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Newt Gingrich: 'I feel Romney-boated'
AP ^ | January 1, 2012 | Shannon McCafferrey

Posted on 01/02/2012 8:06:07 PM PST by Mariner

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) - Struggling to reverse a slide in his standing, Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich said Sunday he'd been "Romney-boated" in Iowa and suggested his GOP rival would buy the presidency if he could.

The sharp words against Mitt Romney, a multimillionaire many times over who is in strong contention to win Iowa, come two days before voters here weigh in on the Republican field. It was part of a stepped-up effort by Gingrich to contrast himself with Romney, and the candidate said he would adopt an even more aggressive strategy when the race moves to New Hampshire, the former Massachusetts governor's backyard.

Gingrich's nautical attack was a reference to a 2004 TV ad campaign by a group called the "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth" that bloodied Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. This year, Gingrich has faced an onslaught of negative TV advertisements by a group aligned with Romney.

Asked Sunday whether he felt that he had been "swiftboated," Gingrich replied, "I feel Romney-boated."

It was his second swipe of the day at the Republican frontrunner.

Speaking to reporters after attending morning Mass at the St. Ambrose Cathedral in Des Moines, Gingrich said the amount Romney will eventually spend on his various campaigns will rival the spending of billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has poured at least $261 million of his own money into his mayoral campaigns.

"Romney would buy the election if he could," Gingrich said.

A new Des Moines Register poll put Gingrich in fourth place, after leading the field a few weeks ago.

(Excerpt) Read more at siouxcityjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bipartisan; iowa; police; romneyboating; sbvt; socialism; swiftboating; teachers
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Newt is learning late that negative campaigns WORK.

The denizens of Romneyland know this all too well.

Worse, it takes lots of money to be negative. Lots.

Any and every candidate that surpasses Romney in the opinion polls gets their character assassinated.

Coincidence?

I think not.

Romney is running the most negative primary in the history of the GOP and must be defeated by any means necessary.

1 posted on 01/02/2012 8:06:11 PM PST by Mariner
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To: Mariner
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

Romney-boat establishment types for lies!

2 posted on 01/02/2012 8:09:50 PM PST by Halfmanhalfamazing ( Media doesn't report, It advertises. So that last advertisement you just read, what was it worth?)
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To: Mariner

Santorum is next. Funny how Willard plays it dirty every contest he’s in despite a win/lost record of a pathetic 5-17 for the magic Mormon.

Nevertheless, Newt will SOON open up a can of payback in SC & FL.


3 posted on 01/02/2012 8:13:45 PM PST by CainConservative ( Newt/Rubio 2012 with Cain, Bolton, Santorum, Perry, Watts, Duncan, & Bachmann in Newt's Cabinet)
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To: CainConservative

I sure hope so. GO NEWT!


4 posted on 01/02/2012 8:16:01 PM PST by Parley Baer
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To: Mariner

Newt said sitting on the couch with Nazi was a dumb thing to do. So was trying to run a positive campaign when nobody else is reciprocating. Hopefully he has now woken up from that Kool Aid and will come out swinging.


5 posted on 01/02/2012 8:17:08 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Mariner; Halfmanhalfamazing

Actually, so-called “Swiftboating” was about exposing John Vichy Kerry and telling truth and FACTS about Kerry.

While there may be something to “one person’s negative campaigning is another person’s fact-checking” distinctions must be made between genuine information of importance and interest to voters and mere “smear” attacks (however hard to define impartially).

I vehemently reject all attempts to use the “*****-boating” expression to compare any negative campaigning with what happened in 2004.

In 2004 the country was saved from the lies of the progressive left, and that involved the “Swiftboat Veterans for Truth” exposing John Kerry.

No conservative should allow the media theme of “****-boating” to be a generic term for “unjustified negative campaigning.”


6 posted on 01/02/2012 8:19:02 PM PST by Enchante
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To: Mariner

I’m not sure comparing himself to John Kerry is a good thing for Newt Gingrich to be doing, especially since he had that disastrous “debate” where he esstentially agreed with Kerry about Global Warming and how we needed to stop it.

And is Gingrich saying he disapproved of the swift boat veteran’s pointing out John Kerry’s record? Is he telling us he thought the Swift-Boating was false?


7 posted on 01/02/2012 8:20:00 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Enchante
"I vehemently reject all attempts to use the “*****-boating” expression to compare any negative campaigning with what happened in 2004."

I agree.

Off limits.

Bad Newt.

