Posted on 02/13/2012 12:25:40 PM PST by Bobbisox
A couple of polls came out from Public Policy Polling this weekend showing that Santorum seems to be replacing Newt Gingrich as the main "not Romney" candidate in Minnesota and Colorado. There seems to be a desire to "give another conservative a chance" as well as to potentially field a candidate without as much baggage as Newt so that Mitt Romney's negative ad carpet bombing will not be as effective.
I think though that this reasoning is fallacious and switching support from Newt to Santorum at this point would be a major mistake. Let's just look at what I believe are the two main arguments for the switch:
(Excerpt) Read more at politijim.com ...
Not reading it because I’ve made up my mind about newt. He is just too emotionally needy and thus unpredictable. He is far too out for himself, and this concerns me.
But I am not understanding Palin’s callIng santorum a knuckle dragging Neanderthal. I guess he intImated that she went for a lucrative job. Is she ashamed of that ? Not getting that. Are they over their tiff by now?
He is a liberal and he s currently “faking it”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2846052/posts
It is amazing to me that so many change their vote on the winds of political polls. The substantive reasons for voting for Newt have been listed many times by Freepers making the point that he is offering very specific solutions and actions he would take Day 1.
I haven’t seen substantive arguments made in favor of Rick Santorum. If it is his family life that makes him qualified, then Obama is equally qualified.
I hope that Newt will eventually prevail. I will never vote for Romney, and will only vote for Santorum knowing that we settled for second best, and missed an opportunity to have a truly great President in Newt Gingrich.
I believe if Ronald Reagan were here, he’d be supporting Newt, just as Sarah is.
Within the past year Gingrich has said he would give subsidies to flex fuel vehicle makers yet watch the reaction to Obama increasing the same on electric vehicles over here.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2846065/posts
His idea for a new Environmental Solutions Agency sure doesn’t sound like a small government conservative to me. Assuming that new federal agency really did help business, given enough time it would only morph into the EPA over successive democrat administrations. (and yes, there will be democrats elected in the future)
While Santorum is far from perfect (my 3rd choice) he isn’t feeding a bunch of crap into an echo chamber. He’ll be a good president but we can make him a great president.
I believe that many Freepers would be OPPOSING Reagan now, calling him a liberal.
Organizations that rate politicians based on their records seem to think Santorum was pretty conservative. I trust them probably a little more than pro-Newt people posting random lists of votes (at least two of which have been proven to be opposite of what they said), with no context about the overall bills or what the specific bill actually did or did not do.
the ACU gave Santorum a lifetime 88.1 rating (c.f. Gingrich 90.0 lifetime). Santorum 2005 rating was 92.
OnTheIssues ranks Santorum a 90/0 hard core conservative (c.f. Gingrich 90/20 hard core conservative).
NRA gave Santorum an A+ rating (c.f. Gingrich A)
NRL 100%; NARAL 0%
Concerned Women for America : 100%
Americans for Tax Reform : 95%
U.S. Chamber of Commerce : 100%
American Security Council : 100%
American Coalition for Ethanol : 0%
Arab American Institution : 0%
ACLU : 17%
Human Rights Campaign : 0%
League of Private Property Voters : 89%
American Wilderness Coalition : 0%
Republicans for Environmental Protection : 0%
League of Conservation Voters : 10%
American Bar Association : 0%
His record has some real duds, as it were. But on the whole, he has pleased most of the groups we want him to please, and has outraged the groups we want to be outraged.
LOL! Point taken! After all, Reagan was divorced and had so much baggage! Forget the baggage! Newt has a lot of Intelligence, Experience and Common Sense, as well as a great Plan for getting us back on track as a Republic. I can’t remember a Presidential candidate since Reagan who was as concise and on target as Newt.
You're against firearm ownership? Rick has a higher lifetime rating from both the NRA and GOA than does Newt...
“He is a liberal and he s currently faking it’
You do realize the article Rush was discussing claims the exact opposite, that Romney was “faking” being pro choice.
In any event your position is perfectly plausible. That is Romnety’s whole problem, his liberal Mass. past.
IMHO if he is elected after a conservative campaign, and if he has a republican Congress, he will conduct a conservative administration. That’s my best guess.
I’m sorry that all the candidates have problems. Obama has to be defeated so I will support the nominee.
“Let’s just look at what I believe”
Lol, USS.
He’s done a bunch of dirt on us on firearms too, especially for kids.
Forget the NRA BS numbers, and look at his votes.
Freepers go back and forth like a ping pong game between Newt and Rick.
Bottom line is money. Mitt has it, they don’t.
Sad but true.
