--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
Posted on 02/29/2012 6:14:16 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Ever since Newt Gingrich's loss in Florida's Republican primary I've been trying to read that gotcha-just-where-I-want-you smile of his. What's his plan for winning the nomination? No matter how bleak his prospects appear, he does have a plan, that we can be certain of. And whatever it is, it is patient, simple and clever.
He's the same man after all who wrote a book explaining how Robert E. Lee could have won the battle of Gettysburg by simply abandoning the field July 2, marching a day south and east and waiting for the Union Army to destroy itself. As Newt has done the same thing himself numerous times, most famously when he stopped negotiating with Bill Clinton when everybody told him he had to and if it wasn't for Bob Dole surrendering the government shut-down, almost folded up that administration like a cheap suit.
Now watching Romney and Santorum each beat the other's brains out in Michigan I think I finally figured out what Newt is up to. Waiting for it to finish so that he can move south and east again. Just like he always does. And if I'm right it means we'll look back and see that both Romney and Santorum showed up for a chess match, clutching a box of checkers.
From day one Gingrich could only win the nomination if he was the only conservative alternative to Romney. That a fact and that's his baggage. And so Michigan was the set-up Newt was waiting for. Let Romney be defeated in his home state he was finished and then Gingrich could take Santorum in the areas of the country where Monsignor Rick doesn't play all that well. Let Romney win and Santorum's momentum would peak and a week he'll be polling 10-15% again.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Going to be with Newt in Gainesville, GA tonight!
GO NEWT!!
Should be interesting because I think Limbaugh is right, the GOP elites now desperately fear Romney getting the nomination and then getting his clock cleaned. If that is true we can count on them to exercise their usual duplicity and steer the nomination to Santorum or Newt before sabotaging them later on in the fall.
Given their well-documented hatred for Newt, that appears the most likely. Throwing a loyal soldier under the bus who saluted and endorsed Specter would create other problems for them.
O’Reilly had Newt on his show talking about how to get the gas prices to $2.50 and guess who agreed with Newt’s methods right after the interview? Karl Rove!!!!!
Santorum’s arrogance and ignorance lead him to take on Romney in Romney’s own state. STUPID.
Newt knew that would be a waste of money and energy so used Rick’s weaknesses to his (Newt’s) advantage.
This is who Newt is ....
” Newt provided strategic counsel to the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense on how to better address threats facing the United States. He is also the longest-serving teacher of the Joint War Fighting course for Major Generals at Air University and taught officers from all five services as an honorary Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Professor at the National Defense University.
In 1999, Gingrich was appointed to the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century, the Hart/Rudman Commission to examine our national security challenges as far out as 2025. The Commission’s report is the most profound rethinking of defense strategy since 1947.”
I really don't think they fear that, at all. What they fear is the "party faithful" abandoning the party, and also losing downticket. The GOP wasn't unhappy when McCain and Dole lost. Heck, McCain even kept his nice job in Congress - no loss at all, and in fact, he probably enjoyed campaigning as a break from the routine in Washington, DC.
I think the GOP wouldn't mind at all if Romney won the nomination then lost in the general. What I think they fear is that their charade is being uncovered, and that a substantial fraction of the voters insist on less government.
THE NEWTRON BOMB !!! GO NEWT !
Have a great time tonight! He looks like he is having fun with the algae solution Obama proposed. I heard a guy call into Mark Levin and say he works with algae and Levin said “By the way...wouldn’t that process produce CARBON?” He said “Why yes!!”
I like Newt, I support Newt, and I'm planning to vote for him, assuming that he's still in the race when things get around to my state. It will be nice to have a candidate where I don't need to hold my nose while pulling the lever.
However, I'm not optimistic. About the only things that I see happening are a Romney implosion (pretty unlikely) or Newt, Santorum, and Paul picking off enough odds and ends of states to force a brokered convention (a little more likely, but still not very).
Gives one pause.....
Perry believes Newt can take Texas with 155 delegates. Newt feels he has a good chance in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and hopes Washington state. He has been working California as well. We will see.
I think that’s true. The question is whether the voters genuinely want a conservative or not. The GOP establishment clearly doesn’t want one.
Santorum was exactly as big government and establishment as Romney and his entire Senate record bears this out. However, Romney is a genuinely unlikeable candidate, and I think for a while Santorum was liked better simply because he played up the little Ricky from humble roots story and his social issues conservatism.
But there’s really no substantive difference between them, and the question now is whether voters really want someone with an entirely different take on things and, if so, whether Gingrich can get his message out in time.
If Santorum can just complete his implosion by Super Tuesday, Newt will win BIG, because Romney simply doesn’t play well in the South.
