Posted on 01/27/2012 3:18:48 PM PST by Timber Rattler
We have witnessed something very disturbing this week. The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent.
We will look back on this week and realize that something changed. I have given numerous interviews wherein I espoused the benefits of thorough vetting during aggressive contested primary elections, but this week’s tactics aren’t what I meant. Those who claim allegiance to Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment should stop and think about where we are today. Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater, the fathers of the modern conservative movement, would be ashamed of us in this primary. Let me make clear that I have no problem with the routine rough and tumble of a heated campaign. As I said at the first Tea Party convention two years ago, I am in favor of contested primaries and healthy, pointed debate. They help focus candidates and the electorate. I have fought in tough and heated contested primaries myself. But what we have seen in Florida this week is beyond the pale. It was unprecedented in GOP primaries. I’ve seen it before – heck, I lived it before – but not in a GOP primary race.
I am sadly too familiar with these tactics because they were used against the GOP ticket in 2008. The left seeks to single someone out and destroy his or her record and reputation and family using the media as a channel to dump handpicked and half-baked campaign opposition research on the public. The difference in 2008 was that I was largely unknown to the American public, so they had no way of differentiating between the lies and the truth. All of it came at them at once as “facts” about me. But Newt Gingrich is known to us – both the good and the bad.
We know that Newt fought in the trenches during the Reagan Revolution. As Rush Limbaugh pointed out, Newt was among a handful of Republican Congressman who would regularly take to the House floor to defend Reagan at a time when conservatives didn’t have Fox News or talk radio or conservative blogs to give any balance to the liberal mainstream media. Newt actually came at Reagan’s administration “from the right” to remind Americans that freer markets and tougher national defense would win our future. But this week a few handpicked and selectively edited comments which Newt made during his 40-year career were used to claim that Newt was somehow anti-Reagan, and isn’t conservative enough to go against the accepted moderate in the primary race. (I know, it makes no sense, and the GOP establishment hopes you won’t stop and think about this nonsense. Mark Levin and others have shown the ridiculousness of this.) To add insult to injury, this “anti-Reagan” claim was made by a candidate who admitted to not even supporting or voting for Reagan. He actually was against the Reagan movement, donated to liberal candidates, and said he didn’t want to go back to the Reagan days. You can’t change history. We know that Newt Gingrich brought the Reagan Revolution into the 1990s. We know it because none other than Nancy Reagan herself announced this when she presented Newt with an award, telling us, “The dramatic movement of 1995 is an outgrowth of a much earlier crusade that goes back half a century. Barry Goldwater handed the torch to Ronnie, and in turn Ronnie turned that torch over to Newt and the Republican members of Congress to keep that dream alive.” As Rush and others pointed out, if Nancy Reagan had ever thought that Newt was in any way an opponent of her beloved husband, she would never have even appeared on a stage with him, let alone presented him with an award and said such kind things about him. Nor would Reagan’s son, Michael Reagan, have chosen to endorse Newt in this primary race. There are no two greater keepers of the Reagan legacy than Nancy and Michael Reagan. What we saw with this ridiculous opposition dump on Newt was nothing short of Stanlin-esque re-writing of history. It was Alinsky tactics at their worst.
But this whole thing isn’t really about Newt Gingrich vs. Mitt Romney. It is about the GOP establishment vs. the Tea Party grassroots and independent Americans who are sick of the politics of personal destruction used now by both parties’ operatives with a complicit media egging it on. In fact, the establishment has been just as dismissive of Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Newt is an imperfect vessel for Tea Party support, but in South Carolina the Tea Party chose to get behind him instead of the old guard’s choice. In response, the GOP establishment voices denounced South Carolinian voters with the same vitriol we usually see from the left when they spew hatred at everyday Americans “bitterly clinging” to their faith and their Second Amendment rights. The Tea Party was once again told to sit down and shut up and listen to the “wisdom” of their betters. We were reminded of the litany of Tea Party endorsed candidates in 2010 that didn’t win. Well, here’s a little newsflash to the establishment: without the Tea Party there would have been no historic 2010 victory at all.
I spoke up before the South Carolina primary to urge voters there to keep this primary going because I have great concern about the GOP establishment trying to anoint a candidate without the blessing of the grassroots and all the needed energy and resources we as commonsense constitutional conservatives could bring to the general election in order to defeat President Obama. Now, I respect Governor Romney and his success. But there are serious concerns about his record and whether as a politician he consistently applied conservative principles and how this impacts the agenda moving forward. The questions need answers now. That is why this primary should not be rushed to an end. We need to vet this. Pundits in the Beltway are gleefully proclaiming that this primary race is over after Florida, despite 46 states still not having chimed in. Well, perhaps it’s possible that it will come to a speedy end in just four days; but with these questions left unanswered, it will not have come to a satisfactory conclusion. Without this necessary vetting process, the unanswered question of Governor Romney’s conservative bona fides and the unanswered and false attacks on Newt Gingrich will hang in the air to demoralize many in the electorate. The Tea Party grassroots will certainly feel disenfranchised and disenchanted with the perceived orchestrated outcome from self-proclaimed movers and shakers trying to sew this all up. And, trust me, during the general election, Governor Romney’s statements and record in the private sector will be relentlessly parsed over by the opposition in excruciating detail to frighten off swing voters. This is why we need a fair primary that is not prematurely cut short by the GOP establishment using Alinsky tactics to kneecap Governor Romney’s chief rival.
