Posted on 01/17/2012 6:37:23 AM PST by xzins
Newt Gingrich's fluent, policy-rich performances in the early debates, laced with derision for the media's attempts to question the Republican candidates, propelled him to the front of the GOP pack in early December.
His command of the stage here in Myrtle Beach for the 16th (yep, there have been that many, and the next is in Charleston on Thursday) could just be the lifeline he needs to achieve the task he has set himself - overcoming Mitt Romney's clear lead in the South Carolina polls to win the state on Saturday.
Romney was under pressure over releasing his tax returns (he eventually said that he would "probably" do so in April), on why he had not objected as Massachusetts governor to felons on parole having the right to vote and he gave an awkward, fumbling response to a softball about whether he had been hunting since 2007, even mixing up moose and elk.
Gingrich, however, ... scored quite a few points against Romney and the former Speaker's fluency with policy and ability to dissect questions and make a big-picture conservative case against Obama made him the night's big winner.
There were two standing ovations for Gingrich in the hall, where 3,000 Republicans roared, cheered ...
Gingrich said that in the debate room "there was a strong sense that somebody finally just had the courage to tell the truth about how we've got to go about helping people".
"...it's clear if you look at the polls the only conservative who can beat Romney in South Carolina is Newt Gingrich... we have five days to win South Carolina. I think we will win South Cariolina."
A lot of conservatives are queasy about Romney and unconvinced that he could beat the President in November.
(Excerpt) Read more at harndenblog.dailymail.co.uk ...
Ping to article about Newt’s huge victory last night in debate
Consensus everywhere is huge Gingrich victory. Newt cleaned up.
Newt handed Juan Williams his a$$, then, proceeded to also hand him his b*lls on that one question.
I think Juan went through the whole deck of race cards last night.
Newt won. I wished I liked him.
Romney is another dumb urb who believes shooters and hunters are all stupid hicks.
And he did it without sounding mean or abrasive.....Reaganesque.
You don’t have to like him to vote for him. ;)
Romney, knowledgeable hunter that he is, would go hunting Bullwinkle the Elk in Montana.
Rocky the Flying Squirrel would take exception.
I think SC goes..
Newt 29%
Willard 28%
Santorum 18%
Paul 13%
Perry 3-4%
Details, please!
Newt Gingrich (as someone said in the comments section) is ‘America’s Churchill.’
I thought it would be another snoozer. Instead, I was clapping and cheering with the audience.
Both Romney and Paul were booed last night. Mitt had the crowd at the beginning of the debate, but Newt had them in the palm of his hand from the Juan exchange forward. Mitt was left sputtering the rest of the debate. I think he was exposed for the fraud he is. He also was taken aback when the audience booed him. Heh.
It really was something to see. Even Romney-lover Dick Morris said he thinks Gingrich may win SC because of this debate performance—even over objections by Sean Hannity, who looked a little rattled that Romney did so poorly.
I guess we will soon see.
The insider advantage poll was so skewed that it was almost breathless. They refused to weight by political party (although they did so for the 2008 dem party primary), so they ended up with a poll that had 10% less republicans, 10% more independents, and no justification as to why those numbers should be used.
If they did have the scientific data to justify that breakdown, then they should have stood by it and weighted the poll that way.
Amazing.
It is now impossible to tell what’s actually going on in S Carolina.
NO pollster is weighting for party. The reuters poll even had a 50/50 split between dems and reps in the republican primary.
Unconscionable, misleading, and MANIPULATED!
We're not voting for Miss Congeniality.
Sounded to me like Romney had a RINO stuck in his throat....
I'm not looking for a Friend. I'm looking for a leader, someone our enemies will fear. Newt is the guy we need now. He may be a jerk, but he's our jerk.
I think the rowdy audience and intensity tripped up Romney. He seems to stumble outside controlled environments.
Romney was particularly bad regarding the tax return issue.
He made himself look bad with the hum hoing around.
He can’t hide the fact he is rich, that isn’t a disqualifier.
Maybe he is embarrassed to show how very little tax he paid.
He is leaving that assumption up to us because he hasn’t shown his taxes.
If you look at the recent presidential campaigns, the GOP nominees we've put up since Reagan have lacked the intensity necessary to get their voter base fired up. The Bushes, Dole and McCain - none of them ever took on the establishment in the aggressive manner that Newt is doing. All of them were "nice guys" that believed in bipartisanship and "crossing the aisle" to find common ground with the Democrats.
Ronald Reagan was the last presidential nominee we had that was not afraid to take on the liberals and the establishment media and the result was two massive landslides.
Mitt Romney will just be another milquetoast candidate that will either lose to Obama or squeak out a narrow margin of victory with no mandate. So nothing will change. Either way, the conservative cause does not get advanced.
If Newt can steamroller Mitt this Saturday night and move on to grab the nomination - and then maintain this kind of intensity and aggressiveness for the general campaign, we could be looking at the best year for Republicans since 1984 - or 1994, when Newt Gingrich himself engineered a GOP takeover of Congress.
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