Look out, you will be vilified on FR for questioning this tactic. Yet the fact remains, just as I’ve said all along, this was the worst possible approach, especially when Romney presents so many other valid targets.
I joined you in skewering Newt on this stupidity from day one, and was attacked repeatedly. I was lectured by sycophants about how Newt wasn't attacking capitalism, just "vulture" capitalism, something none of them could explain or draw boundaries for. I always expected Newt would self-destruct- he always does. I just never thought he would be so boneheaded as to rescue Mittens in the process. All he had to do was torpedo Mittens relentlessly on abortion, RomneyCare, and gay "rights" - perfect fodder to poison Rommney with S.C. primary voters.
Yup, I tried to make that argument too. Now that this line of attack appears to be backfiring (and helping Romney) exactly as it was obviously going to do, we're going to get a bunch of "well there was nothing wrong with the attack, the media just distorted it" excuses.
There is so much wrong with Mitt that finding his weaknesses and pounding him should have been easy. Instead Perry and Newt attacked in the one place that would force conservatives (that don't have much love for Romney) to defend him. This reinforced Romney's claim that he is a champion of free market capitalism and made Perry and Newt look like they were taking "occupywallstreet" type cheap shots that will never pass muster in a GOP primary.