As I said in my speech in Iowa last September, the challenge of this election is not simply to replace President Obama. The real challenge is who and what we will replace him with. It’s not enough to just change up the uniform. If we don’t change the team and the game plan, we won’t save our country. We truly need sudden and relentless reform in Washington to defend our republic, though it’s becoming clearer that the old guard wants anything but that. That is why we should all be concerned by the tactics employed by the establishment this week. We will not save our country by becoming like the left. And I question whether the GOP establishment would ever employ the same harsh tactics they used on Newt against Obama. I didn’t see it in 2008. Many of these same characters sat on their thumbs in ‘08 and let Obama escape unvetted. Oddly, they’re now using every available microscope and endoscope – along with rewriting history – in attempts to character assassinate anyone challenging their chosen one in their own party’s primary. So, one must ask, who are they really running against?
- Sarah Palin
I didn’t read but a few lines of your post. When I want propaganda - I don’t come here.
You are so mislead - you are dripping with propaganda. It’s repulsive. Go to a liberal site - they will wallow in it with you.
Mitt is a POS liberal con man - it says alot about the weakness of your mind.
GO NEWT! The visionary patriot for America! Squash the maggots!
Well said, Governor Palin. Well said indeed.
Thank you for making my point, old FRiend. You sound exactly like the cardinals who refused to look through Galileo's telescope at his heresy trial.
And that's another point you're making for me---apparently if you don't support Newt these days, you MUST be a Romney supporter.
No, I've made it perfectly clear in my posts that I detest Romney and everything that he stands for. But, I'm not holding my nose any more and voting for lesser evils. I'll simply write in Sarah Palin's name on the ballot, go home, and sleep peacefully that night. Will you be able to do the same if you vote for Newt?
And in case you didn't bother to notice, I was the one who first posted Sarah Palin's message and started this thread. That alone pretty much destroys your cheap accusation.
BTTT.
I have the same experience: I don’t know anyone supporting Romney and I don’t know who these people who are.
But that’s my personal experience.
Surveying the political landscape in toto, including the types of statements made by the prominent conservatives who are supporting Romney, I think it’s indisputable that the underlying theme is that they simply think he can beat Obama and none of the other candidates can/could.
I think Gingrich can still win Florida. But he has to focus on what matters to voters, which — it’s becoming increasingly clear — is persuading them of one thing: that he is the best candidate to beat Obama. Even when he knocks Romney, it needs to be brought back to the idea that Gingrich is the best candidate to beat Obama.
Good grief, *I* never said *I* thought Mittens was the best candidate to beat Obama.
I said that appears to be what is driving a lot of his support. And anyone who thinks simply saying Mittens is rotten for this, that and the other is not going to make any headway **unless** that information can also be used to show that he CANNOT beat Obama.
My whole point on this thread has been to offer up some ideas on how Gingrich can gain support, and how simply hoping and pining for the media to vet Romney is a waste of time (which you, yourself, admitted).
Palin didn’t go far enough. No one **out there** will care what comes out about Romney, no matter how much he is further vetted. If the dirt doesn’t seem to affect his **perceived** electability, — (read that again: that qualifier means that I am about to state a conclusion that is NOT my own, NOR do I think it’s factual, but it IS a perception that is animating a lot of Romney supporters) — voters are just going to shrug it off.
So, I don’t know how many times I have to say this for you, by IMO Newt needs to make everything that comes out of his mouth, including how he debunks unfounded negative attacks, relate back to his ability to defeat Obama.
Panic and fear says "Anybody but Obama!" Even if it is a Republican Obama named Romney.
Sense says: "Wait a minute, let's think this through ..."
There’s no doubt there’s stuff out on Romney and that more stuff could/should be thrown at him.
The question is whether it will stick at this point, and that’s what I’m analyzing.
Doesn’t matter how much dirt there is against Romney, of how much it stinks to high heaven, if other factors about the political zeitgeist make it “impossible” for that dirt to stick.
That’s why I’m arguing that to go for the juglar, it’s not enough to “further vet” Romney and hope that bloodying his nose makes people not want to vote for him.
