Posted on 12/19/2011 2:48:21 PM PST by Jim Robinson
Why, you may ask, is the meteoric rise of Newt Gingrich giving so many in the Republican establishment a bit of holiday-season indigestion?
Look no further than party leaders' worries about the shaky Gingrich relationship with a category of Americans who may matter more than any other in the 2012 election: independent voters.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
And therein lies the rub. The elite RINO establishment says we must run a squishy, nonthreatening, non-conservative RINO to reel in the independent fish. Well, we the grassroots tea party and our independent minded anti-big-government brethren may feel a bit differently about that.
GO, Newt!!
Poor independents.
Dittos Jim.
Exactly. Independents are not Republicans or Democrats because they want to stop the BS in Washington. They want someone who can go in, take names and kick butt. So far, Newt is the only one that could probably do just that. That’s why Republican politicians are afraid of him.
I'm not the biggest Gingrich supporter, but if it's him, I'm in.
hehehehehe!!!! LOVE IT!
Yep, the RINOs are worried that a Conservative could get the nomination. Can’t have that can we. Sarc/
Romney threatens GOP’s chance to nab conservatives.
Screw the RINOS!
GO Newt!
Let’s see, when did the GOP get the independents:
Reagan in 80 and 84. Hmm, I don’t think he went squishy to get them.
The Contract with America election in 94 - and I don’t think the GOP went squishy to get them. And I’ll be damned, look who was behind that one would you?
Mid terms 2010: Don’t think we went squishy to get them in that one either.
Just when the hell did the GOP EVER win by going squishy? NEVER.
Why is this so hard for the beltway elites?
To wonder why Gingrich has little appeal to Independents, one must look no farther than those who served with him while he was Speaker of the House.
He is, for the most part, not looked kindly upon by Republican members of the House. And that includes GOP members of all political stripes. Very few have endorsed his candidacy. In short, his candidacy has little appeal to them.
It’d be easy to dismiss these nay-sayers as the “Beltway types” or to use the old and tired “They’re RINO’s”. But it goes further than that. They saw Gingrich’s leadership abilities back then. They know.
Go Newt!
Bingo!
I actually think he has a better chance at suburban independents, who are in the end the only independents that actually matter in the electoral college calculation (no GOP candidate has a chance at urban “independents” who are really closet socialists, and Obama has no shot at rural independents).
Suburban independents like Newt because he balanced the budget, and is an intellectual, and as such is seen by them as 1) a champion of fiscal sanity (a big issue in the ‘burbs), and 2) not the insane redneck caricature of conservatism that the media falsely tries to foist on us.
“Why is this so hard for the beltway elites?”
they want it squishy.
Oh yea - Merry Christmas!
Conversely, I could argue they didn’t like Newt BECAUSE he was an effective leader, with all the butt-kicking that requires. He actually has a pretty good record in the House, although he was frequently betrayed by Lott/Dole in the Senate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.