Posted on 03/15/2012 9:23:10 AM PDT by mitchell001
Well I respectfully disagree, Gingrich is not going to easily be the sit and not do much VP, and frankly he’s far smarter and politically astute than Santorum will ever be. I also respectfully disagree that Santorum’s pretty smart, he’s not a dullard, but he’s not a mental giant.
As to Cheney screwing things, Cheney made it clear from day 1 he wasn’t going to run for the Presidency, and while I would have loved to have seen him school Obama like he did Breck Girl, I don’t think it would have mattered much, the electorate clearly was disgusted with Bush, and any republican would have had a hard time winning in 08. Cheney may have motivated the Base more than McCain did, to actually show up on election day, but I don’t know, the electorate by and large was tired of the Bush administration. Mostly IMHO due them perpetually not working hard enough to get their message out and being perpetually painted by their opponents, but still that’s where things were.
As I mentioned before, Newt is still driving the debate, he is the only one in the contest who has put the White House on the defensive.. and I don’t see Newt playing second fiddle to Santorum without serious infighting occurring. Newts too smart, and got too many ideas, to be strangleheld to the limits of Santorums ability.
This is what was passed off as wisdom about Ronald Reagan too. You know, just because a guy is sweet and shuns sin, it does not make him less intelligent. Just the opposite, in fact.
My assessment of Santorum’s intellect has nothing to do with him being sweet or shunning sin, it has to do with watching him for over 12 years as my Senator and 6 years since. The guy’s not a dullard, but he is not remotely a mental giant, and certainly nowhere near the level of intellect that Ronald Reagan was, or Newt Gingrich is.
Excuse me, but a mental giant would not get divorced and remarried multiple times, cheating all the while, and then run for POTUS!
Assuming that intellect and fidelity are related is beyond foolish, to presume lack of fidelity equates to little intellect is just as rediculous.
You wish to argue that Newt is not the smartest guy in this race, that’s fine, or that Santorum is just as smart, that’s fine do, but do so with some real evidence, not ad hominem attack on Newt.
It is just plain D-U-M-B to expect to win the Presidency under those conditions! I was not trying to make it difficult for you to understand!
Sorry, but I don’t subscribe to your viewpoint, if you ejected every President in history who were known to have been unfaithful, you’d soon find a lot less of them, and then if you added the ones who were most likely unfaithful but never got caught, you’d have fewer still.
Your continued ad hominem attacks prove you are indeed unwilling to justify your stand on merit, but opinion. You believe Santorum is an intellectual equal to Newt? It certainly seems to be the argument you trying to presume, then please back it up. I am not suggesting you have to like Newt, or vote for him, but if you are going to try to make a claim that Santorum is the intellectual equivalent or better of Newt then please back it up.
Or would you prefer I take your approach, and just point out the obvious, a smart incumbent politician doesn’t lose his state by 18 points, would still to this day lose that same election if held by 8-10 points and expect to win the presidency. Now that doesn’t directly show or say anything about Santorums intellect, but it is certainly just as valid if you wish to simply play ad hominem as arguments for intellect.
1)When was the last time a divorced and remarried Catholic ran for President and won? We are not talking about mere dalliances while in office. We are talking about a sin against the Church. Sins, actually, as he is on his third wife.
...a smart incumbent politician doesn’t lose his state by 18 points, would still to this day lose that same election if held by 8-10 points and expect to win the presidency
2)You are absolutely right, Newt has Rick beat all hollow in this department! Newt Gingrich did not merely lose an election, he was ousted from office after a series of scandals in 1999. That man running for office is about as smart as Richard Nixon running for office. You think the liberal media will let anyone forget?
Carbine, you continue to make invalid arguments.
You believe Newt running for president is Dumb, you are welcome to that opinion. However, as I am sure you know, because someone does something someone else considers dumb, does not make that person dumb or stupid. Even the smartest folks alive do dumb things at times, period. And even what some others consider dumb at times turn out to be incredibly smart in retrospect. Galileo challenged the church, most of his contemporaries would have considered that incredibly dumb.. would this mean the man is dumb? or lacking intellect? I certainly hope you aren’t going to suggest it is.
You are arguing that you believe Newt running for president is DUMB, a fair enough opinion, however you lose any sort of merit for your argument when you attempt to extrapolate that because he is doing something you view to be dumb, that he is a dumb person.
Personally, I’ve watched Santorum do countless things over the past 18+ years that I consider incredibly dumb, but I don’t think the man is dumb, nor have I said he is, I have said he is not an intellectual giant, and I’ll gladly support that with fact and action, and it won’t be confusing what you would consider character flaws, as justifications for them.
I’ve watched Santorum choose Unions over job creation, I’ve seen him choose expanding government over liberty, I’ve watched him burn money like you wouldn’t believe, while trying to claim he’s a fiscal conservative.. There’s a 1/2 BILLION dollar tunnel that goes less than a 1/2 mile right by my house that Santorum made sure got funding before he was booted. I’ve watched Santorum say he’s for tough immigration, and seen his spanish re-election web site say the exact opposite. Etc Etc Etc. Santorum has countless character flaws I have seen on display perpetually for nearly 20 years, but those are not why I know he is not intellectually on par with Newt.
All you have to do is look at the current cycle, and ask yourself who’s actually driving the discussion? Obama? Nope, Romney? Nope, Santorum? Nope... Its Newt... Newt’s the one who brought up and made gas prices an issue, and put the white house completely on its heels.. He’s apparently an unelectable clod by your assumptions, yet the white house has gone to the extent of attacking back on this issue.. why? Because Newt’s driving the conversation, period. He’s offering thoughts and solutions, and contrasts, not with simple platitudes and sound bites, but truly thought out documented ideas... Not esoterics.
We aren’t going to see eye to eye on this, and you have offered no justification for your belief that Santorum is an intellectual equivalent to Newt, so at this point further discussion is pointless, you just don’t care for Newt which is fine, but are trying to prop up an argument you cannot with nothing but ad hominem, after ample opportunities for you to provide other evidence.
Newt has to be at the top IMO, I don’t see anyone being elected POTUS for the first time at the age of, what would he be in 8 years? 77? I agree with the above poster who says Rick is younger and can stand a bit of “saddle time”.
Works for me!
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