Posted on 01/22/2012 4:57:11 AM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
He certainly would if he was speaking against one of his own. You should have witnessed his Arizona campaign against JD Hayworth. It was stunning in its brutality and he spent $21 million on a senate primary! It was jaw-dropping when you compared it to the weak-spined mealy-mouthed puss McCain who pitter-patted around Obama in 2008 like a little clown dog.
That's the same philosophy that has made Rush such a success. Neither could articulate the vales of the American people so effectively if they didn't believe it deeply.
I thought McCain ran the worst presidential election I personally have seen. It was so weird. It was almost like he was surprised that he got the nomination and really didn’t want it. However, once he lost and said his concession speech. He pretty much had to say the Obama was “our President” because he was. I mean if God forbid Newt loses to Obama, in his succession speech, “Newt will say congratulations Mr. President” or something along those lines. That is how American politics work.
I worry about Newt being electable. I just spoke to two GOP voters, one truly conservative and one RINOish, both female...who said they “probably won’t” vote for Newt in the general.
“Probably won’t” is great in January. You have a great opportunity to explain to them why it is their best interest to vote for him easily by November. I don’t find that bad at all.
I find it strange that people get so upset with people who support another candidate during a primary. Free Republic used to be vote for your principles in the primary and vote for the nominee in the general. There has been a big shift in this thinking this year. Believe me, Glen Beck, Hannity, and all the others will get on board with Newt if he is our nominee. It is just that during the primary it used to be that you could vote for who you wanted. Now it is everyone must be in lockstep with the “chosen” or else. Haley will lose her seat as Governor because she went with who she wanted during the primary. She will vote for the nominee in the general no matter who it is. This is the first year that I have seen people getting blasted for who they support during the primary. I hate John McCain even more than Romney. I think John McCain is a miserable old fool and despise him. Romney to me is just an idiot who is like Obama.
Also, what they call “scary” is what we used to simply call “truth”. We can retrain people to “neuter” the way words are used and heard. Every time someone says something that is very true, it has been labeled as “scary”. And, yes truth and reality are sometimes scary. The reverse can be done. When people label something “scary” we can learn to hear that as meaning “true” or at least “likely true”.
Very reminisicent of how Chris Wallace had been pounding him a month or two ago for not going on the Sunday talk shows for something like a year up to that point. You can go back further to how many of these candidates regularly appeared on FOX or other news channels as pundits or guests over the last 5 years. People like Newt, Santorum, Bachmann, Cain, Palin, even McCain have done political talk shows regularly for years, sometimes as hosts and sometimes as guests.
It's just more indication that Romney is an empty suit who is either afraid of the voters finding out who he really is or simply agnostic about politics, and willing to say whatever he needs to to get elected in whatever campaign he is running. It also indicates he does not feel prepared to discuss a broad range of issues, and is only willing to go into the fire zone when he has been carefully coached, prepped and prepared by his professional handlers.
I should also add that can you IMAGINE Romney even guest hosting a political talk show of any kind? The man appears to have no core values and speaks about the issues only in carefully scripted platitudes. Any of those other candidates I mentioned could credibly host an opinion show.
Romney would actually make a great TV news anchor. He’s got the looks for it and for once we would have an anchor with no core values and no strong opinions, someone who you really couldn’t tell where they stood on the issues. That’s a rare talent in this day and age and a career he ought to look into after he loses the election.
Fixed it for you.
“I worry about Newt being electable.”
I am also concerned. Opinion polls have consistently demonstrated that Gingrich polls poorly among swing voters. I will support the nominee (either Gingrich or Romney) without reservation. They are both fine men who will reverse the destructive Democrat policies.
Gingrich has sudden momentum that may be difficult to stop. The Virginia ballot fiasco may be a big problem however. Gingrich is difficult to predict. At times, he sounds like the next Reagan. At other times, he stumbles and tries to appease his critics. He operates best in attack mode on Obama. His attacks may endear him to swing voters or turn them sharply to Obama. Nominating Gingrich is more risky but also may provide more upside potential.
You are a Romney supporter and are unwanted here on FR.
“This wasn’t just a Gingrich win...it was a 57 (Gingrich plus Santorum) to 28 repudiation of Romney!”
