Posted on 01/04/2012 8:32:50 AM PST by US Navy Vet
Laura Ingraham: "Can you see a scenario under which the two of you [Santorum and Gingrich] would align together to try to defeat the establishment candidate, Mitt Romney?"
Newt Gingrich: "Absolutely. Of course. I mean Rick and I have a 20-year friendship, we are both rebels, we both came into this business as reformers, we both dislike deeply the degree to which the establishment sells out the American people. We both think Washington has to be changed in very fundamental ways, and we have lots of things that fit together. And the thing that's interesting is if you take the votes, you add to that Perry and Bachmann, you begin to see the size of the conservative vote compared to Romney...if you take, you know, Santorum and Perry and Bachmann and Gingrich you get some sense of what a small minority Romney really represents."
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
“...we are both rebels...”
I hope Newt doesn’t replay the ‘maverick’ theme.
Aha! I predicted this last night on the live thread after watching Newt praising Santorum and how pissed he was at Romney. It seemed the natural alliance, Newt can focus on attacking Romney which enables Santorum to stay positive. I think it’s brilliant ;-) And if it means Newt ends up in a Santorum Cabinet or as VP, no problem with that either.
Go get’em, Newt!
Santorum doesn’t need him and shouldn’t trust him.
Great Newt! Then endorse Santorum. :D
Santorum/Newt!
Woo Hoo! Team up, boys! Huck and McCain did it in ‘08.
Willard’s worse nightmare revisited.
Huge DIFFERANCE btwn a “maverick” and a “Rebel”!
“And the thing that’s interesting is if you take the votes, you add to that Perry and Bachmann, you begin to see the size of the conservative vote compared to Romney...if you take, you know, Santorum and Perry and Bachmann and Gingrich you get some sense of what a small minority Romney really represents.” - Newt
Willard is toast.
Good idea for Newt. No so good for Rick.
That’s wisdom.
A few weeks ago when Newt said ,” I new I was going be the GOP candidate” , think he jinxed himself
Kinda like appearing on the cover of “Sports Illustrated”.
Oh yes he does. Remember, Willard is trying to buy this thing. Doubling up against Willard is the best chance for Newt and Rick in the next several states.
last time I looked Gingrich had a big lead in SC and Santorum was pulling 1%.. I’m sure things have changed a bit from then but doing well in the Iowa straw poll(where he practically lived for the past year) isn’t going to make you the nominee.. Gingrich on the other hand has been coming down here for years promoting Conservative causes.. so we will see who leaves SC with a win and then we can decide.. hey it could be Gingrich, Perry or Santorum.. hopefully not Romney
Newt is a bottom feeder and completely untrustworthy.
I think that’s exactly what Newt is doing. He probably doesn’t even care if he loses at this point, so long as Mitt doesn’t win. He’ll gladly take the blowback after damaging Mitt.
I have no problem with it either. Mitt may reap what he sowed.
This is why I like Newt. He’s always thinking, always coming up with ideas.
He will find that Ricky won’t play with him though.
Did you see Sanctimonious’ AL & TIPPER moment last night? Geeze, get a room.
That’s already happening without Newt. I expect a lot of Bachman’s support to fall in place for Santorum. I also expect Bachman to endorse him and eventually Rick Perry will the futility and try to preserve his own future and his support will go to Santorum. I think Mitt for Brains is screwed. And so is Paul.
Ho-hum. Posted yesterday— -:)
“My impression is that Rick and Newt like each other, and theyll act as a team to destroy Romneys pretense as a conservative.
As between Rick and Newt, ultimately I think Newt will come out on top, wt Rick as a potential VP ( he might be able tto bring over PA).
When push comes to shove, Newt is simple more competent and I think the country wants that now they want someone to take charge.
But, certainly, if its Rick- that would be fine with me.”
This isn’t worth spit, unless Gingrich withdraws within days/hours and endorses Santorum.
Otherwise, Gingrich staying in will cost both he and Santorum votes and money.
If a grand compromise is being considered, it should be considered soon to force Romney out at the nearest exit ramp.
That could avoid the conservative branch being shut out.
[I am not particularly fond of either S or G, but this would be a definitely positive move to head off a Romney coronation.]

LOL.
Romney Edges Gingrich, 27% to 23%, for National GOP Lead (test: find Rick Santorum)
I hope Willard gets Newtered.
Good idea to oust Romney, but does either candidate want to “team up” so early - does this commit either to make the other VP?
Don’t do it, Rick!
I agree.
As much as Santorum was an anti-Romney candidate in Iowa, he was, in my view, much more so the ANTI-GINGRICH candidate.
