Posted on 02/19/2012 3:36:10 PM PST by VinL
Just after the South Carolina primary, Newt Gingrich--or his minions--put considerable public pressure upon Rick Santorum to stand down, to get out, to leave the race.
Santorum's response was simple. If he began to come in last in any series of races, he would do so. Santorum went on to explain that he had won as many states as Newt had at that point, so there was no need to go anywhere.
That was five states, 3 Santorum victories, and several instances of bottoming out by the Gingrich campaign ago.
The Gingrich people will not like what I have to say next, but it is resolutely true, and there is no argument against it, so here goes...
"If Newt Gingrich believes Mitt Romney is a worse choice for nominee than a real conservative would be, then he must leave the race now. Staying in the race until Super Tuesday hurts the conservative cause, aids Romney, and ultimately will re-elect Barack Obama."
There, it is said. It had to be. It is all true.
This week Billionaire Casino Magnate Sheldon Adelson announced his intentions to continue to sink money into the Gingrich SuperPAC "Winning Our Future." This newest round of $10,000,000 would roughly match the $11,000,000 that allowed Gingrich his one state win in South Carolina. But even that is money poorly spent.
Gingrich had the chance to build on his win, but was unable to capitalize in Florida, and his absolute stubbornness in refusing to organize for the three state caucus strike-out that catapulted Santorum to front-runner status demonstrated some old inclinations about the former speaker that had been voiced by many former colleagues. Newt is flagging in polls nationally, ranking behind Ron Paul at times, and does not show a path to victory even if he were to break through on Super Tuesday using massive SuperPAC money to land somewhat mediocre media presence. (After all $10,000,000 across seven states won't even begin to touch a fourth of the penetration rate he had with $11,000,000 in South Carolina.)
Debates are now being universally panned, and the free media will not add up to give Newt new opportunities to "un-re-define" himself from himself.
I asked a few columns back if Gingrich was Churchill, for 2012, the answer seems to be "no!"
But that doesn't render him insignificant.
If Gingrich were to leave, and especially if he were to endorse Santorum, Mitt Romney's campaign would truly be on the death's door. Romney is trailing in Michigan, where he couldn't seem to connect with voters even before Santorum's sweep, and according to Rasmussen--the most accurate pollster in the past six cycles--he trails Santorum by 12 nationally, and by nearly 20 in the swing state of Ohio. Despite what her "right-to-be-wrongness" Ann Coulter says about Mitt's inevitability, Republicans--if they are smart--should always elect the man for nomination who wins Ohio. Because in the general election, it is the best indicator of who will be President.
Santorum has thicker skin than Newt and Mitt combined, and next to Newt, he's the best debater left in the bunch. But most importantly he is the sharpest contrast to Obama--in nearly every imaginable category.
Newt is steadily polling at 14% in the polls. Santorum has exploded in Michigan and Ohio, is nearly within the margin of error to Romney in Arizona, and almost the same within Gingrich in Georgia. Meanwhile in some states Gingrich finishes last, Santorum never does. But if you add 2/3's of Newt's total to Santorum's, Rick Rollin' would become the new GOP past time.
If Gingrich is a man of principal, he will allow the consolidation and much-more-baggage-free candidacy of Rick Santorum to zoom into an even further all-out lead nationally. If Gingrich stays in, it is obvious his feelings about Romney's danger and likely losing proposition as nominee will come true. And the former speaker would have only himself to blame.
If Romney is the nominee, Obama will be President for a second term. (His inability to take Obama on--on his biggest weaknesses, the target of his faith's racially questionable history and the twisted way the mainstream media will exploit that, his inability to not say things from an entirely silver spoon perspective, and his lack of distinction from Obama on many social issues--like subsidizing abortion, and creating "gay" marriage.)
The GOP's job at the moment is to pick the best candidate they can to beat Obama, and the one who is most-different-than him presents the best possibility.
Especially if that candidate wins Ohio.
Santorum has the voting record of a Hillary Clinton fan.
NEA
Voted for taxpayer funding of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Voted against a 10% cut in the budget for National Endowment for the Arts.
Bankruptcy
Voted for a Schumer amendment to make the debts of pro-life demonstrators not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Defense and Foreign Policy
Voted for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Voted against requiring the President to certify that the CWC is effectively verifiable.
Voted against requiring the President to certify that that Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, China, and all other countries determined to be state sponsors of terror have joined CWC prior to submitting the instrument of ratification.
Voted for the START II Treaty.
Voted to allow the sale of supercomputers to China.
Voted to ban anti-personnel landmines.
Voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending.
Voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same pay raises as uniformed military.
Voted to allow food and medicine sales to state sponsors of terror and tyrannical regimes such as Libya and Cuba.