What part of the fact above don’t you get?
Remember that a lot of the Gingrich perception comes from the media drumbeat about him. If Newt becomes the nominee, he will go OVER the heads of the media, expose them for the partisans they are and present his case directly to the people. Many Indys/swing voters see that they were duped and are skeptical of the media. Newt can win them over by just telling them the truth.
If Obama somehow manages to pull off a win, then we (not us—the collective “we”) get the leader we deserve.
BTW, the media will beat Romney like a rented mule. All that weird stuff about Mormonism? It will ALL come out—not by the democrats, oh NOoooo; it will be blamed on Christians. You know, those “knuckle-dragging bigots”. But the MSM will report it, acting as if they are pained to have to report this “uncomfortable” stuff. Then Obama will be able to rise above it all (even though he started it), give this grand speech, where he will talk about all races and religions, and he will sound downright presidential, and the sheeple will swoon. The media will go on about how much he has “grown into the presidency” and this “defining moment”. Even Romney will be praising Obama for “rising above” the petty bigotry of close-minded evangelicals. Obama will get his next four years to complete his destruction of this country he hates.
I can picture this so clearly. I hope the voters can as well.
This primary is going to get really ugly now because the establishment does NOT want Gingrich. They are going to start pumping up Santorum, letting him think he stands a chance. If they manage to take out Gingrich, they will drop Santorum immediately. They are in a panic, so they will pull out all the stops.
WTF are you talking about? Where have you seen me say I am a Romney supporter?
Go NEWT ! Lots of Red States still to come.
January
Santorum - Iowa 28 delegates
RINO - New Hampshire 12
Newt - South Carolina 25
Newt - Florida 50
February
Newt - Nevada 28
Newt - Maine 24
Newt - Colorado 36
? - Minnesota 40
Newt- Arizona 29
? - Michigan 30
March
Newt - Washington 43
Newt - Alaska 27
Newt - Georgia 76
Newt - Idaho 32
RINO - Mass 41
Newt - North Dakota 28
Newt - Ohio 66
Newt - Oklahoma 43
Newt - Tennessee 58
? - Vermont 17
Disgrace - Virginia 50
Newt - Wyoming 29
Newt - Kansas 40
Newt - Alabama 50
? - Hawaii 20
Newt - Mississippi 40
Newt - Missouri 52
? - Illinois 69
Newt - Louisiana 46
April
Newt - Maryland 37
Newt - Texas 155
? - Wash D.C. 19
Newt - Wisconsin 42
? - Connecticut 28
? - Delaware 17
? - New York 95
Newt - Pennsylvania 72
? - Rhode Island 19
May
Newt - Indiana 46
Newt - North Carolina 55
Newt - West Virginia 31
Newt - Nebraska 35
Newt - Oregon 29
Newt - Arkansas 36
Newt - Kentucky 45
June
? - California 172
Newt - Montana
? - New Jersey 50
Newt - New Mexico 23
Newt - South Dakota 28
RINO - Utah 40
The State of Washington no longer has a Republican primary, just a caucus, and the Republican establishment controls who gets involved.
Figure those 43 delegates for Romney at this point.
“I work for a bank, therefore I am an “employee of a TARP recipient.” Does that mean I, as a rather lowly employee of a financial institution who is simply working whatever job he can get to feed his family, have no right to participate in the political process?”
“I’m not a Mitt guy, but c’mon.”
RockinRight, Jan. 17
You are correct and I am sorry.
Someone else used nearly the same wording as you to bash Gingrich:
“I worry about Newt being electable. I just spoke to two GOP voters, one truly conservative and one RINOish, both female...who said they “probably won’t” vote for Newt in the general.”
I found your statement and chose unwisely, but I’m still looking for the person who is Newt bashing.
Personally, I don’t care if someone doesn’t like Newt, or Rick, or Mitt. It is the constantly propagandizing with smears that angers me.
Wouldn’t Newt get at least a portion of the delegate votes?
Is Washington State an open Caucus? There are Conservatives in Eastern Washington and would likely go for Newt.
I’ve lived here 13-years and have yet to be contacted by the local precinct leader, if one even exists.
Will you Caucus?
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