That would be helpful.
Look, there are plenty posts in favor of Rick Santorum and you may opt and sit on the sidelines and pout if you don’t get your, but that’s not representative of Gingrich supporters.
Actually, I've been doing exactly the opposite - demonstrating time and time and time again WHY Santorum is a terrible candidate, with things like facts.
I’m for Santorum because he has character that can be relied upon. In every state Gingrich has to give away the 1/6-1/4 of the population that is looking for a President with strong moral character matters.
I wish Santorum supporters could figure out that character means more than *just* not being divorced.
Santorum helped to build the modern welfare state by his voting record. That is immoral.
Santorum helped to launch Sonya Sotomayor's judicial career with his vote for her. That is immoral.
Santorum voted against reforming food stamps and other welfare programs that destabilise the nuclear family. That is immoral.
Santorum voted against opportunities to lower taxes and let workers keep more of what they earned through their own sweat. That is immoral.
Santorum voted against removing the tax code's marriage penalty, thus voting to continue to penalise people for getting married. That is immoral.
Yet, we have these sanctimonious ninnies who run around supporting Santorum because "he has a good marriage," while attacking the one guy who actually has conservative credentials in fixing the aforementioned problems because "he has a bad marital history."
For the past twelve years, Newt's been as happily and faithfully married as Rick Santorum has been. Newt has the added advantage of not having worked to big up the welfare state on the basis of phony "Christian compassion" arguments.
I also think Santorum has the courage to take on tough issues such as willingness to begin reforming entitlements NOW rather than waiting ten years like other candidates.
Ridiculous. Santorum himself is a part of the reason why we even have these big government entitlement problems in the first place.
I’ve commented on Newt’s character before and just don’t want to get banned, so I can’t debate the full extent of Newt’s character, so I’m going to let that pass, as I’m hamstrung by Free Republic’s rules from discussing the character of Newt Gingrich openly and freely.
Let it suffice to say that your arguments haven’t worked. In Mississippi, 20% of voters said that a candidate having strong moral character was the most important factor and they voted 65-8% or 13-1.6% And that percent is consistent in every primary and you guys can argue about it all you want but Newt is handicapped from winning those voters.
You’re cherry picking vote to form a narrative that’s simply not true. During 12 years in the Senate, Santorum received 7 grades of A from the National Taxpayers Union during 12 years in the Senate along with 3 B+ and 2Bs, he’s received strong ratings from the American Conservative Union and Citizens Against Government Waste.
Newt’s speakership was a wasted opportunity. After the government shutdown, he timidly gave in to demand after demand from President Clinton, broke spending caps, and counted on the Lewinsky scandal to deliver Republican gains. He was forced out by conservatives after four years because he could not have been re-elected Speaker. There was a conservative rebellion against him in 1997. Gingrich is a great revolutionary, but lousy at actually implementing anything.
This is from Stephen Luftschein of the gingrich campaign. I know Stephen a little, and he is a good guy. what he writes about here is basically Romney in the coming weeks. I think he may be onto something because I saw an article today that romney has started laying of staff...
anyway... may it be a balm to those who need it...
Dear Newt Volunteers,
Let me first give you some straight facts about today/tonight and Alabama and Mississippi. Newt was shooting for wins, so clearly, it is disappointing, but in terms of all important delegates, the difference between first by a couple of points and second by a couple of points is very small indeed (as of this writing the exact numbers are still not in).
Romney finished third in both states in what was a very good night for Santorum.
But here is what is being missed. Paul Begala hinted at it tonight on CNN. Many of you have heard me on our statewide calls and in private conversations discussing why Romney comes across the way he does, why he stutters, and seems to be constantly scanning the audience to gauge the crowd reaction before moving to his next point.
It is because of his training as an investor. It is the same reason why an investor is not qualified to be President, as opposed to a businessman/entrepreneur. Investors gauge markets. They judge situations and adjust on the fly to find the best investment. This is why Romney appears to have no central idea, because he is gauging the “market” of his particular audience. In front of a crowd, testing his “Investment” to see if the crowd is buying the product.
An entrepreneur, or great political candidate, is driven by an idea. He/She has a goal, and will move toward that goal despite any obstacles placed in their way.
Well, it is not surprising that much of Romney’s “insider” support comes from individuals and businesses with similar backgrounds and ideas. This is not to denigrate investment, but a simple analysis of a thought process.