Voted to limit the President’s authority to impose sanctions on nations for reasons of national security unless the sanctions were approved by a multilateral regime.
Voted against requiring Congressional authorization for military action in Bosnia.
Voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea.
Voted to weaken alien terrorist deportation provisions. If the Court determines that the evidence must be withheld for national security reasons, the Justice Department must still provide a summary of the evidence sufficient for the alien terrorist to mount a defense against deportation.
Voted against delaying the India Nuclear until the President certified that India had agreed to suspend military-to-military exchanges with Iran.
Voted against the Conventional Trident Missile Program.
Nominations
Voted for Richard Paez to the 9th Curcuit (cloture).
Voted for Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge.
Voted for Richard Holbrooke to be Ambassador to the UN.
Voted for Margaret Morrow to be District Judge.
Voted twice for Marsha Berzon to the 9thg Circuit.
Voted for Mary McLaughlin to be District Judge.
Voted for Tim Dyk to be District Judge.
Voted for James Brady to be District Judge.
Labor
Voted against National Right to Work Act.
Voted against repeal of Davis-Bacon Prevailing union wages.
Voted for Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor.
Voted for mandatory Federal child care funding.
Voted for Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Voted for Job Corps funding.
Voted twice in support of Fedex Unionization.
Voted against allowing a waiver of Davis-Bacon in emergency situations.
Voted for minimum wage increases six times here here here here here and here.
Voted to require a union representative on an IRS oversight board.
Voted to exempt IRS union representatives from criminal ethics laws.
Voted against creating independent Board of Governors to investigate IRS abuses.
Guns
Voted to require pawn shops to do background checks on people who pawn a gun.
Voted twice to make it illegal to sell a gun without a secure storage or safety device.
Voted for a Federal ban on possession of “assault weapons” by those under 18.
Voted for Federal funding for anti-gun education programs in schools.
Voted for anti-gun juvenile justice bill.
Reform
Voted for funding for the legal services corporation.
Voted twice for a Congressional pay raise.
Voted to impose a uniform Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted rapists, arsonists, drug kingpins, and all other ex-convicts to vote in Federal elections.
Voted for the Specter “backup plan” to allow campaign finance reform to survive if portions of the bill were found unconstitutional.
Voted to mandate discounted broadcast times for politicians.
Voted for a McCain amendment to require state and local campaign committees to report all campaign contributions to the FEC and to require all campaign contributions to be reported to the FEC within 24 hours within 90 days of an election.
Immigration
Voted against increasing the number of immigration investigators.
Voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive the earned income credit before becoming citizens.
Voted to give SSI benefits to legal aliens.
Voted to give welfare benefits to naturalized citizens without regard to the earnings of their sponsors.
Voted against hiring an additional 1,000 border partrol agents, paid for by reductions in state grants.
Taxes
Voted against a flat tax.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for Medicare prescription drugs.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to fund health insurance subsidies for small businesses.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an $8 billion increase in child healh insurance.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an increase in NIH funding.
Voted twice for internet taxes.
Voted to allow gas tax revenues to be used to subsidize Amtrak.
Voted to strike marriage penalty tax relief and instead provide fines on tobacco companies.
Voted against repealing the Clinton 4.3 cent gas tax increase.
Voted to increase taxes by $2.3 billion to pay for an Amtrak trust fund.
Voted to allow welfare to a minor who had a child out of wedlock and who resided with an adult who was on welfare within the previous two years.
Voted to increase taxes by $9.4 billion to pay for a $9.4 billion increase in student loans.
Voted to say that AMT patch is more important than capital gains and dividend relief.
Welfare
Voted against food stamp reform.
Voted against Medicaid reform.
Voted against TANF reform.
Voted to increase the Social Services Block Grant from $1 billion to $2 billion.
Voted to increase the FHA loan from $170,000 to $197,000. Also opposed increasing GNMA guaranty from 6 basis points to 12.
Voted for $2 billion for low income heating assistance.
Waste
Sponsored an amendment to increase Amtrak funds by $550 million.
Voted to use HUD funds for the Joslyn Art Museum (NE), the Stand Up for Animals project (RI) and the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Project (WA).
Voted to increase spending on social programs by $7 billion.
Voted to increase NIH funding by $1.6 billion.
Voted to increase NIHnding by $700 million.
Voted to for a $2 million earmark to renovate the Vulcan Monument (AL).
Voted for a $1 billion bailout for the steel industry.
Voted against requiring that highway earmarks would come out of a state’s highway allocation.
Voted to allow Market Access Program funds to go to foreign companies.
Voted to allow OPIC to increase its administrative costs by 50%.