Foster Friess is helping Santorum but not sure by how much. I heard that Adelson cut off Newt.
Newt hasn’t been a Conservative for a long time. He has become just another D.C. insider that has been there way too long. Most all of the politicians, et. al. in D.C. are corrupt. I am not sure there is any real hope left.
He will never conduct a conservative administration. His goal is to moderate the GOP by getting rid of pro-life and anti-gay Republicans.
Santorum on guns:
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.
NRA means absolutely nothing.
They support vigorus prosecution of unconstitutional gun laws, and always have, so they love Santorum.
How will Romney get rid of pro life republicans while running as a pro plife republican?
In any event I understand the problems with Romney. IMHO his problem is he’s a politician. Meaning a self serving smooth talking liar.
Sadly I think they all are, possible exception Santorum. Actually, exception Ron Paul, but he has other issues.
I think this list is tripe. I’d love to know the exact circumstances in which Rick voted for ar against some of these items. Almost always an item is a part of a much larger bill. Sometimes there are several competing bills, some stronger and some watered down. All I know that as MY senator, with rare exceptions, I was thrilled with him. Bob
From GOA: Newt Gingrich on Guns: A Mixed Record
Friday, 30 September 2011 16:19
Prior to the Republican Revolution of 1994, Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia had earned an A rating with Gun Owners of America. But that all changed in 1995, after Republicans were swept to power and Gingrich became Speaker of the House.
The Republicans gained the majority, thanks in large part to gun owners outraged by the Clinton gun ban. And upon taking the reins of the House, Speaker Gingrich said famously that, As long as I am Speaker of this House, no gun control legislation is going to move in committee or on the floor of this House and there will be no further erosion of their rights.
His promise didnt hold up, however, and his GOA rating quickly dropped like a lead sinker to a D. In 1996, the Republican-led Congress passed the gun free school zones act, creating criminal safe zones like Virginia Tech, where the only person armed was a murderous criminal. Speaker Newt Gingrich voted for the bill containing this ban.1
The same bill also contained the now infamous Lautenberg gun ban, which lowered the threshold for losing ones Second Amendment rights to a mere misdemeanor.2 Gun owners could, as a result of this ban, lose their gun rights forever for non-violent shouting matches that occurred in the home -- and, in many cases, lose their rights without a jury trial.
While a legislator might sometimes vote for a spending bill which contains objectionable amendments, that was clearly NOT the case with Newt Gingrich in 1996. Speaking on Meet the Press in September of that year, Speaker Gingrich said the Lautenberg gun ban was a very reasonable position.3 He even refused to cosponsor a repeal of the gun ban during the next Congress -- despite repeated requests to do so.4
Also in 1996, Speaker Gingrich cast his vote for an anti-gun terror bill which contained several harmful provisions. For example, one of the versions he supported (in March of that year) contained a DeLauro amendment that would have severely punished gun owners for possessing a laser sighting device while committing an infraction as minor as speeding on a federal reservation.5 (Not only would this provision have stigmatized laser sights, it would have served as a first step to banning these items.) Another extremely harmful provision was the Schumer amendment to centralize Federal, State and Local police.6
__________________________________________________________ Notes:
[1] Final passage of H.R. 3610, Sept. 28, 1996 at: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1996/roll455.xml . Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) warned his colleagues about the hidden dangers in H.R. 3610, and in regard to the Kohl ban, noted that it would prohibit most persons from carrying unloaded firearms in their automobiles.
[2] See Gingrichs vote at: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1996/roll455.xml .
[3] Associated Press, Gingrich Favors Handgun Ban for Domestic Abuse Convicts, Deseret News, Sept. 16, 1996. The full quote reveals how much Speaker Gingrich had adopted the anti-gunners line of thinking: I'm very much in favor of stopping people who engage in violence against their spouses from having guns, the Georgia Republican said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. I think that's a very reasonable position. But the fact that this gun ban covers misdemeanors in the home is primary evidence that NON-violent people have been subjected to lifetime gun bans for things like: shouting matches, throwing a set of keys in the direction of another person, spanking a child, etc.
[4] See H.R.1009, States' Rights and Second and Tenth Amendment Restoration Act of 1997, introduced by Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-ID).
[5] H.R. 2703, March 14, 1996 at: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1996/roll066.xml .
[6] S. 735, April 18, 1996 at: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1996/roll126.xml .
I could support either one, think both are decent conservatives, but I favor Newt a bit because of his ability to articulate the vision of conservatism and his better track record in winning against liberals.
It's likely I (we) am going to vote for Santorum in the primary, because he has the best chance to beat Romney in our state.
Romney would make it hard to swallow (or vote) again.........
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.