You have to undermine the RATIONALE they are using to vote for him. And, as I look around at the political landscape, it seems to me that the major rationale they are using is that Romney is **perceived by them** (UGH - see my previous post) to be more electable than Gingrich.
Right now the “no one is perfect” and “I don’t care what he’s done so long as he can defeat Obama” memes are working in Gingrich’s AND Romney’s favor.
That fact needs to be clearly addressed.
Romney has proclaimed that he will install Romney care in all the States “when” he is elected. At least with Obama, he is so disconnected and busy touring, vacationing, campaigning and playing Golf, that he would do far less damage with his agenda than Romney would.
The first thing Romney would do if he is elected, would be to immediately swing to the extreme Left, like he did as Governor. He appointed the most Liberal of Judges and turned his nose up at all Conservative contenders for the bench. He also favors the Left in critical social issues, like Abortion, Gay Marriage, etc,.
A Romney presidency will be an utter disaster!
It gets a little ridiculous when any observation about the political landscape that seems to go against one's candidate is greeted not as something to evaluate and, if needed, deal with, but as something to frantically dismiss as the rantings of Mittbot or whatever.
As for the upcoming contests, I specifically said "No debates are scheduled and the next states are said to favor Romney, and there is at least one state with a lot of delegates (Michigan, IIRC) where Gingrich failed to get on the ballot.
Um, IIRC = "if I recall correctly," thus I specifically alerted the reader to the fact that I may be making a mistake here, check it out.
Rush is pro-Romney still, just as he was last time. I have 24 years with him as a listener, and I can read his leanings pretty clearly, the sad thing is that on Bloody Thursday he went too far, and has lost some listeners, and convinced others that they can never again take him at face value.
He will forever be less than he was before Bloody Thursday, just as Drudge will be.
It is obvious that you are simply here to disrupt and spread anti-Newt propaganda.
What is your point? to guarantee that we lose to Romney out of your blind spite for Newt?
FAUX Snooze will also lose about half of their audience. I now get most of my information and news on my Laptop. Who needs the propaganda and rhetoric anymore, when we can have it straight and honest.
I can’t help your emotional reaction to a simple statement of one’s opinion as to what the political dynamics are at the moment.
Nor can I help that you perceive those observations of what the political dynamics out there are as some kind of emotional pressure upon you to “lay off Romney.”
Is it emotionally threatening to merely discuss the fact that there are Romney supporters out there, and evaluating what’s moving them to support Romney for the purpose of trying to undermine that support in an effect rather than ineffective way? If so, I can’t help that, either.
All that is something that is going on in your own head. I really can’t see why you are framing this as someone out to get you.
And isn’t that a little personally aggrandizing? Really: none of my analysis has anything to do with you or who you are supporting and what you say or do not say about any of the candidates.
It’s just my view of what’s going on out there. If stating that creates too much emotional pressure for some, and makes them feel insecure in their own views, they need to address that, I guess.
If he’s not establishment, why did he support NAFTA, GATT, WTO?
I’ve listened to Rush since his first broadcast in Sacramento, and can testify to his overall establishment bent; its undeniable when all is considered.
GATT and WTO have cost us more than half of our standard of living.
Sure you did - and your anti-Newt posts show how much you detest Mitt. LOL! Nothing like campaigning for mitt the POS with fork tongue in your own style.
and sleep peacefully that night. Will you be able to do the same if you vote for Newt?
You betcha! I sleep peacefully EVERY night since I don't spend the day deceiving people. And that night won't be any different except with a rich sense of doing something FOR America - voting for NEWT while thanking those who gave their lives for our country to keep our liberties. And thank God for historians like Newt who teaches about the richness and beauty of Our Constitution.
I was the one who first posted Sarah Palin's message and started this thread.
If you didn't someone else would have - that's a given. Pissant used to post them all the time.
That alone pretty much destroys your cheap accusation.
Are you serious? LOL! It's just like mitt agreeing w/Newt about something on stage. Appearances, appearances. Agreeing with something you can't dispute to grab at some credibility. So it's more like your cheap tactic.
Jim, I agree with you fully on Romney.
I’m just saying that we need to place our hope in turning the GOP, not the vaporous hope of a non-existant 3rd party. We have a few months to go before all is lost, and we need to use our assets, the chiefest presently being the lurkers that frequent FR, to point in the most productive direction.
For a 3rd party we lack it all:
A candidate
Money
An organization
An audible voice
These things take lots of time and effort to realize.
Getting Santorum out is step one - we need to go there full throttle. Ron Paul appears to take more away from Romney than Gingrich.
And I thought that David Limbaugh had some smarts...
I guess we have arrived to the imperfect destination. It’s hard to support Newt, but Romney is a disaster. I trust Sarah P. therefore... (sigh)
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