Posted on 02/08/2012 1:44:57 PM PST by VinL
Rick Santorum is about to see the kitchen sink up-close. So far he hasn’t been a threat, so he hasn’t faced much harsh scrutiny, much less the attacks that are about to come his way. His candidacy is for real, and Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney both know it.
While Gingrich thought he could isolate Romney and become his lone real competitor, yesterday’s results, combined with a deflating Gingrich campaign, have allowed Santorum to leapfrog Gingrich as the more viable Romney alternative today.
It’s not in Gingrich’s nature to give up. Attacking Romney hasn’t gotten him to where he thought he would be, but at least he was still in the race. Now he must remove Santorum if he has any viable chance at the nomination. I assume his campaign still has some money, and he still has the power of his own lacerating speech.
Romney has developed a tried-and-true formula for the 2012 primaries: Whenever someone presents themselves as a threat, he blasts them with television rating points. It’s the cynical political equivalent of Colin Powell’s “overwhelming force” battle plan. There is no reason to believe Romney won’t use his well-established attack methods on Santorum.
Unfortunately for Santorum, much of what we will learn in the next couple of weeks will appear new — contracts with clients in Washington, his routine dialogue with K Street while he was in the Senate, his particularly vocal anti-gay positions and the reasons for his 17-point reelection defeat in 2006 that amounted to being summarily fired by the voters in his home state.
But Santorum is not naive. He’s been around the big leagues for a long time. So he will do the best he can to be ready. He won’t be defenseless, and he won’t be shy about delivering a counterpunch.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I think Rick was wrong in going negative on Newt. Individually, they cannot compete with Romney's money and attack machine.
Together, they can take down Romney and the GOP-E.
This morning on the TODAY show, Al Roker interviewed some leftwing author (no other kind allowed on NBC) who called Santorum “a crazy man”.
Wait til the media really gets focus.
Santorum, in contrast to Gingrich and the others, has become a person in the minds of many, and not a politician. His daughter’s illness, among other factors, mean he is looked on as a caring person. Mitt might find that the usual slime dog won’t hunt in this case. It could easily backfire.
Hoping it’s Romney = Patriots and Santorum = Giants. Same SuperBowl outcome too.
I for one hope he is. But he could do plenty just by laughing at Mittney. And stating a positive message such as “your millions don’t mean much when the American people have shown they do not like you nor do they like your message, nor do they like your tactics. I don’t need to play your stupid game. I’m beating you.”
Romney and his buddies are going to go after Rick hard. Rick won my respect last night. I don’t know if I can see him as prez yet but I like him now I have to admit. They’re going to go after him on the social issues big time.
Santorum's fantastic showing last night eliminated that arguement. Santorum doesn't need Newt. He beats Romney head to head.
How Santorum will do when attacked by Romney will tell the tale. Newt withered under fire and collapsed...if Santorum does the same he'll be done too. I hope he does better!
cnn last night made a comment they hope he had his flame suit on.
That's all (mostly) Rick has done ... just hung in and talked about conservatism, America and obama.
As his commercial says ... he's not the conservative alternative to mitt romney ... he's the conservative alternative to obama.
Well after the revolting disgusting display they already did with regards to his son’s death and nasty remarks about his wife dating an abortion doctor even though he was not even through pre-med yet. I think they can take whatever they throw at them. Once you make fun of a child’s death and the wife’s dating life there is nothing more that could get under his skin. Another thing is he has been in politics a long time and probably has heard it all. Bring it on!!!
“I know Romney will take this course”
I think people are getting tired of the constant negatives. Taking things out of someones past and distorting them or outright lying about their positions is rapidly getting old.
If Santorum concetrates on the issues and and articulates authentic principles the negatives will not be effective.
He needs to stay on message, it’s what people want to hear. Plus, I think part of his victory can be attributed to folks being sick of Mitt’s big money negativity.
Newt has survived just about everything that can be thrown at him and is still standing...he'll sweep the south and TX.
1. The bill against the National Weather Service in order to obtain campaign donations...
2. The Fuel Tax Credit... to lower the price of Coke, which was important to the steel industry, which employs thousands in PA
come to mind.
He played the DC game as good as anyone.
For the better part of two decades, the most vicious elements of the homosexual lobby and pro-death fascists have been attacking Rick and his family. During that time, they have wrecked the careers of other politicians, celebrities, sports figures etc. who may have made but a single passing remark they objected to. Although they succeeded in google bombing his name, it has only made them look worse.
