Could Romney be testing Gingrich as a possible VP candidate via Meet the Press and Vegas with Trump?

May 26, 2012 | Ralph Mitchell

[mitchell001]

Sunday, Newt Gingrich will be on Meet the Press as a Romney surrogate. Tuesday, Newt will be campaigning with Mitt Romney and Donald Trump in Las Vegas. Could Romney be testing the Newt for VP waters? Nobody, gets TV news ratings like Gingrich. Nobody can be a campaign pitbull like Gingrich. Newt can sing many songs on TV news. The other GOP VP candidates are milk toast next to Newt. Is it possible?

[Verginius Rufus]

Biden and plagiarism? Where have I heard that before?

[9YearLurker]

Exactly, Gingrich and Christie types both have their constituencies that they can speak to persuasively, but either would be an anchor on an already marginal ticket.

[personalaccts]

Allen West if he’s smart

[rawcatslyentist]

But he's not as well know of a devil whorshiper as B Wacky..

/ less evil fraudulent logic

[Signalman]

Newt would be good. The positive? Best debater in the business. The negative? His personal life could be used against him during the campaign. Maybe.

Outside of Marco Rubio, Jim DeMint would be my next choice. A solid conservative.

[Java4Jay]

Finally, some exciting news!

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Would enough conservative voters accept John Kasich as VP, and would Ohio be more than willing to let go their present governor, so that he would become Mitt’s VP?

[Charles Henrickson]

Allen West if he’s smart

I think the freshman West (currently running in a different district) needs to get a little better established in Congress first. If Romney were to pick anyone from the House, I would think it would be Ryan.

[nathanbedford]

As one of the very earliest supporters of Newt Gingrich on these threads my heart beats faster at the idea Newt on the ticket but my head tells me no.

The Vice Presidency is a constitutional office quite independent legally of the president who has no power to fire him. The power of the Vice President, apart from his constitutional power to break a tie in the Senate, comes from the expectation that he might be President. This can arise because the Vice President succeeds the President through death or resignation or by way of election in his own right.

Therefore there is no way apart from moral persuasion that a strong personality in the office of Vice President can be kept from going off the reservation if that is his bent. Gingrich, if nothing else, is a strong personality.

Gingrich is too old to run for President after eight years and so the position should go to a younger man like a Marco Rubio. We as conservatives are fortunate to be confronted with an opportunity gifted to us by Obama who has overreached because of his own narcissism. We are, however, challenged by a demographic drift which threatens to engulf conservatism and wash it into the backwaters of history.

In other words, if we lose this election we may never get another chance because demographics will have sealed the fate of conservatism.

The Hispanic vote is becoming more crucial every year and the headlines this week tell us that more babies of color are born than Caucasian babies which is ominous because mothers of color let their babies grow up to be Democrats. We need a good 12 to 16 years of Republican rule (which I can only pray equates to conservative rule) to shape the culture of the country so that we can expect Hispanic babies as well as Asian babies to vote conservative. We cannot afford to give the country back to the Marxists and hope to prevail against the demographic tsunami about to overwhelm us.

The upside of the Gingrich appointment is that he could develop a relationship with Romney akin to the relationship between Cheney and Bush in which the President entrusted Cheney with vast powers and responsibilities for the security of the homeland. Cheney did a magnificent job. He offered advice on all matters domestic as well and the country was the richer for it. Gingrich could fulfill such a role. But he does not have to be a Vice President to do so.

Gingrich can effectively campaign for Romney even though he would not be on the ticket because of the force of Gingrich's personality. It were felt that he needed to be given a sanctioned role to play, Gingrich could be bruited as the administration's point man on energy, for example. Finally, Gingrich brings no state into play. Georgia is already in the bag and he does not have any known coattails in Virginia where he currently lives. Gingrich might have broad appeal nationally but it is not clear that his appeal exceeds his liabilities. I am sure Romney's internal polls inform him well on that subject.

It is my feeling that this election will break later for Romney in a big way but a prudent course is to campaign as though the election will be decided in Ohio. Romney must carry Virginia as well. Accordingly, Romney needs to nail down Ohio and Virginia and that suggests Portman and McConnell. It is even conceivable that Romney's internal polls tell him that Santorum could deliver Pennsylvania, although I am skeptical even as I am willing to be educated.

I am of the view that Marco Rubio offers the most upside, virtually guaranteeing Florida-a must win state-and hopefully drawing well in the Southwest among Hispanics even though he is Cuban and not Mexican. There is a very clear path to victory for Romney if he can tie up Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and perhaps even New Mexico. Rubio would also draw in many places along the East Coast with growing Hispanic minorities such as, believe it or not, New Jersey.

A final word about Newt Gingrich. I have posted long (no surprise to anyone there) and hard that it is not enough just to win the next election, it is vital that the new administration recognize that the Republic must be pulled back from the brink of economic and political destruction.

Short-term, the economic threat is obvious with the whole world moving toward recession. Our debt is overwhelming and the debt clock is ticking ominously. If we do not deal with the debt soon we will be overwhelmed and representative democracy will be under the gravest threat.

Longer-term, we have a cultural malaise in this country cresting in a demographic wave which is swelling our economic and political malaise even as it affects the whole culture. We cannot educate our kids who cannot compete with well-educated, highly motivated Asian kids. We are loaded with debt. At least 50% of the country is ignorant and self indulgent.

