Posted on 03/15/2012 7:40:58 PM PDT by Keyes2000mt
I am sending a link to this article to Newt's web site and telling him as a donor that I think he needs to back out and endorse Rick. And I will be sending Rick's web site the link and telling him he desperately needs to cut a deal with Newt, up to and including offering him the presidency if it goes to a contested convention, knowing that Rick could step into 8 years as President himself after being Newt's V.P.
Neither Newt nor Rick have ANY path to the presidency without each other's help at this point. They have a choice, cut a deal now and possibly win the nomination, or keep holding out for everything and likely end up losing everything in the end.
Do not think that all the Newt votes will go to Santorum. THEY WILL NOT!!!
Did you even read the article? It's premised on 56% of Newt's votes going to Rick. I think if Rick announced Newt as his V.P., who he has said at least twice before he would consider, then I think Rick could get far more of Newt's votes than that.
Here is how many delegates go with each of the article's categories. Newt is endangering over 70% of them by staying in the race:
Gingrich's Presence Will Help Romney: 707
Gingrich's Presence Will Likely Help Romney: 231
Gingrich's Presence will Hurt Romney: 238
Not mentioned: 134 (Missouri, Puerto Rico, D.C., Utah)
Newt and Rick supporters need to follow their candidates’ leads and make peace already. Newt has said repeatedly that he likes Rick. Rick has also spoken well of Newt and said at least twice that he would consider him as his V.P. Being that mathematically speaking, there is NO way EITHER of these guys can become President without the help of each other (by sharing delegates in a contested convention), then their supporters ought to be focused on working together to defeat Mitt, not continue the infighting.
I think that Newt’s plan now is to stay alive for the brokered convention.
Uh hunh.
Let it suffice to say that your arguments havent worked. In Mississippi, 20% of voters said that a candidate having strong moral character was the most important factor and they voted 65-8% or 13-1.6% And that percent is consistent in every primary and you guys can argue about it all you want but Newt is handicapped from winning those voters.
Not surprising. There is always a certain percentage of the population willing to allow themselves to be snookered by big-government "compassionate" conservatives who loudly thump their chests about how moral they are, while voting to expand government and destroy individuals and the family. These same voters are the people who supported Pardoning Mike Huckabee back in 2008.
Youre cherry picking vote to form a narrative thats simply not true. During 12 years in the Senate, Santorum received 7 grades of A from the National Taxpayers Union during 12 years in the Senate along with 3 B+ and 2Bs, hes received strong ratings from the American Conservative Union and Citizens Against Government Waste.
Actually, you have it backwards.
See - the grades you cite are the ones I used to cite myself a few weeks ago when I was (briefly) warming up to Santorum, and was defending him both here and on Ace of Spades HQ. Then I actually sat down and started thinking about it, and realised that citing these was not actually a very good or honest argument for Santorum.
It's actually relatively easy to get a good grade from these groups, and nevertheless build up an aggregatively bad voting record, so long as the bad votes are spread out evenly enough that they never impact one particular year's grade. Santorum was in public office for 16 years. One can earn a whole decade's worth of B+ grades from the NTU and still have a terribly big-government voting record over the course of it all.
Besides, as is becoming depressingly typical for Santorum supporters, you didn't actually address the FACT of Santorum's many, many, many bad votes - you merely tried to distract attention from them. Patton@Bastogne posted an excellent list detailing Santorum's immoral voting record. These are on the record, whether you like it or not.
Newts speakership was a wasted opportunity. After the government shutdown, he timidly gave in to demand after demand from President Clinton, broke spending caps, and counted on the Lewinsky scandal to deliver Republican gains. He was forced out by conservatives after four years because he could not have been re-elected Speaker. There was a conservative rebellion against him in 1997. Gingrich is a great revolutionary, but lousy at actually implementing anything.
Nice bit of revisionist history there. Nevertheless, the *actual* facts are that Newt delivered on the Contract for America, he delivered on welfare reform, he delivered on capital gains tax cuts and other tax reforms, and he delivered on a balanced budget. He did this, in large part, AFTER the 1995 government shut down, and did it by forcing a hostile Democrat President to accept them.
Notably, Rick Santorum has NO SUCH RECORD of conservative leadership like this. All Santorum has is a long string of votes to increase government size and extent.
Newt left the Speakership because of a "coup" by Reps. Boehner, Paxon, Armey, and DeLay - who revolted specifically because Newt was TOO conservative, and wasn't playing the "go along to get along" game with the Democrats.
Nevermind the prospect of the father of Obamacare becoming our nominee...
Can you make a case FOR your boy, or refute anything Patton said?
