Santorum wins the Church Lady vote, Gingrich can't offset

[mtrott]

I'm a huge Newt supporter and will continue to support him, but it seems the home schooling Catholic has enraptured the Christian evangelical and "church lady" voters. This would seem to be corroborated by some of the exit polling data presented tonight.

For you younger members, there used to be a skit on Saturday Night Live which featured an ignorant, puritanical lady who saw Satan in everything in modern culture. Even though large numbers of evangelical Christians actually believe the Catholic church is apostate, for some reason, they are readily latching on to Santorum, apparently because of his overt incorporation of religious themes and controversies into his campaign.

What made me think of the Church Lady was an interview I saw tonight on CNN. They interviewed a white haired lady in, I believe, Ohio. Upon being asked about the fact that Santorum had failed to get delegate slates in three Ohio districts, she responded "well, if God wants Santorum to win, he will win, REGARDLESS OF THE DELEGATES"!

With supporters so divorced from reality, what effective argument can Newt make, and how can he compete?

[achilles2000]

That was his attempt at sarcasm directed toward me. Yes, the sodomite agenda is a very serious issue - one that will absolutely destroy Western culture as surely as Mohammedanism will (in different ways, of course) if it is not dealt with. Broken economies can be fixed more easily that broken character. In fact, economic performance and character are intimately linked. Anyone who thinks the “cultural” or “social” issues don’t matter to economies or freedom needs to take a long look at Europe.

[ansel12]

Santorum always loses the Catholic vote.

[achilles2000]

Psychoanalysis is of no use to anyone. It is the Global Warming of psychology....wait...maybe psychology itself is one of the Oaklands of social science: There’s no there there (to quote Gertrude Stein).

[kalee]

This one too.

[budwiesest]

That's what O'bongo is hoping- to keep the focus on cultural issues rather than his miserable failure as President. Hence, the college cash-strapped condom cutie.

I'll take Newt's Contract with America to O'bongo's Contract on America. Some people just can't get over Newt's 'past'. Well, the raunchy parts anyhow.

This election is about America's future, not somebody's personal past. Mr. Clean Jeans and Sweater Boy are the last two I'd send into battle against these flaming communists from the Chicago Alynski School of Community Organizing. This is gonna be one nasty election, folks.

[TonyInOhio]

I’m in NW Ohio too, Putnam Co., a heavy Catholic area. Santorum did very well here.

That makes two of us. Welcome, neighbor! :)

[Carthego delenda est]

“Broken economies can be fixed more easily that broken character.”

Absolutely Correct!!!

[LeopoldvonRanke]

“Again, I like newt, but I no longer believe he can win the nomination, and I believe he should drop out and support Santorum.”

It’s time. GA is done. Santorum is favored over Newt everywhere else from here on.

Losing Ohio and winning GA was not a victory for the good guys, we lost a state that we really needed to win because 15 percent of Ohoian did not vote for Santorum.

Without Newt - Santorum would have delivered both South Carolina and Georgia, as well as taking Ohio and Michigan. We would not be talking today about how to keep Romney from winning all the delegates, we would be talking today about Santorum as the republican nominee.

That did not happen.

If the primary goal is to defeat Romney then Newt needs to drop out.

[TonyInOhio]

Why is it important for the candidate to actually “ask for votes” in person?

That has more to do with psychology than logic; if we eliminated enthusiasm, human contact, and appearance from politics, B. Hussein Obama would still be a junior Senator from Illinois. I sell things for a living, and I can tell you that people will often choose to business with me because I ask them for the business, even when my proposition is not as favorable financially.

People want to be wanted, and I think Santorum did a better job of conveying that this week.

[Carthego delenda est]

“So you think “sodomy” surpasses energy, jobs, security, and taxes?”

What are you thinking?

“Clearly, *one* of you two needs to start using sarcasm tags”

F..Oh.. LOL!

[Carthego delenda est]

aww crap. I have to say it again: FUMR!

[berdie]

Thank you for your reply.