8 posted on 01/02/2012 8:20:28 PM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Mariner

of course it was the reporter who framed the question that way, and Newt found it hard to resist a juicy soundbite....

but I do think it is always important for conservative candidates and speakers to think about and challenge the media “memes” such as “Swiftboating was about unfair negative attacks”


9 posted on 01/02/2012 8:24:32 PM PST by Enchante
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To: Mariner
I object strenuously to Gingrich's invocation of the Swift Boaters. The Swift Boaters were a group of Vietnam Vets who exposed the mendacity of John Kerry's false claims of heroism in the Vietnam War. Gingrich's use of the term "Romney-boated" ratifies the pejorative connotation attached to the Swift Boat Veterans by the Left-wing Media.

If the Republicans ever hope to return to power, they need to reject the definitions of terms offered them by the Left -wing Media.

But for the actions of the Swift Boat Veterans the 2004 election may well have turned out differently. In my opinion, all conservatives owe a great deal to them.



Etiam non princeps sed usque ad genua, Principis Pacis!
10 posted on 01/02/2012 8:25:39 PM PST by ConorMacNessa (HM/2 USN, 3/5 Marines RVN 1969 - St. Michael the Archangel defend us in Battle!)
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To: ConorMacNessa; nickcarraway
Thanks for the good steer, Nick!

Etiam non princeps sed usque ad genua, Principis Pacis!
11 posted on 01/02/2012 8:27:40 PM PST by ConorMacNessa (HM/2 USN, 3/5 Marines RVN 1969 - St. Michael the Archangel defend us in Battle!)
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To: Georgia Girl 2
Newt said sitting on the couch with Nazi was a dumb thing to do.

Unlike most other politicians, he was man enough to admit he screwed up. Far be it for some FReepers to recognize this though. Their mantra will continue on until the 2016 election.

12 posted on 01/02/2012 8:27:50 PM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isn't common anymore.)
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To: Enchante
No conservative should allow the media theme of “****-boating” to be a generic term for “unjustified negative campaigning.”

My feelings exactly.

13 posted on 01/02/2012 8:27:58 PM PST by Grut
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Yes, exactly, I think Newt really stepped in it here.

He showed himself more comfortable with the MSM ill portrayals of the 2004 campaign than with questioning it.

Granted, it’s hard to educate anyone in our sound-bite culture, but Newt prides himself on being a substance-guy and should not have accepted the “frame” of that question. He took the easy path because it served his immediate political need, when he should have objected to the term “Swiftboating”....


14 posted on 01/02/2012 8:28:28 PM PST by Enchante
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To: ConorMacNessa

I agree 100%. Newt was caught off guard, but I wish he would have clarified his comment.


15 posted on 01/02/2012 8:29:41 PM PST by KJC1
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To: ConorMacNessa
"If the Republicans ever hope to return to power, they need to reject the definitions of terms offered them by the Left -wing Media."

Well said!! Newt took the easy path of allowing the MSM to "frame" this whole topic of negative campaigning, when he should not have allowed the question to be accepted as stated.
16 posted on 01/02/2012 8:31:36 PM PST by Enchante
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To: Mariner
Last week, he was Pearl Harbored.

When Mitt isn't going after Newt, I guess Admiral Yamamoto’s grandson is.

17 posted on 01/02/2012 8:37:50 PM PST by bwc2221
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To: Mariner

If he expects to hold onto people like me who aren’t that crazy about his candidacy anyway, Newt needs to get off the pity-pot and quit whining.

Comparing himself to John Kerry in any way is not the image he wants to project.


18 posted on 01/02/2012 8:44:22 PM PST by bigbob
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To: Halfmanhalfamazing

Newt using this rhetorical device of the left, show once again he is a creature of Washington. Unless Newt is trying to say that Romney is spreading the truth about him? After all Swift Boat Veterans for Truth told the truth about Kerry.

Of course, Newt making class warfare claims like Romney is trying to buy the nomination is further evidence that his instincts are now DC instincts and he can not be trusted to be conservative.


19 posted on 01/02/2012 8:45:46 PM PST by JLS (How to turn a recession into a depression: elect a Dem president with a big majorities in Congress)
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To: Mariner; ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas; stephenjohnbanker; DoughtyOne; rabscuttle385; mkjessup; ...

Jim O Neil and fellow SBV officers killed Kerry’s claims of being a war hero with true facts about Kerry’s ‘service’ (I sent the SBVFTers $100 myself) and Kerry could only respond to them by repeating ‘stop the lies’ not debunking any of the facts,

For the record, ‘Swift-boating’ is a liberal term made up by Democrats used to smear Jim O Neill and his fellow officers for telling the truth. Newt’s choice of words is very revealing..


20 posted on 01/02/2012 8:49:11 PM PST by sickoflibs (You MUST support the lesser of two RINOs or we all die!)
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