There is no question that Newt has always been a super talker. And he is a very experienced politician, who has been a power in the back rooms of congress for many years. That has both it’s good and it’s bad sides, of course.
My problem is that he seems to lack a firm moral foundation. You can’t count on him. He started out the Contract with America like a real powerhouse. But then he reached a certain point and stuck, and for whatever reason he then started doing whatever clinton said in his last year in the speakership. At the time, I speculated that clinton had something in his FBI files. In any case, he caved in completely.
Reagan was divorced in his earlier years, but as he grew more mature he seemed to get stronger and stronger in his moral principles. He could be counted on. He didn’t bend with his advisers. When his speechwriters kept removing “tear down that wall” from his Berlin speech, he stuck it back in, several times.
I won’t repeat all of Newt’s recent flubs, but there are quite a few of them. Dede Scozzafava. Friendship with Pelosi. Just the other day saying that life begins with implantation, not conception—which he then retracted after his base was upset. But I cannot believe that that was just a matter of careless talk. He was very specific, and he is perfectly well aware what the arguments are. Probably he wanted to continue fetal stem cell research or chemical abortion.
His several divorces and affairs with aides over the years are far worse than anything Cain was accused of. Whatever one thinks of them, they will certainly be used to persuade the Evangelical vote to stay home, and that’s one of the ways that the Democrats took congress in 2006—because the Evangelicals who had turned out in large numbers for Bush got discouraged and stayed home. The media will have plenty to work with to accomplish a similar reaction.
We are certainly between a rock and a hard place at the moment. With Cain gone, frankly the only real hope I can see out there is that Palin will somehow be drafted or persuaded to run. So I’m not ready to hop on board the Newt train yet. But I can understand why it may seem the least bad alternative at the moment.
Alternatively, from what I've been reading elsewhere, the values voters decide to give Romney a second look. There's the idea that his policies aren't so different from Newt's in the end and "at least he's a decent man."
Ironically, while some Romney voters are migrating to Gingrich, the reverse may happen as well.
What can be done about it? Nothing.
Oh, and I meant to add:
The louder others proclaim that they “don’t give a damn” about anything that Newt has done, whether in his personal or professional life, the more values voters tend to say, “Wait a minute. I *do* care about a man’s character and conduct. Yes, I’m pragmatic and I’m going to vote against Obama no matter what. But I’m not going to join in this wholesale throwing overboard of our traditional standards, not if I can find someone else who can win the nomination and *doesn’t* have to be given a pass on his moral failings.”
This is what I’m hearing. Whether it’s a viewpoint that’s widespread enough to make a difference, I don’t know.
There’s a difference between supporting a candidate and giving him a pass. That’s been my major concern about the Gingrich surge: I can see supporting him, but I would have rather seen the conservative base support him while riding herd on him all the way.
When a man such as Gingrich is not only supported, but given a pass (what I mean by that is not at the same time held accountable for certain things), the latter is what risks turning values voters away.
you say: “, they will certainly be used to persuade the Evangelical vote to stay home,...”
Some Christians don’t judge people FOREVER for something they did years ago - Some Christian’s ACT Christian
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/11/27/evangelicals-flocking-toward-newt-gingrich.html
scroll down for chart showing evangelicals foe Newt
Oh, BTW
and the ACU
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2011/12/fort-hood-massacre-nothing-more-than-workplace-violence-per-dod.html