Posted on 01/18/2012 1:22:00 PM PST by TBBT
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Several prominent conservatives have called for Rick Perry to call his presidential bid quits, with one blogger urging the Texas governor to end his campaign and throw his backing toward Newt Gingrich.
Erick Erickson, the founder of RedState.com, the website that hosted the event where Perry announced his presidential bid in August, penned an entry today calling Perry a potential “kingmaker” in the South Carolina primary if he drops out before the weekend.
“Barring a miracle, this is Rick Perry’s final act in the 2012 elections. On Saturday, he will come in last in South Carolina,” Erickson wrote in a diary entry on RedState today. “Perry, however, has a potential trump card up his sleeve as he rebuilds political capital. It’s simple: he can drop out today, and endorse someone else. Doing so today, before the CNN debate tomorrow, gives the news time to sink in.”
Erickson suggested that the Texas governor’s choice of an endorsement would likely be Gingrich, not Romney or Santorum.
Earlier in the day, radio host Laura Ingraham urged the Texas governor to leave the race in order to boost another social conservative over front-runner Mitt Romney. “It’s time for Rick Perry to drop out of the race — he is only helping Romney by splitting the vote,” Ingraham tweeted.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
“It depends why he’s running, I guess. There has been some speculation that he may be working as a spoiler for Romney and the Establishment, in hopes of future reward. “
We’ll know by Friday if Perry is in this race to help Romney, or whether he’s in this race to help a conservative win...
“well, if we want to go strictly by the numbers, we should all be lining up behind Romney. looking strictly at the RCP republican field versus Obama numbers, Santorum and Gingrich are basically tied.”
Here’s my point. You don’t put the cart before the horse.
The horse is beating Romney. We have to beat Romney first, which means that the most important polls to us right now, are the ones with the Romney head to head. Right now these are showing that Santorum is significantly stronger than Gingrich.
Why? Because of Gingrich’s high negatives with Republicans. Gingrich supporters are more likely to go to Santorum than the reverse. This is because Santorum supporters are actually more likely to be conservatives.
“look at Newt in a debate. We all know that Obama can charm the pants off of the electorate. We saw it in 2008.”
No, people voted for Obama because:
1, he was black
2, he offered real communism, not fake communism.
“He’s a rock star with mojo.”
Ugh, no. He’s terrible. If you took Obama and gave him conservative positions, he would have got bounced right away.
McCain was a terrible candidate. He inspired absolutely nobody. He didn’t support the base and he went out of his way to antagonize republicans. Much like Gingrich has spent his time doing prior to the campaign.
“We will need a candidate that can negate that mojo in a debate forum”
Ugh! Who cares about the debates. I want a conservative. I want someone with the principles that will stand up for consttituional governance. I could care less whether they can stand up and argue from both sides of their mouth.
“Santorum, on the other hand, has a sweater vest.”
Santorum, is the same today, pretty much as he was in 1994. He has been one of the most consistant prolife defenders. He’s solid on marriage. He’s been pretty good on the economy too. Gingrich, on the other hand, has blown all over the place. I can’t count on him to vote with me and support me, not when he supports GingrichCare as just another flavor of O-Care.
Santorum gets it. We do not want socialized healthcare. That’s enough to earn my vote. I am not happy with Gingrich’s waffling on this crucial, crucial issue.
“We predicted that Santorum would start slipping after Iowa”
Did you predict Santorum to win Iowa? No. You folks were predicting Gingrich and Santorum to switch places.
How are you going to convince me that the same isn’t going to happen in South Carolina too?
I believed you on Iowa, and you were dead set wrong. Now, I’ve stopped believing.
“he lacked the resources, name recognition, and ground game to do what he did in Iowa”
That remains to be seen. So far he’s beaten Newt in every state they’ve been polled. What are you going to say if Santorum beats Newt in South Carolina?
Wait until Florida? Wait until Super Tuesday?
“He also benefited greatly from the Romney attack adds”
So what you are saying is that Newt can’t stand up to the scrutiny? That’s not inspiring confidence here.