The psychology still escapes me. But I’ll try to understand.

[napscoordinator]

Santorum has a bizarre left-wing, pro-abortion past that people don’t know about.

I have seen you mention that quite a few times. The problem with your hope that people will turn away from him if they find this out is that it won’t happen. He is completely believable as a pro-life person now. Everyone says he is the most pro-life candidate and if it is a conversion, so be it. The problem with Romney and why he gets so much crap for his pro-life conversion is that NOBODY believes him. If that is what you think will destroy Santorum then you need to go back to the drawing game. That would never work.

[Kevmo]

I’m a huge Newt supporter and will continue to support him, but
***I’m a huge Santorum supporter and will continue to support him, but... he is a lot like the church lady that Dana Carvey portrays.

[napscoordinator]

This election is about America’s future, not somebody’s personal past. Mr. Clean Jeans and Sweater Boy are the last two I’d send into battle against these flaming communists from the Chicago Alynski School of Community Organizing. This is gonna be one nasty election, folks.

That might be your opinion, but all the states are voting for either Santorum or Romney....Santorum is getting the red states and Romney is getting the blue states. Newt got his home state and a state where he had a good debate. I understand what you are saying but Newt is having a problem getting people to vote for him. That has to change if you want him to win.

[ansel12]

He is completely believable as a pro-life person now. Everyone says he is the most pro-life candidate and if it is a conversion, so be it. The problem with Romney and why he gets so much crap for his pro-life conversion is that NOBODY believes him.

Exactly, no one believes Mitt became pro-life, because he has been the most aggressively pro-abortion Republican Presidential candidate we have ever seen, until his Presidential run started, aside from Specter himself, who actually campaigned on driving the Pro-life movement out of the GOP.

Both of those men have been the pro-abortion fanatics that Santorum has tried to make President.

Santorum says that he was pro-abortion until he decided to run for office, he has never stopped supporting aggressive, even fanatical pro-abortion candidates, he was even driven from the Senate in a massive, history making landslide, because he constantly tried to advance Specter.

[napscoordinator]

You have some points, but I still don’t see that hurting him. I mean he won the conservative vote tonight by quite a bit. I mean even Ohio, he cleared the state but lost the cities. Most people don’t have any idea who Arlen is....I do because I am from Pennsylvania. I don’t see Obama using Arlen as an attack against Santorum. I heard the Democratic person tonight saying that they hope Santorum is not the candidate because Santorum relates so well to the “working man” (her words, not mine). Anyway, a long way to go before this is decided. We actually still have Alaska to wait on.

[Kevmo]

He’s kinda like a cross between the Church Lady and Jerry Seinfeld. But since he aligns with most of my viewpoints, I support him.

[ansel12]

That is kind of the point, the man is unvetted, invisible except for his own perfect image that he created and has delivered, the media, the left, the establishment, none have set upon the man as they do with true effective conservatives like a Palin, or Reagan, or Gingrich, so no one knows about the incredibly bizarre history and record of Santorum.

If you read his early politics when he was pro-abortion and anti-Reagan (he described Reagan supporters as the "right-wing fringe"), and purely focused on the very moderate parts of the GOP, working only for pro-choice moderates, exactly the kind that he has always continued to support in elections, he mentions his theories on carving out a niche and hanging on to it.

Santorum used to label himself in his campaign literature, a "Progressive Conservative".

The early Santorum is always described as not being interested in issues themselves, but in how to use them.

Before switching to pro-life for his first campaign, this is how he described himself, like Romney he was.
"I was basically pro-choice all my life, until I ran for Congress"

This is his first campaign position paper he wrote to grab pro-life voters, it is less than inspiring.

[Catsrus]

And, let’s not forget Newt’s cozy couch sitting with Pelosi, or his debate against Ted Kennedy on global warming, where he agreed with everything the Lion of the Senate said. Newt has as much, if not worse baggage than Rick. And, women don’t like the fact that he is an adulterer. Yes, God forgives, but, people don’t.