Romney won with his scorched earth negative campaign tactic once again, destroying his opponent rather than running on his record. Turn out was depressed and will likely stay suppressed for the general. Romney screwed his opponents, and has poisoned the general election for himself.
I thought voting against Obama would be one of the greatest votes in my lifetime and now I'm gonna have to drink a fifth of whiskey just to enter the polling booth in November.
Newt couldn’t even beat Ron Paul in Michigan.
I'll be happy to see him upset some old boy GOP applecarts. I'm not impressed with Romney, though I'd vote for him over Obama. It would just be nice to have a candidate I can support, rather than just "meh, at least he says he's not a Democrat".
I'm in NC (May Primary). I've seen one BO 2012 bumper sticker (I work near a college, it figures) and a handful of Ron Paul signs. Nothing for any of the other candidates. But then again, the primaries are so late here that things are usually decided, and there's not much turnout.
Santorum lost by 3 percent.....Newt took 7 percent total. Something doesn’t look right here. I don’t want to say that Newt took votes from Santorum but........
Don’t get down yet! It’s not over by a long shot!
DELEGATE RACE AS IT STANDS NOW:
Romney- 142, of those 26 are non-binding= 116 solid
Santorum- 59, of those 44 are non-binding= 15 solid
Gingrich- 32, of those 2 are non-binding= 30 solid
Paul- 20, of those 12 are non-binding= 8 solid
POPULAR VOTE TOTALS:
Romney- 1,746,046
Gingrich- 977,272
Santorum- 929,807
Paul- 462,187
Washington votes on Saturday. It is proportional with 43 delegates.
Look at the Super Tuesday Calendar.
Alaska 27
Georgia 76
Idaho 32
Massachusetts 41
North Dakota 28
Ohio 66
Oklahoma 43
Tennessee 58
Vermont 17
Virginia 49
These ALL proportional delegates. Now, tell me, which of these do you think Mitt is going to win? Massachusetts, of course. Ohio, maybe. Vermont, yes. Virginia, not if all of the Rick and Newt supporters vote for Ron Paul! And again, these are ALL PROPORTIONAL!
MITT CANNOT LOCK THIS THING UP FOR A LONG TIME! And anything can happen. Of course, there are no debates because Mitt and Rick chickened out, but you never know in this race!
And he is still the smartest man in any room he enters!
Santorum was just on Fox and said most of Romney’s votes were already mailed in and Santorum said “I won Michigan when you look at the votes thereafter and I got more delegates than he did here because of the counties I won.” I contacted a friend of mine who is a Democrat there in Michigan and I asked who he voted for. He said he voted absentee for Newt “to work mischief...” in his words.
And you're right about VA being the key. My bet? Most people don't bother to show up in VA, period. That likely works in Paul's favor because his supporters are zealots. Doesn't really accomplish anything for Paul, but it DOES keep 40-odd delegates out of Mitt's pocket.
Mitt takes the NE, Newt gets the big banana (GA), and who knows about the rest. I heard that Santorum was polling well in OH.
“Should be interesting because I think Limbaugh is right, the GOP elites now desperately fear Romney getting the nomination and then getting his clock cleaned.”
That is interesting.
I missed that. Any backup in print of that part of his program as some Freepers post a few hours later?
Thank you.
I’ve been eating algae. It does indeed convert to gas.
Huckabee Will Host a Presidential Forum on Fox News (Romney, Newt and Santorum will attend) (Saturday)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2852290/posts
If you’d like to help Newt out, making calls from the national phone banks, or in other grassroots efforts, here is the address:
www.newtsnetwork.com
www.newt.org/donate
There is still time to set Newt on fire once again... but only if EVERYBODY does their part and then some. Please consider helping, and asking your friends to help, also. Newt needs everybody on board. Thanks for considering.
Hey hey, this is great. Now, where can I watch Fox News live on my computer since we don’t have TV?
As bad as Newt is on his inconsistencies and flip flops, he is very disliked in terms of the establishment type Republicans, and therefore is a far better alternative in my mind.
Romney can be counted on to go along with whatever the Rockefeller Republican wing of the party wants to do, and if it comes to that, I'd rather have someone who is more interested in slashing and burning the status quo.
Roger that.
Krauthammer has repeatedly referred to mitty as weak.
Last night on CNN, one of the post panel of talking heads pointed out lots of GOPes are surprised at just how “shockingly weak” mitty is.
For one, I sure hope he did, and from Romney as well. Gingrich should take every vote he can find and from every quarter.
P.S.
I missed it because I did not listen to Rush yesterday. The truth is I never do. I can’t sit for 3 hours listening to him repeat himself over and over again when life is so short.