Rick has incurred the wrath of CAIR, and has not grovelled or apologized for his remarks.
If folks insist on underestimating Santorum's ability to weather some pretty severe storms, I'm all the more happy to let them.
I think Obama wants Santorum. And I’d say the recent wins may be because of Dem infiltration.
Unfortunately, the attacks have to be responded to. They will be either untrue or distorted and Mitt will repeat them over and over and throw millions in ads peddling them. There is really no way to survive it without money. I think what we are going to see is a continual flip fliop from Gingrich to Santorum and back depending on which one Romney is going after in a given week.
THe same thing happened to Palin..in fact, it amplified the attacks.
Let Romney do his thing. I hope Newt holds back.
I don’t believe Newt will, I’m sure Romney will and will probably be joined by Paul. Newt is still viable after the carpet bombing, I wonder what they will throw at Rick and if he can keep standing. Romney said the other day and I can’t recall the exact quote but it was something to the effect that if Romney were to lose to obama it would be Newt’s fault for making him spend all his money and not be able to compete.
I believe that people respect candor and honesty.
With Santorum, there is going to be a need for him to explain why he did some things he did in the past. This will suffice on some matters. On others there will be a need for him to simply state that he made some mistakes, “This was one of them, and I believe differently today because...”
If he takes this route, and stands in the right position on issues today, he’ll be just fine.
Not really. He was given huge sums of cash and was just able to win one state. By some reports, he is broke again. Who is going to give him money now? How is he going to go back to donors and ask them to contribute more with a string of forth and third place finishes under his belt?
He was given every opportunity to take Mittens out and has so far squandered it through focusing on grudge matches with Mittens and veering off message time and again. The CO win for Santorum is important. No one thought he would be able to beat Milt there. He creamed him. If Santorum can make a good showing in MI an OH, he will really be able to prove that he can knock Milt out in his home turf. His message about manufacturing is tailor made for these states and should do will with base voters.
Newt also doesn't seem to be able to knock down his personal negatives in all this. I don't see how that will help in swing states.
If you aint catching flak then you aint over the target.
Bombs away Rick....drop a few on Ron Paul too.
“Unfortunately, the attacks have to be responded to.”
If he is directly attacked then he should respond.
But the main message should be the problems are country faces and what will be needed to fix them. He should try to inspire people. He should be real and authentic. Keep the infighting to a necessary minimum.
The same attacks and name calling are getting tiresome. Let Romney waste his money on attack ads.
Obama wants Santorum, blah blah blah, Do I have to hear this on NBC and on Free Republic?
I don’t believe Newt will, I’m sure Romney will and will probably be joined by Paul. Newt is still viable after the carpet bombing, I wonder what they will throw at Rick and if he can keep standing. Romney said the other day and I can’t recall the exact quote but it was something to the effect that if Romney were to lose to obama it would be Newt’s fault for making him spend all his money and not be able to compete.
None of this analysis is really true. I know it is the accepted narrative among Santorumbots, as it came from nasty Santorum himself, but it really isn’t true. Newt still has a strong showing in the south and the more conservative states. The Santorum surge will hopefully only be temporary, otherwise we’ll have to deal with Mr.Bottom Feeder who I don’t think can out bottomfeed Romney.
I know it matters, but this total fiasco with this Republican base is not going to win anything. All of the candidates lack gravitas, no fire in them, the Dow is moving up, by September the gas will probably be around $2.50 gal. and by Jan 20th 2013 it will be just another day at the office for Obama. I hate the Idea of a 3rd Party, but maybe they need one to wake them up. We don’t need another Crony in DC, we need new blood. An outsider preferably who owes nothing to anyone. Rots of ruck.
Thank you! I was beginning to doubt my sanity, reading so many posts about how Santorum stayed above the fray, sticking to the issues, never stooping to attack. I remember watching him merrily piling on Newt in the midst of the Romney and establishment bombardment. And now everyone says that Santorum is benefiting from staying out of all the negativity. Reminds me of the kid in the class who takes part in misbehavior then tattles to the teacher.
“Rick was wrong in going negative on Newt. Individually, they cannot compete with Romney’s money and attack machine.
Together, they can take down Romney and the GOP-E.”
How do you mean, “together”? The only way that’d work is if one would agree to be the other’s VP. But first of all that wouldn’t be together; it’d be one or the other against Romney. More importantly, neither of them want to do that.
