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Santorum or Newt?? I Went for Newt. Here’s Why.

By: quill67 (Diary)  |  March 6th, 2012 at 11:33 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

I like Santorum. I like Newt. I would be happy with either as our nomineee. In Tennessee, I had been planning to vote for Santorum when it appeared he was the only alternative to Romney. But polls now show Newt, Santorum and Romney all within margin of error, so I had to finally make a decision of who I prefered.

I decided on one issue and for one reason:

People have not been paying attention to what has been happening in the last 3 years.

We need someone who can most effectively explain what the Obama administration has been doing and do so in an effective political way. So my decision came down to:

Who do you want giving the nomination speech when the whole country is watching? Who can best articulate and attack the left for their nutty policies and viewpoints?

To me the answer was clear. One man. Newt Gingrich.

Sure some people may not like Newt but this election will not be a popularity contest. Voters need to be informed and Newt is the best one to explain what has been going wrong and why Obama cannot be trusted with the future.

Some will point out Newt’s flawed conservative record but he fought for years and moved the ball further than any candidate in modern history.

That is why I support Newt.

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  • drohan00

    I hope he wins in GA and TN. But I also think we need to prepare for an eventual Romney nomination.

  • WillWong

    n.t.

  • Seedyrom

    the others lack. The left will have some ammo on all candidates so its best to go with someone who will inspire voters rather than someone worse than Bob Dole & McCain.

    Arlen Specter was more conservative than Romney till he switched sides.

  • texasref

    Thanks for voting for the only one who can demolish Obama in the debates. I will be so pissed at the Republican party if they don’t nominate Newt.

  • westcoastpatriette

    my choices may not include Newt but if he is still in the race, he will get my vote for the same reasons, quill67 — he is a much more savvy politician than Santorum and will be able to accomplish more for the conservative movement than any of the others.

  • Finrod

    I will be voting for Newt in Georgia today. Almost all the political signs I’ve seen have been for Newt, with a couple for Ron Paul, one solitary sign for Santorum, and none at all for Romney.

  • Agelaius

    will be too split. Newt oscillates wildly, but Santorum has consistently defied expectations. Our only hope is someone who can come across as completely genuine, who will be immune to the hundreds of millions of dollars of slime adds that the democrats will generate. Newt is too easy to attack. Santorum is above reproach in terms of personal honesty and in terms of his motives for running. I like Newt too, but we need to rally behind one candidate who is not Romney, or he walks away with it. He’s always getting 35 or 40% and that’s enough to eventually win the nomination, but if the anti-ROmney vote was able to coalesce around one candidate, we might actually succeed. I’ll support romney as the last alternative, but it’;s a shame we can’t decide on one who might actually win. I worry that with Newt, it’s up one week and down the next.

    • clowngirl

      Santorum hasn’t “consistently defied expectations” he was expected to have a chance at winning South Carolina but instead he got blown out, followed by a distant 3rd place finish in Florida and a distant 4th place finish in Nevada before coming back to win a beauty contest and 2 caucuses where Newt barely campaigned.

      He worked the system and has enjoyed rather favorable press.

      I’m not impressed with Santorum for a number of reasons- on balance, I’m not sure he’s even preferable to Romney.

      IMO, he should have dropped out after SC.

      To me, things like (for example) backing out of the GA debate, saying he’ll beat Romney “straight up” and people shouldn’t be worried about him splitting the non-Romney vote and then turning around and complaining about Newt’s continued presence have burned up any good will I might’ve otherwise had for him.

      His lack of executive experience, any significant history of leadership and a number of other factors are also significant barriers to ever actively supporting Santorum (beyond voting for the eventual nominee, of course)

      The problem is that there doesn’t appear to be a consensus candidate.

      To me Newt is the only candidate running who I think would make a good President and could beat Obama. I would vastly prefer a brokered convention and the slim chance of getting Newt or someone other than Romney or Santorum — then having either of the last 2 and having it over quickly.

