Posted on 02/08/2012 1:44:57 PM PST by VinL
Rick Santorum is about to see the kitchen sink up-close. So far he hasn’t been a threat, so he hasn’t faced much harsh scrutiny, much less the attacks that are about to come his way. His candidacy is for real, and Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney both know it.
While Gingrich thought he could isolate Romney and become his lone real competitor, yesterday’s results, combined with a deflating Gingrich campaign, have allowed Santorum to leapfrog Gingrich as the more viable Romney alternative today.
It’s not in Gingrich’s nature to give up. Attacking Romney hasn’t gotten him to where he thought he would be, but at least he was still in the race. Now he must remove Santorum if he has any viable chance at the nomination. I assume his campaign still has some money, and he still has the power of his own lacerating speech.
Romney has developed a tried-and-true formula for the 2012 primaries: Whenever someone presents themselves as a threat, he blasts them with television rating points. It’s the cynical political equivalent of Colin Powell’s “overwhelming force” battle plan. There is no reason to believe Romney won’t use his well-established attack methods on Santorum.
Unfortunately for Santorum, much of what we will learn in the next couple of weeks will appear new — contracts with clients in Washington, his routine dialogue with K Street while he was in the Senate, his particularly vocal anti-gay positions and the reasons for his 17-point reelection defeat in 2006 that amounted to being summarily fired by the voters in his home state.
But Santorum is not naive. He’s been around the big leagues for a long time. So he will do the best he can to be ready. He won’t be defenseless, and he won’t be shy about delivering a counterpunch.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I think Rick was wrong in going negative on Newt. Individually, they cannot compete with Romney's money and attack machine.
Together, they can take down Romney and the GOP-E.
This morning on the TODAY show, Al Roker interviewed some leftwing author (no other kind allowed on NBC) who called Santorum “a crazy man”.
Wait til the media really gets focus.
Santorum, in contrast to Gingrich and the others, has become a person in the minds of many, and not a politician. His daughter’s illness, among other factors, mean he is looked on as a caring person. Mitt might find that the usual slime dog won’t hunt in this case. It could easily backfire.
Hoping it’s Romney = Patriots and Santorum = Giants. Same SuperBowl outcome too.
I for one hope he is. But he could do plenty just by laughing at Mittney. And stating a positive message such as “your millions don’t mean much when the American people have shown they do not like you nor do they like your message, nor do they like your tactics. I don’t need to play your stupid game. I’m beating you.”
Romney and his buddies are going to go after Rick hard. Rick won my respect last night. I don’t know if I can see him as prez yet but I like him now I have to admit. They’re going to go after him on the social issues big time.
Santorum's fantastic showing last night eliminated that arguement. Santorum doesn't need Newt. He beats Romney head to head.
How Santorum will do when attacked by Romney will tell the tale. Newt withered under fire and collapsed...if Santorum does the same he'll be done too. I hope he does better!
cnn last night made a comment they hope he had his flame suit on.
That's all (mostly) Rick has done ... just hung in and talked about conservatism, America and obama.
As his commercial says ... he's not the conservative alternative to mitt romney ... he's the conservative alternative to obama.
Well after the revolting disgusting display they already did with regards to his son’s death and nasty remarks about his wife dating an abortion doctor even though he was not even through pre-med yet. I think they can take whatever they throw at them. Once you make fun of a child’s death and the wife’s dating life there is nothing more that could get under his skin. Another thing is he has been in politics a long time and probably has heard it all. Bring it on!!!
“I know Romney will take this course”
I think people are getting tired of the constant negatives. Taking things out of someones past and distorting them or outright lying about their positions is rapidly getting old.
If Santorum concetrates on the issues and and articulates authentic principles the negatives will not be effective.
He needs to stay on message, it’s what people want to hear. Plus, I think part of his victory can be attributed to folks being sick of Mitt’s big money negativity.
Newt has survived just about everything that can be thrown at him and is still standing...he'll sweep the south and TX.
1. The bill against the National Weather Service in order to obtain campaign donations...
2. The Fuel Tax Credit... to lower the price of Coke, which was important to the steel industry, which employs thousands in PA
come to mind.
He played the DC game as good as anyone.
For the better part of two decades, the most vicious elements of the homosexual lobby and pro-death fascists have been attacking Rick and his family. During that time, they have wrecked the careers of other politicians, celebrities, sports figures etc. who may have made but a single passing remark they objected to. Although they succeeded in google bombing his name, it has only made them look worse.
Rick has incurred the wrath of CAIR, and has not grovelled or apologized for his remarks.
If folks insist on underestimating Santorum's ability to weather some pretty severe storms, I'm all the more happy to let them.
I think Obama wants Santorum. And I’d say the recent wins may be because of Dem infiltration.
Unfortunately, the attacks have to be responded to. They will be either untrue or distorted and Mitt will repeat them over and over and throw millions in ads peddling them. There is really no way to survive it without money. I think what we are going to see is a continual flip fliop from Gingrich to Santorum and back depending on which one Romney is going after in a given week.
THe same thing happened to Palin..in fact, it amplified the attacks.
Let Romney do his thing. I hope Newt holds back.
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