DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN.
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Posted on 01/27/2012 12:10:44 PM PST by Qbert
In the middle of last night’s debate, I actually tweeted about it because the difference was audible: Mitt Romney’s applause, for the first time that I can remember, was louder than Newt Gingrich’s. The Gingrich campaign can think of just one possible explanation as to how Mitt Romney could have inspired such a response in his audience: He must have unfairly packed the hall.
“They definitely packed the room,” Kevin Kellems, one of Gingrich’s senior advisers, told The Huffington Post early Friday morning. “The problem for them is their candidate, at several junctures, couldn’t remember what he had said before on an issue or what the fundamental truth is on a given topic. TV viewers tend to notice and remember things like that.”A more junior member of the Gingrich campaign said in an email that it was “obvious” that the Romney campaign had worked to make sure the audience was overly favorable toward the former Massachusetts governor. …
The campaign staffer noted that the Florida Republican Party had “picked 900 plus seats.”
Florida Republican Party spokesman Brian Hughes told HuffPost in a phone interview late Thursday that the state party controlled who got roughly 900 of the 1,200 tickets issued to the debate. But he took issue with charges that the crowd was tilted toward any one candidate.
“The vast majority of [the tickets] went to rank and file. We did a very thorough job of getting them to the rank and file, vetting them to make sure they went to registered Republicans and then making sure they went out to people that were not knowingly affiliated” with any of the candidates, Hughes said.
These accusations of room-packing come closely on the heels of Gingrich’s spoken beefs with NBC’s no-audience-applause-allowed policy at Monday night’s debate. After that debate, Gingrich said, “We’re going to serve notice on future debates. We’re just not going to allow that to happen. That’s wrong. The media doesn’t control free speech. People ought to be allowed to applaud if they want to.”
Apparently, to Gingrich and his campaign staff, the only “fair” debate is one in which (a) audience participation is allowed and (b) that audience participation works in Gingrich’s favor. After the NBC debate, his gripe seemed legitimate: The utter audience silence of the debate was strange and the bias betrayed by the moderators flat-out offensive to many viewers as well as the candidates themselves. After this debate, his complaints seem weak. Sure, he’s a great debater, but that doesn’t mean another candidate can’t possibly overshadow him in a particular showing. Even Gingrich fans admit the former Speaker’s performance last night was lackluster. Who knows? Maybe he pandered to Floridians too much: Eventually flattery offends as much as it gratifies. At this point, Gingrich just needs to take responsibility for his own poor performances and stop making excuses.
That said, though, it’d be great to watch just one well-moderated debate, one in which the questions are insightful and issues-oriented, one in which the candidates are able to capture our attention and hold it — not with attacks on each other but with compelling plans for the future of the country.
Why are some people surprised at this? Do you also believe that dead people can’t vote and illegal’s can’t get welfare. I was involved closely with a state election here in NY in 2010 and from a misunderstanding the Democrat though I was on his team. They would call me before every debate and ask their supporters to fill the hall.
Newt had two lousy debates in a row, how pathetic. There is only so much Sarah can do, and now Newt is losing FLA. The guy didnt even prepare for the debate and looked lost. An 8th grader could have debated romney better.
Not so sure about Drudge
"Of the 3000 seats, only 800 were available to the public. The rest were distributed by the RNC."
First the shenanigans with the "truck with the votes" in Iowa, then awarding Romney a premature "victory" there, then the fishy Virgina ballot process... and now this.
Romney’s handlers probably instructed his little minions to clap when he called either Newt and Santorum “angry”.
But the morons were either so clueless that they didn’t realize they were applauding Romneycare and the individual mandate, or they actually approve of it...
the FL republican party has been in the past rocked by scandal. It was the FL GOP that pushed RINO charlie crist (many of crist’s staffers now work for romney which is faaaaabulouth) as inevitable.
For them it is only about personal power NOT principles.
The debate was a set-up. I have no doubt and posted that the audience was stacked on the live thread. Mitt hired Bachmann’s debate coach and we all know how she went on the attack. One other thing about Fla...it is not a typical southern state. Fla has many cultures including jamaicans, haitians, Cubans especially around Miami. It is full of retirees from NJ and NY.
Did anyone hear Mitt on the campaign trail? he was criticizing Newt and stated “we don’t need a talk show host..we need a president”
The RNC is bidding a high price for a product they will be unable to resell.
Fess up: Who do you support for the nomination?
Also, people that help out, and volunteer are often rewarded with invites to special events like that. Because of my volunteering for various candidates, I have been invited to events like a Sarah Palin fundraiser, a speech by Laura Bush, several Arnold events (I know, I know), a McCain speech, etc. Volunteers and donors get rewards like this all the time. Volunteers deserve it.
FL, my state is sort of what you describe.
We have a saying here up in NE FL, the north is the old south and the south is the north.
I.E. South east FL is like being up in the north east/Caribbean , the middle is like the north but us up here in the north part, from the panhandle to my town is still the old south.
As we also say we are clinging to the Bible belt , I’;m just happy my county St Johns county is one of the most republican counties in the state, it has quite a large population and we all speak English to understand each other, oh and we have no Dems in power on the county commissioners
Yes indeed. But that seems to be their business model.
Have a friend that lives in St Johns and she is a big time conservative. Glad your area is hanging on..I left southern Virginia yrs ago because it was becoming so liberal I couldnt stand it.
There were only 800 seats out of 3000 available to the general public. Gingrich supporters in the general public tried to get in and couldn’t because the remaining 2200 seats had been distributed by the RNC (Romney supporters) to party clubhouses and other RINO entities.
Right and now they’re in bed with Romney.
"But he's electable and Gingrinch isn't." That overrides all else.
Oh, on your question, yes, some people are either not exposed enough to see the flip flop, vote on appearance, or agree with government policies as set by liberals.
You;re always welcome here.
My wife went over all sorts of data before she decided to take my dream of getting her down here.
She was looking at who is in charge, how many Dems, is the area like the south east or more conservative, how does the county vote in elections, churches for her etc etc etc
She spent weeks and then one day said OK and I was jumping for joy.
She now states it was the best thing she has ever done.
BTW WE just voted to reduce our property taxes too last year.
Got to love it here.
R - Railroad
N - Newt
C - Cabal
I want the man or woman whose policies most closely align with mine and who can defeat Obama in the next election.
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