      Also, in my perception, there is ultimately no difference between Romney or Santorum as nominee because both would ultimately result in a loss to Obama.

      This line of thought “Romney is going to win unless a non-Romney drops out — so YOUR guy should drop out” doesn’t strike me as persuasive.

      I believe Newt should be President because of his history of leadership at the National level, his rhetorical skill, his breadth and depth of knowledge, the major accomplishments he’s achieved, and because he’s been through the crucible of high profile national office before – has learned from it — and is also the only candidate who has been through the kind of intensely negative press he’ll face in the general election (it’s even worse for him now because now he’s being hit from both the establishment right wing media AND the left — and they can coordinate attacks right before a potential primary so Newt doesn’t have time to respond.

      In a general election he’ll have the right wing press -at least- supporting him and he’ll either have more time to make his case — not just a few days before a state votes.

      Nobody’s likely to drop out after tonight. We’ll just have to let it play out. See what happens in Kansas, Alabama, and Mississippi.

      • onemansopinion

        Thank you for taking the time to articulate this so well.

      • Agelaius

        First, Newt spent $9.05 for every vote and Santorum only spent $2.54, while outperforming him. (Romney spent more than $17 which tells you all you need to know about how thin his committed support is.).

        Second, Newt doesn’t have a campaign infrastructure. Santorum’s is weaker by far than Romney’s, but at least he has a base of committed individuals to provide what really counts when it comes down to the election that really matters – volunteers and word of mouth.

  • demsaresatanic

    the America-hating Christian-hating leftist rat media. For example;
    http://newtgingrich360.com/video/newt-gingrich-slams-liberal-media-on-meet-the-press-high-quality?xg_source=activity

  • lastgopinillinois

    Commander in Chief by far than any other candidate.

    I have more confidence that Newt would be successful in implementing policies he is proposing (which I happen to agree with mostly)

    I do not have any confidence in a Romney or santorum presidency in that same regard. The upside to that is, I do NOT like either of their economic policies. Thus we would likely be stuck with the status quo.

    GO NEWT !!!

  • lastgopinillinois

    do not like Newts plan for immigration.

    I consider myself to be staunchly conservative, but I have to agree that it would not be likely that we could round up 14 million illegal immigrants already here, and I do not believe Santorum would actually do that either.

    I dont think it is fair to call Newts plan “amnesty”. But I do believe his plan (or something resembling it in the end) would go a long way toward putting an end to the influx of illegals.

    Its also a good idea to pass reforms in individual steps as he proposes, due to the fact that past attempts at passing comprehensive plans have failed.

    As I mentioned earlier, I dont have much confidence in the other candidates abilities, so I doubt they would actually be able to accomplish ANYTHING on this front, so we would be stuck with the status quo IMHO

    • acat

      will oppose whatever they’re told to oppose by the sticker writers.

      Tancredo’s an idiot, those who believe him are delusional.

      Mew

      • acat

        but his repeated efforts to fearmonger immigration to get elected .. to anything! .. kinda demonstrate the point, eh?

        Mew

  • mikeymike143

    go rick go!!!!

  • https://www.facebook.com/HanoverHenry hanoverhenry

    and respectfully written without all of that negative junk we see so much of elsewhere. So I thank you, and I do believe that so long as he remains in the race there will be a large number of conservatives voting for him instead of for Rick Santorum. We are certainly agreed that we hope to do better than Mitt. I posted this about my article on this topic, which I posted just past midnight last night:

    Read my new column at RED STATE – it does appear to me that “NOT ROMNEY” continues to dominate GOP primary after Super Tuesday results. http://www.redstate.com/hanoverhenry/2012/03/07/will-romney-follow-mccain-or-reagan-model/

    • quill67

      I also wrote a diary today that Santorum supporters like in terms of how Santorum could force Newt out of the race. There has been no polling of Alabama or Mississippi that I have seen, but if Newt loses those states I believe he will have to quit the race.