“there’s also overall wisdom and intelligence. It’s hard to measure this quality in this kind of format”
Ok, so other than opinion, how can you assess it?
“I think America’s problems are great enough that we need a man of exceptional intelligence and wisdom.”
I agree. I don’t regard Newt as either exceptionally intelligent or wise. Intelligent, yes, but not exceptional, and wise? No. Newt is very far from wise.
“That, once again, is clearly Newt which is not to say that Santorum isn’t intelligent but it’s pretty obvious that”
No, it’s not obvious to me at all. Santorum’s the one with a wife and family. It seems to me that Santorum’s got way more common sense which Newt is sorely lacking.
“America’s problems are great enough that we should lean towards higher intelligence”
The last thing we need is intelligence without common sense. We need someone who’s grounded. That is NOT Newt.
“Romney would prefer to have anybody but Newt in second”
Why?
“Romney’s fire directed solely at Gingrich.”
Newt was the frontrunner at that point. You attack the frontrunner. Newt imploded.
“There’s a reason why Romney doesn’t feel threatened by Santorum or Perry or Paul, because they aren’t a threat to his candidacy.”
Which is why Santorum actually defeated him in Iowa? Santorum was underestimated, and I am astonished that he continues to be underestimated.
Santorum?
I’m going to enjoy watching your face when the South Carolina votes roll in. :)
After all of the Palin fans acting like children and dissed every candidate that was competition to Palin; they have the very nerve to dictate now NEWT OR NOBODY.Screw this!Perry and Santorum were the best shot we had.Now all of the Palin fans are dictating that all but NEWT get out?When Newt is thrown under the bus like Cain was then what will they do?
Is that so? So, you want to gloat, and spit in the faces of your fellow conservatives, if the guy who most of us are rooting for loses SC to Romney?
Too bad you went and said that, seeing that you're Santorum's chief lobbyist at Free Republic. We'll remember that.
What, they couldn’t find divorce records to have a court unseal? Only LIEberals don’t like competiton.
That's been my big fear all along. I didn't like it when Newt started badgering the others to get out because (a) both Ricks are great candidates and (b) we''d be stuck with Newt no matter what came up.
Like both Sarah and Mark Levin said, it's early. No reason for anyone to drop out yet.
I’m sure they were saying the same thing when they propped up FRaud Thompson, in 2008.
At the very least, let Perry spend what’s left of his money trashing Romney.
After working for Nelson Rockefeller (Southern Regional Director of the Nelson Rockefeller Presidential campaign in 1968, pro-abortion & supported big-government, socialist programs), Newt lost in 1974 and 1976 running as a progressive republican.
Newt wasn’t a “conservative” until 1978, but it didn’t take long for Newt to resort back to his progressive ways.
1979:
Gingrich votes FOR a massive federal land grab. Millions of acres in Alaska are transferred to Washington bureaucrats.
Gingrich votes FOR raising the debt ceiling.
Gingrich votes FOR establishing the Federal Department of Education.
1980’s
In the 1980’s Gingrich voted, numerous times, to raise the debt ceiling.
In 1987, Gingrich co-sponsors H.R. 1934, to implement the infamous & unconstitutional “Fairness Doctrine”.
In 1988, Gingrich wanted Republicans to move away from Reaganism.
In 1989, Gingrich co-sponsors the Global Warming Prevention Act.
In 1993, Gingrich preached NAFTA and whipped Republicans into supporting it.
In 1994, Gingrich supported the GATT Treaty, surrendering sovereignty to the U.N.
4th January, 1995 Newly sworn in Speaker Gingrich speaks positively of FDR and his socialist New Deal.
10th April, 1995 Gingrich supports federal funding of abortion.
18th April, 1996 Gingrich voted for restrictions on laser sighting devices.
16th September, 1996 Gingrich voted for the Lautenberg Gun Ban.
28th September, 1996 Gingrich voted for the “Gun Free School Zones Act”, making schools easier targets.