He’s the alternative to what a few months ago was seen as the “only” alternative to Romney: that is, Santorum is the ALTERNATIVE to Gingrich, and in a big way.
So Santorum aligning with Gingrich, the very candidate that is in many cases pushing votes away from himself and toward Santorum, would be stupid and likely political suicide.
I think this stay positive thing is highly over rated. Stay positive about your vision for the country yes but about your opponents? While they are ripping you to pieces? lol, no I don’t think so. And I agree with Newt it’s not negative if it is true.
Newt is completely oblivious to the fact that Santorum surged precisely because he was the anti-Gingrich candidate.
For those who didn’t want to vote for Romney and didn’t want to vote for Gingrich, they voted for Santorum.
Why would Santorum, the anti-Gingrich candidate, want to align with Gingrich? Santorum is already secure as an anti-Romney candidate. And he’s now the alternative to Gingrich. If Santorum does well (a strong second place finish) in NH, imo, Newt will be out of it.
If you look around FR you’ll see the pro Gingrich crowd already warming up to destroy Santorum while proclaiming Newt to be a saint.
A lot of Gingrich’s support was based simply on the pragmatic conclusion that, at the time, he looked like the only guy who could win.
All along it was clear that if one of the conservatives caught fire, it would drain a lot of energy out of Newt’s campaign.
The strength of Santorum’s win in Iowa, especially coming from 1%, is going to make a big impression on conservatives. I believe they will once again reassess the field. If they conclude that Santorum has a chance, he’s going to get a lot of support, maybe even enough to win.
If Santorum finishes a strong second in NH, it really will be GAME ON.
The two respect each other - and can work together... sounds like a go...
If it comes together, I'm all in.
If it comes together, I'm all in.
I see it much differently.
In my view, Santorum surged because there were many people who are not comfortable with the potential for Bad Newt to show up at any time.
Santorum has the advantage of being not Romney AND not Gingrich.
If he understands that, he’ll stick to his own path. That way he’ll pick up the Bachmann and Perry voters as well as the voters who were never all that comfortable supporting Gingrich.
That was my first reaction. Newt wants vengeance only, not a conservative coalition.
the non Romney leader after SC needs to have all the Conservatives rally around him.. be it Newt, Perry or Santorum
Like the other thread stated - 75% of Republicans do not want Mittens.......
Santorum never got the tens of millions viciously spent against him by the Romney people in Iowa.. that simple
If Gingrich wants to drop out and support Santorum thats one thing but to stay in just because you’re bitter and angry that your record was exposed?!? It shows what this guy is all about - if you saw his speech last night, the guy is angry and bitter. Time to step aside Newt - it’s not about you.
Although I would up-chuck every time afterward, I would vote for Romney every day of the week over McCain.
Made me smile!
It's all going to depend on how effective Romney's attacks are against Santorum. If Santorum holds up, then he'll likely hang on to the "anti-Romney" movement. If Romney's shots hit home, then some of those folks who shifted from Newt to Santorum may shift back to Newt.
But for Newt himself to go after Santorum would be suicide. He needs Romney to do that dirty work if he still wants to win, and honestly, I think Gingrich is sufficiently vindictive that his support for Santorum over Romney is genuine. But, he'd still like to win himself, so he's not pulling out.
it’s gonna be one or the other...hopefully
i think Mitt’s trashing of Newt in Iowa so badly after Newt was cordial to him
will cause the usually ferocious Newt to shift to Santorum if Newt cannot make it up in South Carolina or Florida
if that happens and Perry goes too which I suspect sooner rather than later then we can beat Mitt
but if they all stay in then we play into Mitt and Rovians and Krauthammerians and other conservative traitors hands
I think Mitt is gonna regret killing Newt in Iowa if the damage holds..
santorum was close becaues he was “last man standing”. The MSM had already written the epitaph.
Santorum does not have enough energy to cut it through.
Gingrich and santorum are splitting the anti romney vote. If the pair up they can out flank romney and suck up the soon to be free perry and backman votes.
Kook paul is not a factor, huntsman does not exist.
Well, have at it, I guess.
If FR could have brought down Romney by now, it would have. So we’ll see if there’s more success at bringing down a real conservative.
Just the nature of politics.
Seems to me that people who have not already committed to Newt are very unlikely to unless Santorum stumbles. The problem the Gingrich campaign has with trying to bring out the big guns against Santorum (and, to some extent, Romney) is that Gingrich is the candidate who is MOST vulnerable to effective negative advertising.
I mean: it’s very easy to convey that Gingrich worked with Freddie Mac and conservatives instantly have their own opinion of what that means. But trying to convey that working for a venture capital firm was bad and so on, it’s just not as easy a sell.
Santorum needs all the help he can get.
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