As Gingrich Reels From Attack Ads, Some Aides Suggest Fighting Back

nytimes.com ^ | 12/30/2011 | TRIP GABRIEL

[TBBT]

DES MOINES — Alarmed by Newt Gingrich’s decline in the polls in the face of a fusillade of negative advertisements, some senior aides and grass-roots supporters have suggested that he reverse course and fight fire with fire, fearing for the future of his candidacy if he does not.

Mr. Gingrich’s vow to stay positive draws applause at every stop of his winding Iowa bus tour, but polls raise questions about that strategy as attack ads against him from his opponents’ campaigns and independent groups have seeped into voters’ minds.

New polls of Iowa Republicans this week suggest that Mr. Gingrich has lost more than half his support, as he has fallen from the top of the field to a statistical tie with candidates he once was far ahead of, like former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas.

“How long can you take the beating before hitting back?” said Josh Byrnes, a state representative and the chairman of Mr. Gingrich’s campaign for Mitchell County, who added that he was “blown away” by how much damage the attack ads had done.

“Maybe someday you’ll look back and say, ‘Boy, he should have pulled the gloves off,’ ” Mr. Byrnes said.

Among the campaign’s senior staff, “there’s a small chorus of folks who have been urging him to respond in kind” to the blistering barrage on the airwaves, a top aide said.

Instead of the gauzy “Morning in America”-type ads that Mr. Gingrich prefers, some advisers discussed whether the campaign should run the kind of attack that the Democratic National Committee created last month aimed at Mitt Romney’s shifting stances, accusing him of being “two men trapped in one body.”

[TBBT]

Admirable. But, in my view, he ought to listen to his aides.

[Psalm 144]

Yes. This is akin Bush II’s submission to being a punching bag for year after year.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Nice guys finish last.

Speaker Gingrich, it is this poster’s honest opinion Mitt Romney is the one attacking you, and you are surrendering to him.

He’s doing exactly what the left once did to you before.

Don’t let it happen again.

FIGHT BACK.

Thank you.

[SkyDancer]

Republicans are nothing but a punching bag. No guts. Wimps.

[TexasFreeper2009]

I agree, Newt must fight back as if western civilization depended on it... because it just might.

never.. never.. never give up Newt!

[Farmer Dean]

Agreed,but Newt has so much bad baggage that he’s an easy target.

[TexasFreeper2009]

I have noticed something about Romney... he has a glass jaw. He has been attacked so little during the debates, if you weren’t watching closely you would of missed it. But I have seen Mitt several times come close to tears in debates when he was attacked even a little.

Gingrich could skewer him alive oratorically if he wanted, and he MUST if he wants to win. Newt MUST win.

[takenoprisoner]

He earned it. He made his bed. Now he must sleep in it. Nancy and Newt butter cups and couch potatoes

It is what it is, I don't make the rules.

[Diogenesis]

SSDD

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ROMNEY: "Obama was born in the United States"

ROMNEY: "Obama Doesn’t Need a Birth Certificate"

ROMNEY: "The citizenship test has been passed"

---

---

Romney for Obama in 2008

Late in October, The American Spectator's The Prowler revealed:
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers…
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide…
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
"Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."

---

The Palmetto Scoop reported: "One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was
the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
… aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.

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"These staffers are now out trying to finish her off ….hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."

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"Who's the Palin Leaker from the McCain Campaign?
National Review Online The publication of a Vanity Fair profile of Sarah Palin
appears to have opened old wounds in the McCain campaign.
... the source of the “Diva” leak was Nicolle Wallace’s husband."

---

"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"

---

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"A political party cannot be all things to all people.
It must represent certain fundamental beliefs
 which must not be compromised to political expediency
or simply to swell its numbers."
--  President Ronald Reagan

"We don't intend to turn the Republican Party
 over to the traitors in the battle just ended.
We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged
 to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support.
Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates
wouldn’t make any sense at all.""
--  President Ronald Reagan

[SkyDancer]

Any front runner will be bashed by the media and other Republicans. The whole political scene is just troubling.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Punch Back! Don’t play Mr. Nice Guy! If you do you don’t deserve to get the Nod. If you can’t face Mittens—how can you face Obama with his legions of supporters in the media, his army of goons from the Unions and his bags of gold for TV ads? Fight or die! Its all about whos got the guts. Ask yourself—What would George Patton Do?

[Mortrey]

Better Newt than a HOMOPOTUS or a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread (Mitt).

[Psalm 144]

“It is what it is, I don’t make the rules.”

And part of the ‘is what it is’ is that he is one of two candidates who actually moved significant conservative agendas forward, and he is the only one to do it at the federal level. Still, yapping dogs will yap. The smaller, the more rapid.