Standing O, ma’am/sir!!!
Thanks for demonstrating you are ill informed on what happened with Spector. First off. Rick was out of office 4 years before Arlen switched. Why did he switch? Because of PAT TOOMEY. He was being creamed in the Primary polls by him . If you want to blame anyone for Spector switching parties and voting for Obamacare, it is strictly with PAT TOOMEY. The man who forced him out.
“I think people are getting tired of the constant negatives.”
I don’t. Or if they are, it’s in the same way they’re sick of reality tv or politicians in general. Meaning sick but not sick enoguh to stop it from being effective.
I couldn’t resist turning on Beck this morning to get their reaction to last nights election results. They have been using Santorum as a smoke screen for so long, pretending to support him instead of Romney.
I listened to the program for the first 35 minutes and they mentioned it in One unenthusiastic sentence at the beginning of the program, then not one more word. Bet their faces were a mile long.
Beyond you being a Catholic hater, can you point to any tangible evidence of this "bottom feeding" that Santorum is involved in? Maybe contrast that with your candidate.
“Unfortunately, the attacks have to be responded to.”
Disagree, on several counts. First, one is defined by what one resists. If Santorum is or becomes defined by the sheer volume of Mittsers’ attacks, which we anticipate as massive, then he allows it, he walks into that trap. He CAN’T win in a tit-for-tat. This is a known known. Thus he shouldn’t even begin to play that game.
Second, what we want is for Mitt to swing wildly, like a punchdrunk bully...and never connect. If Rick never gets drawn into an insult-fueled fray, then he acquires the stature of a Romney (in terms of being a powerful front runner) just by being in the same ring; but without being *defined* by Romney. It’s IMO an important strategic distinction. Let’s face it, Rick has somewhat of a “backwoodsy” vibe about him, Mittney has this urban, slicker-than-poop image about him. >>>IF he plays it properly, Rick will ultimately end up being better defined by Mitt being unable to land punches than he will playing rope-a-dope or swinging back, punch-for-punch. Mark my words on that point.<<< And then, at some point, Mittster will acquire an image of being the hateful, spiteful, ineffective one. And that could be game, set, match.
Finally, if he simply ignores Mittney enough, Mittney, being the single-strategy mastermind that he is, who is big on the personal attacks but light on the resume, will have to resort to harsher and harsher attacks in an effort to gain traction, and I will tell you now, there will come a point where people will have had enough of that crap and will soundly reject Romney, not just “develop a preference” for the other guy. Romney has been quite remarkable in the stealth organization he has apparently built up on the ground. A direct attack isn’t gonna cut it. But it can be undermined by refusing to play. Mitt ain’t ready for that. He sees himself as the front runner, Rick figures out a way to ignore Romney, and it will scramble Mitt’s brain.
As a Santorum supporter I honestly don’t know the answer to that question but I certainly hope he will give as good as he gets and more without whining about it.
Interesting!
Well that tactic didn’t work out for Newt in Iowa, where he lost a 20 point lead under a multimillion dollar assault of unanswered negative attacks in a 2 week period, did it?
By together, I mean, the 1st thing is to stop Romney. So, they attack him and defend from both flanks. If Romney goes negative on Rick, Newt attacks Romney— and vice versa.
Some of Rick’s supporters are really over-reacting to his wins yesterday. They don’t make him immune from negative attacks. Sarah, Cain and Newt could not withstand them-—Now, I know Rick’s people are pumped up— but, Rick won’t withstand them either- not without help.
“By together, I mean, the 1st thing is to stop Romney. So, they attack him and defend from both flanks”
Okay, so they refrain from attacking eachother and team up on Romney. That may help in a card game, but here they’ll still be splitting eachother’s votes. I don’t see it as any kind of solution.
You can certainly have an issue with who someone endorsed for a race. My issue with your post was that you crumpled up all your hatred for Santorum into a big ball and some how connected Ricks support of Spector in ‘04 as the reason Obamacare passed in ‘10. Rick was long gone from the scene when the party switch and support of the Rat agenda happened. You cannot hang that on Rick. It doesn’t make any sense looking at the timeline.
Many people supported that toad through the years because in a pinch, he would come through with important party votes. It was the best we could do in a generally Blue state like PA.
I think it is entertaining that there is so much indignation about Toomey getting the shaft in ‘04 even though if he were elected then, he would have actually been able to vote for the repeal of DADT, not just talk about it.
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