We are engaged in a world wide generational, existential war with aggressive Islam which is quite prepared to use weapons of mass destruction or indulge in terror, or both. Neo-communism is linking up with Islam to do us great mischief. Europe is threatened with the destruction of its currency if not its political structure. China is slipping into recession caused by the world's largest real estate bubble. There is no glimmer of hope anywhere on the economic horizon but only storm clouds, the storm clouds of a perfect storm.

These are the concerns that impelled me early on to call for the election of Newt Gingrich despite his baggage. If Romney has the humility to use his undoubted intelligence, he will find a role for Gingrich. If he is what so many of us fear, a Rino, he will either marginalize Gingrich or seek to use him as a beard to disguise Romney's own liberalism but not really collaborate with him.

We need someone like Gingrich to move the country toward a great vision of renewal. I regret deeply that he was not nominated. I hope he is patriot enough to give Romney every assistance and I hope Romney is humble enough to accept it.

[chris37]

Yeah, boy, Newt could really help deliver Georgia for the GOP...

Not to mention all those other state he won.

Such a choice would be made of SHEER WIN.

/s

[BCrago66]

The two men genuinely don’t like each other, because they don’t respect each other. And one of them is right in his attitude (Gingrich.) Gingrich is big enough to look past campaign insults, and campaign for Romney out of loyalty to this country, because he knows that the re-election of Obama just might be the end of this country. But Gingrich will not be Vice President, and both men know it.

[matthew fuller]

Two days ago this Texan proudly voted for Newt for president in the TX primary. I will be totally enthused if Newt is chosen as VP.

[BCrago66]

I think you don’t know how to think of the subject of ethics.

[Road Glide]

Newt would be a good choice.

He’d do well in the campaign, functioning both as an attack dog (normal role of a good VP candidate), and he’d have fun with Biden in a vice presidential debate.

But he would do even better AFTER winning. Newt would then become president of the Senate. Combine that with his knowledge of procedure when he was Speaker of the House, and he would serve as the point man for shepherding through Congress legislation designed to reverse the damage of the Obama years, and perhaps even new legislation to weaken the stranglehold that regulatory agencies have assumed (such as EPA).

Might be the best pick Romney could make....

[Mr. K]

If Romney chooses Gingrich that will be the ONLY way I will vote for him

I would love to see Obama debate Gingrich but OMG Biden -vs- gingrich????? Biden would be whimpering in the corner before it was over

[LuvFreeRepublic]

Goodness, after reading the comments it is easy to see that some still haven’t figured we are trying to save our country, not choose a Pope.

[Washi]

I suspect that Romney’s pick will be more PC “Inclusive”; a woman or a minority.

[faucetman]

No, Newt for a cabinet post not VP.

Bob McDonnell (VA) will be the VP. The best choice by a MILE!
Romney not stupid. Will not pick “a buddy”. He will make a pragmatic choice. Not who would make the best VP, which is what he will say, but who will help him WIN!

McDonnell an attractive candidate, is available, would say yes, would bring Virginia into the red column, would coattail Ma ca ca into the Senate. A life long, PRO LIFE, Conservative. Anti gay marriage (anti gay some would say), pro gun, maybe he should be on the top of the ticket?

[marron]

Longer-term, we have a cultural malaise in this country cresting in a demographic wave which is swelling our economic and political malaise even as it affects the whole culture. We cannot educate our kids who cannot compete with well-educated, highly motivated Asian kids. We are loaded with debt. At least 50% of the country is ignorant and self indulgent.

We are engaged in a world wide generational, existential war with aggressive Islam which is quite prepared to use weapons of mass destruction or indulge in terror, or both. Neo-communism is linking up with Islam to do us great mischief. Europe is threatened with the destruction of its currency if not its political structure. China is slipping into recession caused by the world's largest real estate bubble. There is no glimmer of hope anywhere on the economic horizon but only storm clouds, the storm clouds of a perfect storm.

These are the concerns that impelled me early on to call for the election of Newt Gingrich despite his baggage. If Romney has the humility to use his undoubted intelligence, he will find a role for Gingrich. If he is what so many of us fear, a Rino, he will either marginalize Gingrich or seek to use him as a beard to disguise Romney's own liberalism but not really collaborate with him.

We need someone like Gingrich to move the country toward a great vision of renewal. I regret deeply that he was not nominated. I hope he is patriot enough to give Romney every assistance and I hope Romney is humble enough to accept it.

Deserves repeating. You've stated my views better than I can.

Our problems are bigger than what can be resolved by elections, they are moral and they are cultural in a way that is at its base, again, moral.

Until we address the deeper problem we will continue to teeter on the brink, forever on the brink, every election a desperate last stand against the deluge.

Repubs always want to reduce every argument to tax cuts when they need to be prophets on fire preaching principle, principle, principle. That Gingrich can do this is a great blessing; that he seems to be one of a very few Repubs in active life who dare to do it is our great crisis.

[faucetman]

“I am of the view that Marco Rubio offers the most upside, virtually guaranteeing Florida”

He is NOT ELIGIBLE to the office!!!!!

Romney will KILL obama (can I still say that in America? (kill Obama) did I just set off alarm bells somewhere?)), in Florida.

Look what he did to Newt in Florida. Florida is a LOCK for Republicans this cycle.

Partial first term minority Senator with no experience, favoring “The Dream Act”, sound familiar????

Not to mention he is ineligible to the office of Vice President (Article 12) or President (Article II)