Gingrich earned a “D” rating from the Gun Owners of America in 1996.
21st January, 1997 A Republican congress fined Gingrich a record $300,000 for ethics violations.
26th June, 1998 Gingrich supports foreign aid and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
5th November, 1998 Gingrich resigns.
12th October, 2005
Gingrich calls for the DNA testing of all US citizens.
15th February, 2007
He supported George W. Bush’s proposal for mandatory carbon caps.
April, 2007
He calls for restrictions on 2nd amendment rights.
10th April, 2007
In a event with John Kerry, Newt agreed with Kerry’s views on the environment, praised his book, and almost hugged him.
24th April, 2007
He said about Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs): “conservatives should embrace [them] and want to extend as widely as possible.”
November, 2007
Gingrich’s book ‘A Contract with the Earth’ is published, in which he touts his ‘green’ credentials.
April, 2008
Newt accepts Al Gore’s invitation to make a global warming commercial with Nancy Pelosi, for Gore’s organization. Newt calls Gore a “friend”.
29th September, 2008
Says if he were in office, he would have reluctantly voted for the $700B TARP bailout.
16th October, 2009
Gingrich endorses big-government, pro-abortion NY-23 candidate Dede Scozzafava.
15th November, 2010
He defended Romneycare.
12th December, 2010
He advocates a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens.
25th January, 2011
Gingrich renews his support for ethanol subsidies.
25th January, 2011
Gingrich says he will re-brand, not abolish, the EPA.
7th March, 2011
Gingrich blames his infidelity on patriotism.
14th March, 2011
Gingrich says NAFTA worked because it created jobs in Mexico
18th March, 2011
Gingrich renews support for indebted prescription drug program.
23rd March, 2011
Gingrich completes a flip-flop on Libyan military intervention.
15th May, 2011
He calls Paul Ryan’s budget plan “right-wing social engineering” and renews support for the individual mandate.
And the myth of Newt’s “Conservatism” continues....
Please do spare us the fake high horse you have propped yourself on with that statement. I have watched you spit in the faces of good conservatives all in the name of Palin being they’re competition.Do you recall all of the Perry is jealous of Palin threads because she backed away from a podium at a governors conference? It was sickening how many good conservatives were dissed all because of ONE that didn’t even run,named Palin. She puts country first and was never catty or jealous.
I know who he is.
Another thing. If these guys are really so great; why are they pushing real candidates with real solutions; not candidates who just love to talk.
Meant to say why aren’t they; not why are they.
Give me a break. Red state? That snake and traitor who runs a RINO operation?
http://www.redstate.com/neoavatara/2011/12/30/why-i-reluctantly-will-endorse-mitt-romney/
My choice for President is Mitt Romney... Blah! Blah! Blah!
Looking at Drudge I smell a Cain.But this time we cannnot afford to have 35 threads posted saying the MSM/Obama are attacking him; all is well.We are talking the Obama machine all is not well.What if Newt loses his standing in polls and women support and he is Cainized?We need both Ricks.I predicted a long time ago Santorum would pull to the lead.I predict Perry will be the last one standing in this sick survival of the fittest Obama game.IF not then we have Romney to contend with.And I am not just saying this to appeal to the people that wait and see if Palin passes gas daily people but he will pick Palin as VP.
“Santorum?”
Agreee...if Newt survives this Ex-Wife crap, then Santorum needs to pull out too, but after SC (if he really tanks), or after Florida if he’s no longer viable.
No one at this point considers Perry viable, so he’s just helping Romney by splitting the conservative vote.
Huntsman was interesting...he actually helped Romney by staying in through NH, by deflecting much of the conservative attacks during the debates...but once he left, Romney was all alone, and got creamed.
“Is that so? So, you want to gloat, and spit in the faces of your fellow conservatives, if the guy who most of us are rooting for loses SC to Romney?”
No,
I will be very happy when Santorum wins in SC, after you have told us all that it is impossible. :)
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.