Extraordinary Gingrich Comeback also Vindication

Boston Globe ^ | anuary 22, 2012 | Thomas Beaumont

[lbryce]

To say Newt Gingrich capped an extraordinary comeback with a South Carolina victory doesn't quite capture what happened.

It was more like vindication.

The former House speaker came from behind to overtake Mitt Romney on Saturday in a state that for decades has chosen the eventual Republican nominee. On the way there, Gingrich triumphed over months of campaign turmoil and at least two political near-death experiences as well as millions of dollars of attack advertisements and potentially damning personal allegations.

He did it by finding his voice and rallying conservatives with a populist defiance.

"The American people feel that they have elites who have been trying to force us to stop being Americans," Gingrich told cheering supporters in Columbia after he was declared the victor. "It's not that I am a good debater. It's that I articulate the deepest-felt values of the American people."

It was on the debate stage that the pugnacious Gingrich arguably revived his presidential campaign, not once but twice in the past year, by giving a tea party-infused GOP exactly what it's hungering for -- a no-holds-barred attack dog willing to go after President Barack Obama with abandon. If Gingrich wins the nomination, his confrontational attitude against all things Obama likely will be a big reason Republicans choose him over chief rival Romney.

Gingrich, a political strategist in his own right who has a knack for understanding precisely what the GOP electorate wants, has aggressively taken it to Obama since the moment he entered the race last spring determined to turn his nationwide grass-roots network of support that he's cultivated for a decade into a front-running White House campaign.

But he stumbled early, including by disparaging the House Republicans' Medicare proposal as "right-wing social engineering" and was all but forced to apologize after the conservative outcry.

[Question Liberal Authority]

Is Gingrich just mccain reincarnated? I honestly don’t know. I do know that with all the infighting, it is chipping away at the ammo the Democrats have in their bag of tricks to help bring the empty suit to victory.

I am a great believer in Free Enterprise. One of its core tenets is that "competition improves products". If Romney survives to become the nominee, it will be because these early tests made him a better candidate.

As for Newt being 'another McCain', it depends what you mean. I wouldn't have minded McCain at all if he was swinging all the time at Obama every second of every day from the Iowa caucuses to election day. In 2010, McCain ran the most vicious, intense campaign against JD Hayworth that I've ever seen. And I wouldn't have minded that if he had been half as brutal against Obama.

By that standard, the one candidate in this race who is most like 2008 McCain is 2012 Romney. If Romney wants to win, he needs to amp it up. He can't give non-answers about when he's going to release his tax returns. He can't continue with simply saying that Obama is a nice guy who's slightly over his head.

At the very least, Romney has to start interacting with conservative grass roots media more. I heard every other Republican candidate being interviewed on a talk radio show last week - even Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry. But I didn't hear Romney. Romney won't even call in to Hugh Hewitt, and Hewitt wrote a book about him.

[Coldwater Creek]

Newt is Bill Clinton, just a lot smarter. I'm not voting in the primaries.

[SkyPilot]

The manner in which Newt engineered his most recent political recovery, victory speaks succinctly of his place in history as the man who would be our next president.

Amen and amen.

Willard "tax return" Romney will be destroyed by Obama - in the debates, in the campaign, and in the media coverage.

Only Speaker Gingrich can be the Conservative hope against the current evil days.

No more McCains. We have seen this movie - it doesn't end well.

Never again will RINOs and the media pick our candidate for us.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

[Fox News was in full blown meltdown mode last night. They couldn't mask their anger at what happened]

That's right! And I am loving every second of it! Watching Juan Williams, Prissy Wallass, Neil Kaputo and the blond bimbo's heads explode.........Priceless!

[floralamiss]

What did he mean by that?

[Bigg Red]

Watching Juan Williams, Prissy Wallass, Neil Kaputo and the blond bimbo’s heads explode.........Priceless!

&&&

And I am wondering if Megan Kelly thought that jacking her chair up one foot would maker her look smarter. Even with the sound muted, she looked like the fool that she is.

[FrankR]

[Bigg Red]

maker her = make her

[CSM]

I just saw Ann C on F&F and she was frothing at the mouth. She called the SC voters a mob....said that the mob liked him for attacking the media. I find her feedback very odd. Why is she such a Christie fan if she hates direct and honest responses to lefty lunacy?

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

I am still loving the little spanking that Uncle Newt gave Megan in the earlier Fox debates. That was priceless, when she tried to correct him and it wound up to be a humbling experience for her. (Well, as much as she would admit.)

[Herbster]

How could any conservative or RINO state that they may vote for Obama if Newt is our nominee? I have heard this repeated before and I still can’t relate to any reasonable explanation for such a comment other than the comment is from someone who isn’t who they claim to be.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks lbryce.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

[I just saw Ann C on F&F and she was frothing at the mouth. She called the SC voters a mob....said that the mob liked him for attacking the media.]

Coulter thinks she has a spot in the Big League MSM these days. She went from a small time, fringe book writer with a small conservative fan base, to suddenly making millions on big MSM analyst gigs.

Just follow the money. She has been bought and paid for, like the majority of them and she now worships the path that keeps the Liberal Media together.

[Gritty]

Swing voters, by and large, decide elections,and are responsible for Barack Hussein Obama. They are also largely non-ideological, politically ignorant, and usually vote for whomever they “like” best...can Newt win them over?

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. - H. L. Mencken

[hosepipe]

[ Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. - H. L. Mencken ]

Democracy was, is, and always will be MOB RULE BY MOBSTERS...
Thats why the US Constitution does not have that word(democracy) in it anywhere... ON Purpose..

The US Constitution was written down for one purpose...
To limit the impact and scope of the Federal Government..

Ron Paul is RIGHT.. most of what the federal gov’t does is not in or supported by the US Constitution..

[Mom MD]

Wait til gas is $5 per gallon this summer. They will trip over each other racing to get into the voting booth to pull the lever for Newt

[ConfidentConservative]

That was the media meme going into SC. How did that work?

Remember the women won’t vote for him either? LOL.

No, People are fed up with this “I hate america” President.

[Bigg Red]

Sorry, Megan Kelly’s name in a sentence that contains any form of the word “humble” just does not compute.

[ConfidentConservative]

Exactly, they are tooting Romney’s horn.

[SteveAustin]

I agree with your point on the market sharpening things. If Mitt comes out blazing this week, defending his record and money making ability, he can then position himself better for the fall general election.

On the other hand, if he stumbles like he did this past week, better that we discover that now.

Romney really hasn’t been tested over the past six months. He’s always benefited by seven or eight other people being in a foodfight while he sat back and looked Presidential. This campaign is finally now Mano v Mano with Newt versus Mitt.

Romney needs to somehow get that extra 30 percent of the GOP primary base that he has been completely unable to convert. I’m not sure he gets it.

I just hope the anti Newt crew doesn’t cry and then run a third party candidate. Newt hasn’t been my first choice by a longshot, but if he wins, we need to align behind him. Same with Romney. A third party run kills us.