None the less, I do enjoy reading those transcripts when printed on FR.
If Romney ultimately wins the GOP nomination what does that tell us of voters even within the Republican ranks - no less the general public? Arrogant, tall, smooth talking’ BS artists like Obama and Romney can bully, schmooze and Big Money their way to the election. Pathetic—I puke on the whole sorry state of affairs this joker of a process!
Oh Yes. Newt just helped Romney win his home state. I don’t think that is good at all. Romney now has mojo which is the last thing he needs. Hopefully Santorum can win Washington....it is possible since it is a caucus and he is good with those. Newt is concentrating on Georgia. He will win Georgia on Super Tuesday and maybe another state but he only wants Georgia, the state that he lived in for 20 years. It is so strange that Romney is getting props for winning his home state.
Santorum probably had quite a few votes ceded to him in Michigan and in Arizona by Newt’s non-compete, there are also some who are very loyal to Newt and some who really don’t want Rick as well. I’ve really seen all I want of Rick and part of our problems are because of “Social Conservatives” who are not also “Fiscal Conservatives.” Newt Gingrich’s voting record on “Social” issues has been at least as good as Santorum’s, but when you look at the rest of the record, and then the accomplishments, and then the advancement of the “Conservative agenda”, and then his abilities and capabilities. I don’t believe I could possibily vote for anyone else for any reason as long as Newt Gingrich is on the ballot. He is an extrodinary individual for these extrodinary times.
O'Reilly HOGGED the entire interview, Newt could hardly get a word in, with all of Bills "Yeah, Buts". He thinks he is smarter than NEWT??? give me a break.
Why doesn't O'Reilly just Masterbate INTERVIEW HIMSELF? Why schedule guests to rape? Can't stand O'Reilly.
Santorum’s loss in MI certainly made my vote next week in the OH primary easy: Newt. I was going to vote for whomever could stop the Mittster, but clearly that isn’t Santorum and I prefer Newt over Santorum anyway.
Praying for a good NEWT night on Super Tues. Go NEWT
Go Newt!
Santorum was right. On election day, he probably won, at least the delegate race. I just saw his results in Macomb County. He lost the county by 200 on election day, and by over 7000 when absentees are included. Seniors voted heavily against Santorum, or more accurately, for George Romney.
Notice that Obama came out spewing the 3 point issue of the GOP:1.Drill now., 2. Drill now., 3. Keep on Drilling.
He was attacking NEWT GINGRICH, that is the only candidate that Obama is afraid of.
I WANT NEWT, NEWT, NEWT
Agree. I’m voting for Newt, but Romney, like it or not, will be the nominee. All we can hope for is that he fights 1/10th as dirty against Obama as he has against Republicans.
Newt went for FL and lost badly. Santorum went for MI and lost but managed a split of the Delegates.
They both have been burned by Mittens war chest. Maybe they have both learned to campaign smarter not harder.
Time will tell. If either of them starts campaigning heavily in Mass or Vermont well they have simply lost their mind no matter what the polls say.
One good thing Mittens spent a ton of money in FL and MI his war chest has to be several Million lighter.
TMI. I hope you have some bayberry candles...
Wrong on several points, but one is this:
Last poll showed Santorum leading in Texas, huge.
The idea that Santorum cant play in the south is wrong.
And I dont see how Newt coming in 4th in Michigan is a Newt win. Yesterday was a Romney win, no matter how its spun.
I'm actually starting to pity Rove. This guy's job is to sell a thoroughly and obviously flawed mitty to us peons, while trying to retain some level of credibility. Talk about a suicide mission.
It’s good if it saps momentum from Santorum while not adding any to Romney.
I think that’s just what happened.
I just think the whole thing is dumb. Our number one objective is to get Romney out of the nomination contest. The entire primary is a mess. I concede that Santorum should have told his supporters to support Newt in Florida. Newt should have done the same in Michigan. Washington is an unknown for now. Super Tuesday will result in all three getting places. However, if these two were really working together, they could have taken all the states on Super Tuesday except Mass. But no. They both have to be selfish and each one’s supporters are just selfish too. If we don’t get our acts together, we are going to hate the result. This is such a crazy primary especially since everything that should have been done was totally not done at all. I for one and probably the only one does NOT want a brokered convention. It will not work out well for us. I just seriously believe that.
--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
Given his background in teaching war college(s) etc. I am curious as to what he and his team did aka having a Vince Lombardi moment, "Gentlemen this is a football" and review that debate and how as a military strategist how he lost and how he will prevent it in the future.
That conversation might be one for the history books that might be pointed too as a tipping point if he wins and goes all the way to POTUS...
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