Voted against transferring $20 million from AmeriCorps to veterans.
Voted for the $140 billion asbestos compensation bill.
Voted against requiring a uniform medical criteria to ensure asbestos claims were legitimate.
Voted to increase community development programs by $2 billion.
Spending and Entitlements
Voted to make Medicare part B premium subsidies a new entitlement.
Voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years.
Voted to give $18 billion to the IMF.
Voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt.
Health Care
Voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker.
Voted twice for Federal mental health parity mandates in health insurance.
Voted against allowing consumers the option to purchase a plan outside the parity mandate.
Education
Voted to increase Federal funding for teacher testing.
Voted to increase spending for the Department of Education by $3.1 billion.
Voted against requiring courts to consider the impact of IDEA awards on a local school district.
Energy
Voted to allow the President to designate certain sites as interim nuclear waste storage sites in the event that he determines that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site for a permanent waste repository. Those sites are as follows: the nuclear waste site in Hanford, Washington; the Savannah River Site in South Carolina; Barnwell County, South Carolina; and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee.
Voted to make fuel price gouging a Federal crime.
“Santorum’s voting record promises to resume funding to social programs, etc., from debt/revenues and tax hikes.”
None of the candidates, not even Paul, will meaningfully trim government expenditures.
Like I said, I’m not happy about having to support Santorum, but I simply can’t support Newt. I can’t do it - and neither can the vast majority of Republicans.
By all accounts Gingrich has baggage to fit into a 747. He’s appears to be losing even in GA.
National Review; The American Spectator, and now TownHall all seem to demanding that he quit but he stubbornly refuses even while Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin appear to have endorsed Santorum. Gingrich’s negative have sunk below the cellar; he loses Independents in droves; and in the recent Gallup trails Obama by some 15-points.
What gives?
There are now accounts in the (conservative) Washington Times that nearly $1m of unexplained cash has found its way into Gingrich’s close family members. He’s sugar daddy’s $21m and counting comes only on the assurance that Gingrich will turn Iran into rubble if they continue with their nuclear program.
But something many don’t seem to know is that Gingrich was a “Rockefeller Republican”
Don’t believe it? Just view this short 10-second clip by Fox’s Judge Napolitano
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1412426353001/newt-gingrich-caught-in-a-lie/?intcmp=sem_outloud
"This week Billionaire Casino Magnate Sheldon Adelson announced his intentions to continue to sink money into the Gingrich SuperPAC "Winning Our Future." This newest round of $10,000,000 would roughly match the $11,000,000 that allowed Gingrich his one state win in South Carolina. But even that is money poorly spent.
For me it's Newt or else! no Santorum!
Thanks for the honest and analytical reply. I’m seeing from the whole political picture, IMO, that we’ll each need to prepare ourselves for a repudiation, currency adjustment and more of an agricultural economy. We’ve seen what is sometimes erroneously referred to by opinion writers as a technocracy, but we’ll more likely see the real thing on the other side of the collapse (government influenced more by engineers and technicians). Not a problem for me.
So yes everyone wants to think they're vote counts...but in reality it's the delegate count not the popular vote that wins.
Not sure why you’d bring in some conspiracy I was simply commenting on your post, sheesh.
“If you know your candidate, you know his weaknesses - and I think you’d admit, if you’re honest, that Newt has some issues to deal with.”
Wow, good one. If I’m honest... putting way to much pressure on me here. I guess I’m not honest because when it comes to politics I DON’T know his weaknesses. If it’s his personal life I don’t consider that a weakness as he appears to have that under control, if it’s the ethics question all over again he was cleared of everything (yes everything) it was nothing more than a concocted witch hunt. So enlighten me please.
Regarding his Fox News Sunday interview so THAT is what you mean by whining? He was asked a direct question and he gave an answer. If you disagree with his reason for losing FL then pose yours. I am curious.
Again your only defense against the smartest guy in the room and best debater labels is “He’s not getting my vote.” so I ask again, if he is both then why? If he isn’t then who is and your opinion as to why?
“Yet he’s in 3rd place. Why?”
Because of people like you who don’t know why they are not voting for him, they just aren’t.
“Why is your candidate not winning?”
There is no winning until all the votes are counted and according to Obama we still have over 50 states to go.
:)
JB
I think biblical forgiveness should be accepted by everyone, since we will be judged ourselves by the same mercy we give others. As far is God is concened, Jesus takes away our sins and cleanses us. Carry yours around if you wish to.
No, Newt hasn’t been insulated from political attack, especially by the hypocrites who fear him. They don’t care two hoots about his “baggage”, but they are afraid that he is going to shake up the establishment and pack their bags for them, so they continue the attack.
