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 ...
January 25, 2012
“Frankly, I’ve got to get home because everybody’s asking for my tax returns. I’ve got to get these tax returns, so everybody gets what they’ve been asking for,” Santorum said.
Well, it’s February 13, and still no tax records in sight..
After South Carolina, he said he was going home to fill them up and release them.
Time time time. He’s working on it and making sure he doesn’t have a boo boo in them that will embarse him. JMO.
January 30th, 2012
13 days ago
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/30/santorum-to-release-four-years-of-taxes/
Santorum to release four years of taxes
Posted by
CNN’s Ashley Killough
(CNN) - Rick Santorum said Monday he plans to release four years of tax returns that he found while digging through paperwork at his Pennsylvania home this weekend.
“But I want to make sure that I get someone to take a look at them to make sure that we – that I have everything that I’m supposed to have,” Santorum said on CNN’s “John King, USA.”
end snip
But I do have a huge problem with politicians being hypocritical about it!
“making sure he doesn’t have a boo boo in them that will embaras him.”
Does he need a couple of tax advisers for that?
Not a rebuttal ace, just an honest observation, and a great disappointment, to be sure.
You told me to ignore the NRA. I then posted a release by a credible 2nd Amendment watchdog (GOA), with notes and citations detailing their issues with Gingrich.
Your only retort is that I'm a "fake to the core." What's fake, unfactual, incorrect, misleading or erroneous about anything I posted?
You’re dancing now.
You dismissed Santorum’s devastating votes against our rights as OK because the NRA gave him a good rating, disregarding the fact that the NRA has also worked feverishly against our rights too.
You’re fake.
Furthermore, you completely ignore Newt's 2nd Amendment issues detailed (with citations) in my #59, and which both organizations find more objectionable? Why do Rick's votes for riders and amendments count as "devastating votes", but Newt's complete abandonment of his pledge, “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,” is perfectly excusable?
Not only did various measures "move" in committee and on the floor, he supported and voted for some of them.
Even Georgia Gun Owners have substantive issues with Newt:
"In 1996, Newt Gingrich turned his back on gun owners and voted for the anti-gun Brady Campaign’s Lautenberg Gun Ban, which strips the Second Amendment rights of citizens involved in misdemeanor domestic violence charges or temporary protection orders — in some cases for actions as minor as spanking a child."
"Gingrich also stood shoulder to shoulder with Nancy Pelosi to pass the “Criminal Safezones Act” which prevents armed citizens from defending themselves in certain arbitrary locations."
You willfully miss the relevent difference:
Newt has admitted his folly, while Rickey sweatervest has been totally silent on his own.
Only a complete fool votes for a smug tyrant that refuses to admit his mistakes, but Rickey has yet to even admit them even to himself.
He is not qualified to get my vote.
Um yeah. Whatever.
"He is not qualified to get my vote."
Fine. I'm sure Barack will appreciate your sitting this one out.
“Yeh, Santorum is worse than Newt. NOT!”
wow. thanks for taking me back to the 90s! Feel like I’m watching clueless all over again :)
“As for me, I will vote for Newt Gingrich.... or I will not vote at all.”
I’m kinda similar to you. I can’t stand Romney and Santorum is a big spender. Still, if Santorum is the nominee I can pull the trigger. When it comes to the “three-legged stool of conservatism” Rick has 2.
Now Romney on the other hand... can’t pull the trigger on that one. I will send a message to the GOP that my vote is important. It’s all I have left to send a message to those in charge. This year I’ll tell them that they will CONTINUE TO LOSE AS LONG AS THEY FORCE THROUGH RINO REPUBS.
You know the "most Conservative" candidates are out of the race: Bachmann, Perry and Cain are all gone. I like Newt over Rick because of personality, but from a policy perspective they really are cut from the same cloth. Both are big government Conservatives. Both have a long history in Washington. Santorum represented a blue collar district as Congressman and tends to vote that way.
If we want Romney as the nominee then dig in hard and continue to split the vote; otherwise, we need to decide can we live with one or the other. Truth be known, if Rick wins Michigan then you can put a fork in Newt. I assume the same may be true if Newt wins Arizona, but Santorum's current momentum may absorb some of the blow.
Just my opinion. Flame away.
Then do something about it instead of running you mouth. If you love Newt so much, are you in California helping him out? Are you in Michigan getting support? No you are here saying that you will only accept Newt and if he is not the candidate you will accept Obama. Great. You sure are being productive. You can run you mouth all day, but that is not helping Newt. He needs VOTES to win delegates. I know you are smart enough to know that. You claim I need a shrink but I think you are the one who is being unrealistic. You sit around all day complaining that Newt is not winning but you are doing nothing about it.
Rick’s supporters will NOT read anything negative about him. I wonder why.
Both set of supporters believe their candidate is best. This is not that unusual.
He’s as good as America is going to see in my lifetime.
I can’t tell you how much I agree with this statement. If Santorum gets the nomination, we will be so honored to have him as President. I wish that some Newt supporters wouldn’t treat him like the anti-Christ. It saddens me when I see that. Rick is such a great man. A man who treats human life with dignity. How on Earth could anybody be against human life and dignity. That is what I don’t get with SOME Newt supporters.
It is amazing to me that so many change their vote on the winds of political polls.
I don’t think that occurred. What happened was that supporters wanted Sarah Palin to run and when she didn’t run they went to Herman Cain. When he dropped out they all went to Rick Santorum. That is hardly changing their vote. It is something that was out of their control.
This is “as good as we’re going to see?” Wow. It works both ways. So please explain this to me about Newt.
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 didn’t 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 one’s 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
“This switch to Santorum will be disastrous for our Party. Newt is the only solid conservative Constitutional that has the powerful credentials to upset King Obama.”
Now he just needs the most important aspect of running for office....VOTES! That is where Newts biggest problem is. Right now (and yes it can change) he has very little support with regards to votes. That to me is a bigger problem for him than anything else. That needs to be changed immediately if he is going anywhere. Michigan and Arizona are not going for Newt. So basically what he has left is Super Tuesday where he and Santorum are going to fight it out. You want to know what Newt’s biggest mistake was? Ignoring every single state after Florida. To me that was dumb. Sorry but it was.
By the way, does anyone know where did Santorum publish his tax returns? After South Carolina, he said he was going home to fill them up and release them.
Where are your tax returns, Rick? Hello?
Hey marguerite, Hope all is well. What happened with regards to the tax returns is he went home and his precious daughter got sick so he didn’t finish them. He has until 15 April to finish them. He will release them after the due date.
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