      If Gingrich wins those states, he has new life and if Santorum and Gingrich are careful on how they split the votes in the winner take all states, the battle might not be settled until the convention.

      Actually Gingrich may have a deciding role in who gets the nomination even if Santorum goes on a roll. I don’t know what Gingrich could reasonably expect or would want in exchange for his delegates. I would love to see Newt knock heads around as VP and as President of the Senate, but the first priority is winning the election and I don’t see that Newt helps. Newt as the candidate you get all his pluses along with the negatives, but as a VP I think you mostly get the negatives without the pluses.

  • drycnty

    http://www.justin.fm/2012/03/rick-santorum-unfit-for-office.html

  • redwolf04

    Unlike any other elective office in America …..the President is the Commander in Chief.

    Pretty important job……our lives might really depend on it soon.

    In the end, it’s not about jobs or gas or contraception……it’s about which candidate has the “sand” for the job when all the chips are on the line? Obama certainly doesn’t.

    Iran is going nuclear make no mistake about it……medical isotopes….. not hardly…. and what happens when they go nuclear?……I’m not willing to bet on the Ron Paul “nothing happens” option.

    Netanyahu will not let that happen…..count on it.

    The one candidate that will bring the toughness to the office is….. Newt.

    Newt for CinC.

    Fly Navy!

  • WillWong

    Santorum courting Newt? Santorum probably needs Newt to get out. Is this his way to sucker Newt into getting out?

    Newt-Santorum would be a better ticket thought!

    http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/santorum-gingrich-runningmate-alabama/2012/03/08/id/431942

    • lapert

      I also heard that Terrell Owens is willing to consider signing Peyton Manning to the Allen Wranglers – at least in that case it is an offer TO is actually in a position make. Though much like this one it would never be accepted.

    • Xasteius

      Newt comes up with the ideas and proofs Rick’s speeches, and Santorum waves at the crowds.

    • jamesm

      I am just as much a Gingrich backer. He is the best. Santorum and Gingrich are friends. Gingrich will have a role. They can take out Romney together at the convention.Romney has so many advantages that it is difficult to overcome. It can be done

    • quill67

      Usually Vice Presidents do not take on their constitutionally given role as President of the Senate. But I have to say it would be a lot of fun. Senators like to not get anything done.

      They hide behind filibusters and rules. I can imagine Gingrich the historian telling them: ‘Sorry guys the fillibuster has been used to prevent the rollback of big government and is not in the constitution. We are going to vote up or down on everything the house gives us and take action to actually shrink the size of government.

      Gingrich would push things through and would find votes that 70% of the country supported that Democrats would HATE. Oh the thought makes me happy!!!

      • jamesm

        Newt has a role if Santorum wins. He gets nothing if the lib Romney wins, I wonder if Newt might want Secretary of State.

        • WillWong

          Massive resignations….that will be good for the country!

          • jamesm

            Fire these perrenial clowns in the state department.

  • WillWong

    Newt is baaaaaaaack!!!!!

    Alabama Poll: Gingrich 30, Santorum 29, Romney 28, Paul 7

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/alabama-poll-gingrich-30-santorum-29-romney-28-paul-7_633365.html

  • WillWong

    The former U.S. House Speaker leads in Mississippi according to an American Research Group poll out Friday morning has Gingrich leading with 35 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 31 percent and Santorum at 20 percent.

    http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/polls-show-slight-gingrich-1378931.html

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

      We conservative tea partiers need a one on one with Mitt now

  • WillWong

    Well , after spending $50M, mostly on negative ads and yet to lock up the nomination, you cannot blame his people for being tired and reluctant to give. Not Newt’s supporters! Going over to www.newt.org to make another contribution of 10 Newt gallons! Please join me texastaxpayer, Jamesm, Juggernaut, Texasref, common cents, wcp, mikelinddell2, Rudy, Viet71, avagreen, melody, Dr. Bob, duramater, sharon4jc, ann2012, and many others!