[Jim Robinson]

Nice guys finish last. Take the gloves OFF! Hit Romney HARD with the truth. His own words should be devastating!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7OQoBxZZPqU

Don’t even bother with the others.

[altura]

Newt has some carry-on baggage but Romney has twenty steamer trunks.

Newt should definitely fight back.

He’s not my favorite, but he’s my second favorite and I want him to hang in there.

[altura]

Yeah, Perry got to Romney a couple of times during the debates.

He does not like being challenged.

[takenoprisoner]

I understand you have no rebuttal. Since the sight of him and Nancy together, on a comfy couch is repulsive, and should mandate a barf alert. My apology for not announcing the barf alert.

It is what it is.

[Psalm 144]

Actually I made a rebuttal, which fact you are free to ignore. Invincible ignorance is invincible.

[takenoprisoner]

PS Hey, I don’t make the rules.

[Vladzred]

Newt...Fight to win. If you play the game of thrones, its Win...or Die!

[takenoprisoner]

Not to him and Nancy all comfy on the couch. You didn’t make a rebuttal. You made a generic statement and called me invincible and ignorant. That’s not a rebuttal. That’s an insult.

I provide facts with evidence. You provide insults.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Negative ads work. I don’t think Newt needs to roll in the mud but some hard hitting ads pointing out the differences between him and Mitt would go a long way. If he doesn’t fight back he’s going to really take a beating.

[Gator113]

Newt needs to take the gloves off, period.

Failure in this fight is not an option.

[Islander2]

(He earned it. He made his bed. Now he must sleep in it. Nancy and Newt butter cups and couch potatoes)

So Newt sat on a couch with Pelosi and then said it was a huge mistake, one that he would regret. He admitted it and moved on. I think all of us were pissed seeing him on the couch with her but this is now and we have moved on.
It seems you have not. But then, some people just simply refuse to see the political situation as it is.
Would you like to be hammered constantly by some mistake that you made and later regretted? Get a life and move on.

[D-fendr]

If there was nothing negative in other media about his attackers, Paul and Romney, I’d agree, he needs to respond.

But I *think* it would be wiser for him to stay positive.

[adm5]

Whether or not Newt fights back is not the issue for me.

His precipitous fall from the polls can be traced almost exactly to the release of the video of him supporting an individual mandate aka Romneycare aka Obamacare.

The only thing he had going for him was that he was going to be an alternative to Mittens and his Progressivism.

After watching that video, I was so disgusted that I wanted to vomit.

Basically our choices at this point are:

1.) Mittens (RINO)
2.) Gingrich (RINO)
3.) Paul (NUTTY BAR)

That is unless Santorum can keep it up. I’d gladly pick him vs. these other three boobs.

[Toespi]

Newt is on the ropes and as far as I am concerned it will be a tragic loss to conservatives at this time in history. His brilliance was called arrogance, his seriousness was considered mean, and his vast political knowledge made him a Washington insider. All of this made him a formidable adversary against Obama, sadly some couldn’t get beyond a photo op with nancy pelosi.

[takenoprisoner]

So Newt sat on a couch with Pelosi and then said it was a huge mistake, one that he would regret. He admitted it and moved on.

First off, I would never have made such a mistake. Sitting on a couch with Pelosi endorsing her and Al Gore's BS propaganda? You have got to be kidding me. Only a fool would do that.

You need to move on to the Gore and Pelosi camp.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Gingrich should not so much “fight back” as to have an attack strategy.

Use cut-outs to smear opponents.

After all, that’s what’s being done to him.

Doing any less is naive.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Excuse me.

Not one primary vote has yet been cast.

Anywhere.

[Islander2]

(The only thing he had going for him was that he was going to be an alternative to Mittens and his Progressivism.)

That is all you think Newt brings to the debate? Very shallow analysis on your part me thinks. Of course you took in to consideration his time in the House and the Contract With America.....sure you did and did not find those accomplishments worthy of anything.
To win this battle with the Repub. Establishment on our side and 0bummer on the other side we will need a candidate with a backbone and balls and one who will fight back when attacked (not like McCain or Bush). It is my opinion that Newt is the right one. I do like Backman and Santorum, but still think Newt fights better.

[mpstewart]

The guy is a fornicator who has committed adultery in two marriages—he is unable to keep his marriage vows so I seriously doubt he will keep his oath to the Constitution (which he has already broken repeatedly anyway).

[Islander2]

(You need to move on to the Gore and Pelosi camp.

Lay off the sauce, juvenile. Try to make sense on this thread. You are failing with each of your postings as shown buy the rebuttals to your nonsense.

[takenoprisoner]

Only a fool would do that.

I will retract that. He may have done it for the money. In that case, he wasn't a fool at all. He was merely making money. The question is how much did he make for joining Al Gore, and Nancy Pelosi, to promote a bogus socialist global warming scheme?

