This is where Newt is being used to knock out Bachmann and Santorum.
Bachmann and Santorum are the most conservative of the pack, and the two least likely to simply acquiesce to whatever the establishment wants for 4 years.
So the establishment needs them out of the race before they gain too much momentum, Bachmann especially, since her only Congressional track record has been to vote more for the Christian side and small business side of issues. The establishment never succeeded in getting her to sell out during her time in Congress. Santorum is speaking unabashedly from a Christian perspective much the same way as Bachmann does. That scares politicians.
The tactics are simple:
A) Rant and rave that Bachmann and Santorum are helping the terrible “Romney” win. It’s an outright lie, but never mind, a lot of people will knee-jerk “not like” them because they’ve read that Romney is the “bad buy”. Which he is. So we have a half truth. Classic deception of the feeble minded. Call them “ankle-biters”. Say they have “crazy eyes”. Say they have “no charisma”. Aren’t all those what a good solid conservative platform is based on ?
B) Once Bachmann and Santorum are gone, the Grand Old Progressive establishment will get either Newt or Mitt, so they’re covered either way. They can wheel and deal with them, allowing cronyist big business and big government to grow like never before, all in the name of “helping the economy”. Since they will not create many small business jobs, the economy will never really get going, Republicans will be blamed and lose terribly in 2016. But who cares, big business will switch back to supporting Democrats.
C) Much to the chagrin of the “conservative” electorate, Newt may well simply bail out, so the rubes of the Republican base will play right into the hands of the “bad guy” and they will nominate Romney.
You nailed it. Sadly, many here on FR are perfectly willing to abandon the conservative candidates for reasons which I simply cannot grasp. At this point four years ago, Rudi Giuliani was leading the polls. Yet we got stuck with McCain. I hope we don’t see a repeat and get stuck with McNewt this time around.
Your comments about Newt are utterly baseless. He has taken on the establishment in his career and they obviously still hate him for it. Newt’s tenure in the House created millions of jobs and he is proposing to do the same with the same kind of economic plan now.
Bachmann’s negatives are massive. She doesn’t have a chance in the general. Republicans and Democrats alike find her off-putting.
Santorum is good V.P. material, but not ready for prime-time on the top of the ticket.