[true believer forever]

I mean, what is the actual argument here The actual argument here, as I see it, is that Rick Santorum presents himself as the principled consistent conservative, who stands up for principle, no matter what, when others fail to do so... who has never been afraid to take the hard stands that others haven't.. he is the only candidate who... And when someone bills themself as "called by God" - then that is sort of applying an imprimatur that bespeaks a sort of nobility and honesty above all others in the race... he set the standard himself for himself... and no one should complain when others hold him to it.. As for Newt, he's never claimed to be anything more than a sinner being saved by grace, when it comes to Godly endorsements... and his supporters have a real good idea of who he is... warts and all and all and all.. Santorum is the one who paints himself as well beyond politics as usual... We don't present him as a some sort of saint.. We offer him to America precisely because we think he is The Bastard who is tough enough, stubborn enough, profoundly enough prepared to make the changes needed to reach into and around this country and pull it back from the brink starting Day One. Santorum's supporters are doing exactly what barack's supporters did in 2008, they look at Santorum as some sort of Messiah, with his encouragement... and they are making the same mistake the dems voters did in 2008... This is my reasonableness post in response to your reasonable post, which was very lovely. I am actually going to read it again... because there are some facts in there I want to make sure i remember. www.newt.org/donate ;) Do it. You'll feel better.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I can’t disagree that Santorum talks up his conservative principles, and he’s clearly not as consistant as he would claim.

However, I would have to “respectfully” disagree with your assertion that Newt “never claimed to be anything more” (you may have only meant that narrowly, hard to tell); and if his supporters “have a really good idea of who he is... warts and all” I can say from an outsider’s perspective it doesn’t look like it to me.

I also happen to think the painting of Santorum supporters as believing he is a “saint” is inaccurate, but clearly they take the same hard-line supportive positions for their candidate as most Gingrich folks do for Newt, so maybe it looks that way.

I was fine with Newt being first in the polls, at least once Perry dropped out (heck, I was sorry Santorum had surged in Iowa, because I was hoping Perry would do so instead — because of those we had, I thought Perry was the better presidential choice, if he could just convince people of it).

Actually, being able to gain and hold supporters is one of my bigger criteria. I see little point in throwing the full support of conservatives to a candidate who can’t get anybody to vote for them. As I said, Gingrich wasn’t my first, second, or third choice, but he would certainly be acceptable, and I don’t think any of my attacks have suggested that he was unacceptable, just that he wasn’t any better than the others.

If Gingrich was on the ballot in Virginia, I’d vote for him. If Gingrich and Santorum were on the ballot, I’d see which of the two looked most likely to be able to beat Romney on the night before my primary, and vote for that candidate. I only look a lot more pro-Santorum because I have ascertained that he needs a lot more defending here than Gingrich.

I would lastly note that I have largely stayed out of pro-Gingrich threads, especially to attack him. I occasionally post against attacks on Santorum which happen in pro-Gingrich threads. And in the Santorum threads, I will post “negative” Gingrich items if a Gingrich supporter posts anti-Santorum items for which I think Gingrich has a similar fault (like mentioning the Dede endorsement when Santorum is attacked for his endorsements).

I’m not trying to tear Gingrich down. I am trying to defuse what I see as unhelpful attacks on Santorum, and expose what I see as double-standards in evaluating candidates.

And you can believe me or not when I tell you that if Newt had won Florida, I’d be happy enough that the race was over and we had someone who was reasonably conservative (and not Romney). It’s not my fault that Gingrich fell, and Santorum rose again.