In the unlikley event that Rick Santorum is elected, all the Washington crowd will do is laugh at him, and it will be business as usual in Washington. He is a complete lightweight, as people who have knowm him personally for years can tell you.
I cringe when I think of him sitting down with the Prime Minister of Israel. Having lost my son in service to his country, I will feel sorry for our service men and women if he is Commander in Chief. It has been awful under Obama. Oliver North endorsed Newt with good reason.
Don’t expect anything of substance to get done by Rick. He does not have what it takes to deliver, but the nation may find that out the hard way.
Newt's the only one who can get the ball rolling fast and hard and that with a plan and knowhow to do it.....we don;t have the leasure of time for Romney or Santorum to learn that moving congress is and WAshingtom is more than just platitudes......it needs a sledge hammer now....Rick and Romney will placate and fumble and basically slow down what would otherwise be with Newt....we simply do not have the time to pussyfoot around as they will indeed do!
” Newt sat down on the couch with Pelosi to jump on the big government global warming bandwagon”
The more I learn about Newt’s history with Pelosi and what she did to him, it is easier to realize that he wasn’t alining with her and the man-made global warming crowd as much as trying to give a conservative alternative to the enviro-nuts.
Newt says it was a mistake, but he was the only conservative willing to enter the debate on the environment and give non-big government solutions.
We all know that “global warming” is just an excuse for socialist take over of everything.
Newt was trying to steal the issue for conservative who can give workable Market solutions.
Those may have been misguided as well.
But it shows that Newt is a fighter, willing to get into the ring and argue.
That is leadership. The alternative is to let the socialist clowns run the everything.
Newt’s ideas on eliminating the EPA and replacing it with an agency that focuses on local solution is visionary and bold and the kind of leadership we need. I don’t hear Santorum say anything like eliminating departments.
I don’t give a flying f..k about Obama’s religion, or anybody else’s. We don’t elect a Pope, Imam, Mullah, Rabbi or any other religious leader, but a PRESIDENT.
Obama has to go because he’s bankrupting the country and diminished America’s status in the world as the first power, he is a living menace for the national defense and for the cohesion of the American people with his deadly class warfare.
I think it’s disruptive to turn the election on personal matters as Santorum does. By doing it, I think he is presenting to Obama a second term on a silver platter and I think he is a disgrace as candidate, incapable to focus on the main issues which ail the country. Whether you agree with me or not doesn’t matter either.
If you want to talk religion, fine, but without me.
So yes everyone wants to think they're vote counts...but in reality it's the delegate count not the popular vote that wins.
And that's exactly the reason that I want the process to go on until at least a majority of states have spoken. The longer it goes the more the ultimate winner has to fight for the majority of delegates. You don't win delegates if you don't get votes. You don't get votes unless voters believe you are the candidate they want.
Again, I ask, do you not believe at that point all candidates will have been sufficiently vetted and the selection more true to the desires of the Republican electorate?
Wouldn't that make you even more confident if the nominee is also your choice? Doesn't a longer primary season give Newt more of a chance to retake the lead? I guess I'm not understanding your argument here. Is it just the simple fact that I said I could happily vote for either Newt or Santorum, and once I uttered that unforgivable statement you stopped listening to what I'm actually saying?
Obama has to go because he’s bankrupting the country and diminished America’s status in the world as the first power, he is a living menace for the national defense and for the cohesion of the American people with his deadly class warfare.
I think it’s disruptive to turn the election on personal matters as Santorum does. By doing it, I think he is presenting to Obama a second term on a silver platter and I think he is a disgrace as candidate, incapable to focus on the main issues which ail the country. Whether you agree with me or not doesn’t matter either.
Well, let's see what Newt says about this issue, shall we? You know, Newt Gingrich, the guy you claim to support in this election.
I say Go Newt! What say you?
I say, for months now:
Hear! Hear!
Well if Rick's got team advice you can be sure he thinks he doesn't need it. Maybe he thinks his "calling" is to tell the US citizen how sinful all faiths but his are.
I'm a Christian and can agree with some of Rick's points...but it is not the place of a political canddidate to drive home their religious convictions expecially in light of the peril this nation is in with some very serious happenings which Do need addressing.
Jesus knew that you feed the people the food they need first...America needs a President who addresses the economics we are under...then the people will be in position to hear otherwise from "church man" and even then they will find a church without a President tellign them what they must believe or how sinful they are.
“Santorum has had a bizarre week.”
I think the wine went to his head. He’s delirious.
The more he babbles, the more he reveals himself.
He demonstrates he is not made of presidential fabric.
If he wasn’t married, he could have been the next Savonarola. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola)
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