We -- the voting public --are playing by the rules and quietly expecting that our candidates are doing the same. And Mitt Romney is playing us for fools.
I offer in evidence Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, and Matt Drudge.
First, Michael Savage. I have been a frequent listener due to the fact that he's on drive time in my market. He's entertaining sometimes, but I don't follow his politics. But I digress.
For a solid year Michael Savage had shown nothing but disdain for Romney, occasionally mentioning the dinner he had with Romney and going on a sociable tangent (social for Savage) calling Romney a "nice man," but someone Savage could not support. The hook.
Then what happens?
Newt Gingrich surges in Iowa by December 4, 2011. December 12, 2011 Michael Savage announces on his radio show that he will personally pay Newt Gingrich $1 million dollars to leave the race.
Drudge headlines the Savage story. (When was the last time you saw a Michael Savage rant headline Drudge? Yeah. I didn't think so.)
Romney smears Gingrich in Iowa with wall-to-wall negative campaign adds. Does the "conservative media" take Romney to task? Nope. Romney torpedoes Gingrich's lead in Iowa.
But Gingrich comes back with a spectacular win in South Carolina. Some claim the Romney camp was caught flat-footed, expecting that they had so thoroughly damaged Gingrich in the early running he would no longer be a serious contender. That conveniently-timed Marianne Gingrich interview could have simply come from sloppy egoists at ABC. But there was that siren at Drudge. The only thing that saved Gingrich was Gingrich himself.
That was January 21, 2011.
January 23, 2011. Ann Coulter makes an ass out of herself on the O'Reilly Factor. She DEFENDS John King and ATTACKS Newt Gingrich! Gee Ann. I guess we all have the right to be an ass sometimes, but why?
Comes now Florida. Gingrich, coming off a spectacular win in South Carolina is suddenly back in contention in the state where Romney planned to put him, finally, in the dust.
And we all know what happened with Matt Drudge. He ran opinion as if it were news. He ran stories that were lies. And he ran with them very quickly.
It is stunning, really, to see this ethical collapse of people who profit from us by calling themselves the "conservative" media. If Savage's big mouth and ego are any indication, the Romney campaign has been working them for a least a year.
Ever notice how Romney just doesn't speak for himself? That should tell you something, Michael, Ann, Matt.
Don’t forget Glenn “I hate the establishment” Beck, who was positively giddy after the last debate. He is totally in the tank for Romney, even though he has tried to convince his listeners that he was for Bachmann, then Santorum. Riiiight.
No one who hates the establishment and big GOP players, as much as Beck has claimed he does, whoops it up over Mitt. Please. How stupid does he think we are? What a fraud!