This is from Stephen Luftschein of the gingrich campaign. I know Stephen a little, and he is a good guy. what he writes about here is basically Romney in the coming weeks. I think he may be onto something because I saw an article today that romney has started laying of staff...
anyway... may it be a balm to those who need it...
Dear Newt Volunteers,
Let me first give you some straight facts about today/tonight and Alabama and Mississippi. Newt was shooting for wins, so clearly, it is disappointing, but in terms of all important delegates, the difference between first by a couple of points and second by a couple of points is very small indeed (as of this writing the exact numbers are still not in).
Romney finished third in both states in what was a very good night for Santorum.
But here is what is being missed. Paul Begala hinted at it tonight on CNN. Many of you have heard me on our statewide calls and in private conversations discussing why Romney comes across the way he does, why he stutters, and seems to be constantly scanning the audience to gauge the crowd reaction before moving to his next point.
It is because of his training as an investor. It is the same reason why an investor is not qualified to be President, as opposed to a businessman/entrepreneur. Investors gauge markets. They judge situations and adjust on the fly to find the best investment. This is why Romney appears to have no central idea, because he is gauging the “market” of his particular audience. In front of a crowd, testing his “Investment” to see if the crowd is buying the product.
An entrepreneur, or great political candidate, is driven by an idea. He/She has a goal, and will move toward that goal despite any obstacles placed in their way.
Well, it is not surprising that much of Romney’s “insider” support comes from individuals and businesses with similar backgrounds and ideas. This is not to denigrate investment, but a simple analysis of a thought process.
It is why we see so many of the same large donors on both sides of the aisle. Investors hedge their bets. Entrepreneurs/ Idea people do not. They go all in. They see an end result and move inexorably toward it.
What happened tonight is critical to this mindset.
What will begin to happen is that support will begin to flea Romney. His “investors” have to now begin to hedge their bets. They are right now gauging the market, i.e. GOP voters, and realizing that they may need a better investment.
Remember, most of his campaign has been built on the “inevitability” factor. That factor is now gone. It has been leaking air for some time, but tonight that bubble was fully burst. And when you build your campaign not on ideas, but on an “electability factor” and the voters deny you that factor, what is left?
More importantly, what is left for that “insider” or “establishment” support that are not the professional GOP class? They begin to look elsewhere. They need to maximize their investments. It is why Romney’s finances are beginning to become tighter and he is struggling to continue to raise the kind of money he has for the last few years.
On a practical level, what this means is that for Romney, the “easy pickings” are gone. He is losing his ability to grossly outspend Newt and the other candidates to the level that he did in Florida, for example. More importantly, he will begin to lose voting support.
As usual, the media will be slow to pick up on this. But look for, in the days and weeks ahead, Romney’s national numbers, and then his individual state numbers, to start taking their first real hit. And how can you tell Romney is becoming increasingly desperate and realizes this himself? One only has to look at his comments today about Santorum being at the desperate end of his campaign.
This is where Newt gets it right. As I mentioned above, it is the difference between an entrepreneur/idea man, and an investor. Romney invested in the idea of being President but has never been driven with a dream of what the country SHOULD look like, or COULD look like under his administration. (Reagan drove to the nomination despite many state losses because he never lost sight of that goal, the BIG idea.)
Newt, on the other hand, has spent his entire career doing JUST that. Looking ahead 2 DECADES and imagining a Republican majority in the House, for example. He did it before.
Getting back to the practical level, as Romney bleeds support, are those voters likely to coalesce around Santorum, a candidate who manages to frequently alienate exactly those who might support him? Or to Newt, who keeps presenting the big ideas, and even more, from his position as candidate, is ALREADY driving the national conversation? I think you know my answer to that question.
I admit, I was down earlier this evening. But after looking at things carefully, I feel much better.
And what was it that Paul Begala said tonight on CNN? “...It is time for Mitt Romney to get out of the race.” It was not much earlier than this that he dropped out 4 years ago. It was just after super Tuesday when front runner John McCain already had more than 700 delegates (an important # as Romney has no where near that now)
There are alot of states yet to go, N.C., W. Virginia.....Louisiana, Texas...and many more ...A Commander never leaves the field....Here’s looking forward to a Newt Presidency !
Stephen
Newt 2012
THIS is what Newt is counting on, slogging along till it happens, and it will happen. Count on it.
Go, Newt!!
My analysis says Newt is the best man for the job. All others should bow out!!
So you seem to be ok with the white version of obumer getting the nomination huh? That just makes so much sense.It really does.
And he is a “staunch” Santorum supporter /s
Dang! You don’t cut this guy any slack. LOL
Since it proves your "point"..........
Dude! Where you been? I was thinking about you today.
No way!!!! /S
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