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
>> “Get off the sidelines Palin.” <<
.
This crap is exactly why she’s on the side. There is no way she could have raised enough dough to fight the RNC mob.
RE: Cannibals in GOP Establishment Employ Tactics of the Left
Anybody with half a brain can see their boy Romney is a leftist, so what would you expect?
Go Tea Party..Go Sarah...GO Newt
Give me a break. Mitt makes it an issue by claiming his Bain Capital work makes him the best candidate for president because he knows how the real economy works. The activity at Bain must be vetted now. How do you expect that to happen or do you want to walk into an October Surprise over Bain's vulture capitalism (and ties to $100m in Medicare fraud) because Newt, the leading anti-Romney, left it alone because capitalism is a sacred cow and Romney's word is good?
Further, did you miss the ABC News piece posted here earlier today that Mitt's "blind trusts" dealing with Swiss and Cayman Island accounts aren't really blind because they're run by his great good friend and personal lawyer, something that will violate federal law should he take office?
Criticism of Romey's claimed chief bona fides for is not "class warfare" except to Romney defenders and those thin skinned about whether ethics should be applied to capitalist pursuits.
It appears Rush thought he might be losing HIS base.
It also appears Palin just dumped on McCain. Finally!
Amen..BUMP!
The problem is that yesterday was important, today was not, Rush did what he had to do yesterday to stop Newt, now he is back to being our buddy.
Yesterday was a day of shame and coming out for conservative pretenders, people who used to be thought of as members of the conservative movement.
Rush, Drudge, Tyrell, and others will never be trusted again by conservatives as they go the way of David Frum and Ann Coulter.
We have learned that beyond the establishment battle lines that we knew of, there was a deeper layer among us, a fire wall, Rush Limbaugh and Drudge had to expose themselves to keep Newt from taking Florida, which probably would have broken the Romney campaign.
Already today, now that the debate is over, the rescuing body blow already delivered, Rush is pretending to be back among us, as though yesterday and the previous weeks and months, and the five years of supporting Romney, never happened.
****You know I think the reason the establishment GOP hates Newt is because if elected he will make them earn their pay. :>)****
That has to be the reason the Pubbies in the House threw him under the bus in 1998 - he made them work every day on real reforms - not letting them just ‘pork’ around and they resisted and resented it. They love being in the minority - less responsibility.
New slogan WORK NOT PORK !!!!!
She’s not prohibited from doing anything, but run herself if she’s on the air. She’s paid to give her opinion and commentary, but she won’t endorse because she respects Reagan’s 11th commandment. That used to be the norm for politicians, to not take sides in the primary.
Didn’t Sarah just write that newt is an ‘imperfect vessel for the Tea Party’?
Whether she thought it would be a good thing or a bad thing for Newt, hard to tell in the end.
If she did see this coming, she should have gone ahead and endorsed Newt in order to get ahead of it, not talked about how she would vote for Newt in SC simply to "keep it going."
I realize she's hoping that by "keeping it going," Mittens will be exposed somehow. As she wrote:
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.
But the practical question is HOW to get these answers and/or how to get anyone to care.
The fact is that Romney has been running for years, and has gone through the process just like all the other candidates, including those who got bounced, and HE'S STILL STANDING.
That's the reality we're facing.
Yes, more time will lead to more scrutiny, and that may -- finally -- do the trick. But, as seen with Gingrich, not necessarily.
There are many who have decided they are okay with any and everything that Gingrich has stumbled over over the last decades -- and, in my view, few people who have reached that conclusion will change their mind. Even if they become re-disenchanted with Gingrich, they will hold their nose and vote for him.
The reality, however, is that there is a similar contingent that supports Romney! They know the same types of things about him that Gingrich supporters know about Gingrich -- and they are okay with it. They are willing to overlook these things, for whatever reason, and, again, in my view, very few who have reached that conclusion will change their mind.
And the state of debate is such that any and all vetting that is done of the candidates -- regardless of which one -- is SIMPLY and IMMEDIATELY DISMISSED by anyone supporting that candidate. It's all immediately branded as "lies," a conspiracy, a power play, the other side "trying to tell us who to vote for" -- and on and on. Yes, this happens in the camp of EVERY candidate at this point. This means that even legitimate, factually accurate knocks on a candidate get dismissed and ignored. This applies to Romney the same as everyone else.
See the impasse here?
It's truly hard to see a path forward that vets Romney in such a way as to dislodge his support from those who have already decided to overlook certain things. For Pete's sake, conservatives have been trying for years now to make something stick to him.
If Palin or anyone else can figure out how to further vet Romney in a way that works -- all the way to God's ears!
I know I’ll never vote for Romney.
The only chance to stop the short circuit of the primary process is a win for Newt in FL. If you're seriously for Santorum, he won't have any opportunity to make his case should Newt fail if FL goes Romney.
The next month is naturally Romney-friendly with almost no debates, Mormon-heavy Nevada and Mitt's birth state of Michigan, where his dad was governor, deciding delegates.
A FL win for Romney will deflate the potential competitiveness of March 6th's Super Tuesday.
If you plan to donate, now is the time. Keep this process alive!
That’s absurd. What a ridiculous post. Everyone’s wrong sometime, but Rush is the greatest friend conservatism has or will ever have in the media.
Rush has been one of the greatest forces for conservatism, but when push comes to shove, we learn that he is a Romney type man.
These last few years many of us are starting to realize why conservatism keeps having so many near misses, so many almosts, decade after decade, after decade, after decade, after decade, after decade.
It isn’t just near misses, we have all seen when one of our sure victories suddenly dies a mysterious death, and we are left scratching our heads about how it died when we controlled everything.
A little o/t, but, boy, do I love football analogies! Thanks.
Two words...Clear Channel.
***Rush is pretending to be back among us****
Dead man walking;)
Free at last!!!!!!!!!.
You must not have listened to him today...Rush ripped a few new ...
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