606.htm

    http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=36799

    Newt, CFR member

    http://www.stopthenorthamericanunion.com

    /CFRMembers.html#G

    Newt & Romney on single payer.

    http://tinyurl.com/4xbajmk

    SamFox

  • samfox

    Ron Paul will truly fight for US, We The People.

    You can make fun of Ron all you want, but you will have to make fun of our troops, as more of them support Ron than any one else.

    Urgent message from our troops!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYxPkKGeVKI

    http://tinyurl.com/6p9epts

    Combat Veterans For Ron Paul:
    Lots of support site links
    http://cvrp2012.com/2012/01/08/the-ron-paul-effect-2/comment-page-1/#comment-616

    List of Combat Vets links
    http://cvrp2012.com/category/foreign-policy/

    Ron Paul was talking “Constitution” before Constitution was cool. He is the one who finally made “Constitution” cool. He has been at that task for some 30 years….

    SamFox

  • samfox

    Romney exposed
    http://tinyurl.com/86meydk

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vS9SF3vc-A

    Snakes On A Campaign, M Romney, by Southern Avenger
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3etUOq7hVE

    Fake Conservative Mitt:
    http://www.newswithviews.com/Nelson/kelleigh123.htm

    Romney is for big govt &war:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-5bbH1x2fE

    http://tinyurl.com/7v9vcvr

    McCain dossier on romney
    http://tinyurl.com/7egznrb

    Condensed version of McCain dossier on Romney, top 50 hits.
    http://tinyurl.com/89k9suc

    Romney & Gingrich on single payer.
    http://tinyurl.com/4xbajmk

    Romney volunteer goes Ron Paul

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhrqFh3o4CM&feature=related

    http://www.revolutionpac.com/2012/01/former-romney-campaigner-defects-to-ron-paul/

    Mormons like Ron Paul–
    http://tinyurl.com/7ewejht

    http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=9b8827e2d9e8f8bf88bfe6fcb&id=6d5fff0d36&e=af36abff8d

    http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/latter-day-saints-for-ron-paul

    http://www.proconstitution.com/lds_perspective_romney_paul.php

    Audit the ‘Fed’? Romney says “No!”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFraEx0Er0A&feature=relmfu

    SamFox

  • samfox
    ludah, We want 0 out. I am for that a million per cent!!

    BUT are we going to replace 0 with another version of 0 in Mitt, Newt & Rick? You know, like GWB was replaced by another GWB in 0. 0 is doing the same things GWB did, only more & faster.

    It’s not the ‘party’. Both are now corrupted by big govt ‘progressives’.
    Changing the letter behind the dude’s name has not worked. R & D. Nothing changes.

    Ron Paul is the only one outside the Big Govt Party. That is why he gets so much resistance. Why his foreign policy is maligned. Why he Ron is falsely called racist for news letters he did not write & repudiated many times. Lots of black people, Jews, Mormons, the military Ron is NOT a big govt establishment planted candidate, like John Manchurian McCain.

    Ron has an R behind his name. He has no choice, as the election law mess is very heavily biased against a 3rd party.

    I know Ron is not the best speaker. But where have the ‘good looking’ silver tongues taken us? Ron has the best pro USA platform, wants to get govt off our backs. The others would keep big bro in our lives.

    Ron does have the best Constitution based platform, in fact the only real one. Please, at least give him a deeper, honest,open minded look without using fringe media ‘analysis’ & their twisted big govt biased definitions & explanations of his platform.

    Thank you!

    SamFox

  • samfox

    point! A Constitution minded Congress would be good insurance no matter who the POTUS is.

    Thank you for bringing that reminder up.

    SamFox

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    no–text

  • lineholder

    No, Ron Paul is NOT the best choice. He can profess to support fiscally Conservative policy positions all he likes, but his history in Congress proves otherwise and that he has been just as prone to feed at the government trough, at the expense of taxpayers, as any of these other candidates that you condemn for being “big government” candidates.