Forgive him, and move on? No way no how. Not under any circumstance under the heavens. Man cannot undo what God created. When man thinks he can, then he is convinced he is greater than the almighty. Good luck with that fallacy.

Sure, man can pollute the rivers, streams, and the air. But not to the point where he can disrupt the work of the lord almighty.

Can man destroy the earth with nukes? Nope. But he can destroy us, and life as we know it. But God's creation will be here till God determines it's fate.

[TexasFreeper2009]

I think it’s time to change you magic Mormon underware or something.

[takenoprisoner]

Lay off the sauce, juvenile. Try to make sense on this thread. You are failing with each of your postings as shown buy the rebuttals to your nonsense.

Here we have another attempt to insult. Is this all you have? My 4 YO grandson could make a better argument. And has.

[adm5]

That is all you think Newt brings to the debate?

Very shallow analysis on your part me thinks. Of course you took in to consideration his time in the House and the Contract With America.....sure you did and did not find those accomplishments worthy of anything. I don't care what kind of history he had if the most recent things he's supported are PROGRESSIVE POLICIES.

He believes/believed in the global warming BS and now we find out he really agrees with Mitt & Obama on Socialized Medicine.

He might be the smartest dumbass I've ever seen. Why can't there be A TRUE CONSERVATIVE in the race??

[JediJones]

I think Newt missed a bet by not campaigning in a Santa suit this month. It might have helped counter that whole "gin-Grinch" image.

[JediJones]

He lived up to the Contract with America, old buddy, old pal. If you ran a business and had a potential employee show up with a terrific resume and the right experience, would you send them home without the job if you found out they were divorced?

[takenoprisoner]

Why can't there be A TRUE CONSERVATIVE in the race??

There is. But she is a member of he Tea Party Caucus. We can't have that now can we? I mean, she is too far outside the GOP establishment, and the so called mainstream.

Standing on principle, in spite of the odds, has standing in my book of Constitutional adherence. Too bad she is only in the single digit percentile. I wonder why? Is it because we have given up? Or is it because of the fierce forces battling against her?

[Cobra64]

Agreed,but Newt has so much bad baggage that he’s an easy target.

.

[Islander2]

Well said!!!

[JediJones]

Well, Newt mentioned that Romney made money by bankrupting companies at Bain Capital and got bashed by the beltway media. He has called Romney a Massachusetts moderate. He pointed out in the one debate that Romney lost to Kennedy and therefore couldn’t become a career politician. He said he couldn’t vote for Ron Paul.

So he’s done some criticizing of the other candidates. I guess this is about him not doing it in actual produced TV ads? One problem is most of the criticism of Romney would be centered around Bain Capital, therefore it might not play well to all of the Republican base, e.g. tugging the heartstrings with interviews with laid-off workers. I’m also not sure how a negative ad calling someone a heartless tycoon or whatever counters an ad where they call you a socialist or whatever. It’s not a defense so both candidates come out dirty.

I mostly wouldn’t do negative ads, I would do contrast ads. I would put Newt’s experience, achievements and ideas up on the screen and compare it to Romney’s weaker offerings. I do think they need to do flip-flop ads like are on YouTube. Unfortunately the Wall Street tycoon ads that will really kill Romney just can’t play in the Republican primary without backfiring. So people will remain ignorant of how vulnerable he is.

[Cobra64]

Not to him and Nancy all comfy on the couch. You didn’t make a rebuttal. You made a generic statement and called me invincible and ignorant. That’s not a rebuttal. That’s an insult. I provide facts with evidence. You provide insults.

FYI, JimRob has some thoughts on Gingrich in his post #13 on this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2825718/posts

.

[JediJones]

It’s because she’s charmed the electorate about as much as she charmed all those guys in high school who didn’t ask her to the prom.

[JediJones]

[catbertz]

I would love to see Newt set fire to Romney’s fancy pants during a debate. Just rip him a new one. I don’t recall seeing anyone do that yet.

[BigBobber]

Sure, man can pollute the rivers, streams, and the air. But not to the point where he can disrupt the work of the lord almighty.

Amazing...

[trebb]

Newt may be taking the right track for now. He is smart enough to be able to toss out some bombs and the other candidates might actually miss the message for a bit before becoming flustered. Not likely they can do the same. I hear he is preparing to fight back and I hope it's on an itellectual level that clearly separates him from the street-smart, IQ dumb folks like Mitt. He can make himself look smart while making them show the feral natures they possess.

If he handles it properly, not only will he not need to go to the same negative levels as his opponents, but he can essentially make it backfire on them.

[Farmer Dean]

Don’t get me wrong,if Newt is the nominee-I will vote for him.It’s a shame but I can’t respect his weak moral character.