    His foreign policy positions are extremely dangerous to the future of our nation, and fortunately, most Americans have enough of common sense to realize that this is true.

  • samfox

    what Ron Paul’s FP is? Did you come to that conclusion based on Ron’s own words or from how fringe big govt supporting media spun his position?

    Ron has the same FP as the US Founders. When did they ever take us to isolation? Ron is not isolationist. He is non-interventionist. He knows that even if our current FP WERE right [it's not.] we can’t afford it any way.

    Ron’s FP;
    Wise,
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/fisk5.html

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4zKzXFcLN4

    Same as Founders
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul413.html

    Original US FP
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/fff-video.html

    Ron has the backing of the enforcers of our current PO the world interventionist FP. That would be most of the troops. Also Jews. Also ME expert Michael Scheuer.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYxPkKGeVKI

    http://tinyurl.com/6p9epts

    http://cvrp2012.com/2012/01/08/the-ron-paul-effect-2/comment-page-1/#comment-616

    Did blowback cause 9-11
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjqGBBFiowE

    NY Times:
    http://tinyurl.com/6o3rlcb

    Former CIA bin Laden expert, M Scheuer backs up Ron:
    http://tinyurl.com/859hcto

    This also backs up Ron–1 of 4 parts-
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSt4L43RbeA

    M Scheuer endorses Ron-
    http://lewrockwell.com/scheuer/scheuer12.1.html

    Ron is not against Israel-
    Jews for Ron Paul, by Walter Block
    www.youtube.com

    http://zionistsforronpaul.blogspot.com/

    http://www.americansforisrael.com/

    Please give Ron Paul a deeper honest open minded look.

    Thank you.

    SamFox

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    And an assist to NT and lineholder for this one.

  • rdcjr

    you would not know about all of the candidates that are running. Are you saying that we should only focus on the positions of the one we like and totally ignore the rest? Every candidate has something to offer. Rather than chastise me for actually paying attention to all of the candidates running for PRESIDENT, I would suggest you do a little more research on EVERY candidate so that you make the right choice. Every candidate has good points and not so good points. I simply said that not all of Paul’s points are bad. As a matter of fact I would go so far as to say most are more conservative and in line with our Constitution than the other candidates. But Republicans seem to have a hard time these days staying within the confines of The Constitution as much as Demoncrats do. If they did we wouldn’t have all of these problems we face today. What bothers me is that Republicans like many here, would dismiss out of hand the ideas of any Republican candidate. By doing so we lose the opportunity to glean the best ideas with which to move forward. And finally, can you give me specific examples of my “buzzwords”? I’m curious. Still supporting Newt!

  • downstateray

    If you were as shrewd as you portend, you would realize that trusting the man who lives his life with the values we cherish, who is one of the best business managers in the country for ‘turnarounds’, and who could easily be persuaded to flop to our point of view, should be the way to go.

    By the way when was the last time a presidential candidate from the northeast ever carried south carolina?

    Bless your heart anyway.

  • downstateray

    If you were as shrewd as you portend, you would realize that trusting the man who lives his life with the values we cherish, who is one of the best business managers in the country for ‘turnarounds’, and who could easily be persuaded to flop to our point of view, should be the way to go.

    By the way when was the last time a presidential candidate from the northeast ever carried south carolina?

    Bless your heart anyway.

  • JudgeDeborah

    Newt has lost 25 of 27 states. He has finished dead last in 15 of 27 states, which is dead last in over half of the states.

    He has 3rd place finishes in 5 states, 2nd place in 4 states, and 1st place in only 2 states.

    Newt has finished dead last in 4 more states than all his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes combined.

    Newt has a losing record with every other candidate:

    Newt 4 Romney 23

    Newt 4 Santorum 22 (Neither Newt nor Santorum were on the ballot in VA so there are only 26 counted between them. VA is counted as a loss to Romney and Paul since Newt failed to make the ballot.)

    Newt 11 Paul 16

    Every other candidate has beaten Newt more times than Newt has beaten them.