It is why we see so many of the same large donors on both sides of the aisle. Investors hedge their bets. Entrepreneurs/ Idea people do not. They go all in. They see an end result and move inexorably toward it.
What happened tonight is critical to this mindset.
What will begin to happen is that support will begin to flea Romney. His “investors” have to now begin to hedge their bets. They are right now gauging the market, i.e. GOP voters, and realizing that they may need a better investment.
Remember, most of his campaign has been built on the “inevitability” factor. That factor is now gone. It has been leaking air for some time, but tonight that bubble was fully burst. And when you build your campaign not on ideas, but on an “electability factor” and the voters deny you that factor, what is left?
More importantly, what is left for that “insider” or “establishment” support that are not the professional GOP class? They begin to look elsewhere. They need to maximize their investments. It is why Romney’s finances are beginning to become tighter and he is struggling to continue to raise the kind of money he has for the last few years.
On a practical level, what this means is that for Romney, the “easy pickings” are gone. He is losing his ability to grossly outspend Newt and the other candidates to the level that he did in Florida, for example. More importantly, he will begin to lose voting support.
As usual, the media will be slow to pick up on this. But look for, in the days and weeks ahead, Romney’s national numbers, and then his individual state numbers, to start taking their first real hit. And how can you tell Romney is becoming increasingly desperate and realizes this himself? One only has to look at his comments today about Santorum being at the desperate end of his campaign.
This is where Newt gets it right. As I mentioned above, it is the difference between an entrepreneur/idea man, and an investor. Romney invested in the idea of being President but has never been driven with a dream of what the country SHOULD look like, or COULD look like under his administration. (Reagan drove to the nomination despite many state losses because he never lost sight of that goal, the BIG idea.)
Newt, on the other hand, has spent his entire career doing JUST that. Looking ahead 2 DECADES and imagining a Republican majority in the House, for example. He did it before.
Getting back to the practical level, as Romney bleeds support, are those voters likely to coalesce around Santorum, a candidate who manages to frequently alienate exactly those who might support him? Or to Newt, who keeps presenting the big ideas, and even more, from his position as candidate, is ALREADY driving the national conversation? I think you know my answer to that question.
I admit, I was down earlier this evening. But after looking at things carefully, I feel much better.
And what was it that Paul Begala said tonight on CNN? “...It is time for Mitt Romney to get out of the race.” It was not much earlier than this that he dropped out 4 years ago. It was just after super Tuesday when front runner John McCain already had more than 700 delegates (an important # as Romney has no where near that now)
There are alot of states yet to go, N.C., W. Virginia.....Louisiana, Texas...and many more ...A Commander never leaves the field....Here’s looking forward to a Newt Presidency !
Stephen
Newt 2012
I don’t know if it will help make the case, but I think Jedi is right here. You’re still arguing about whether it should be Newt or Santorum, but that fight is over. At this point, even if all of Newt’s people joined Santorum, Santorum is done, as is Newt, at least in the Primary voting. I really don’t understand how Romney’s “organization” (Whatever the hell that means) could beat real Conservatives in the Republican Primary, but so far, it is on course to if we don’t adapt to the current circumstances.
At this point, both Rick’s people and Newts need to realize Romney will win outright if nothing changes.
We have one option, and it isn’t Newt or Rick. It is to vote however we have to in order to deny Romney 1140. Newt’s campaign said this already here:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2858883/posts?page=51
“Our goal first is to keep Romney well below 1,000,” Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said an hour before Gingrich addressed a small crowd of disappointed supporters gathered at the Wynfrey Hotel. “It doesn’t have to be 1,000, or 1,050 — it has to be below 1,100.” If Gingrich succeeds, Hammond continued, “This will be the first time in our party in modern politics that we’re going to go to the convention floor.”
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Newt is saying that his best chance is to see his supporters simply focus on keeping Romney below 1140. This presupposes Rick is out of contention, which he is.
If we can all focus on this one goal, we may be able to send this to the convention floor, and get a great Conservative to beat Obama (It could even be Newt, I don’t know how it will go).
But we all need to accept that our candidates lost, and that we all now have the same goal. Keep Romney below 50% in every winner take all contest, be it state or district.
Many haven’t seen this yet, and if they don’t see it soon, we will have Romney as our candidate. The last battle is over, now we have a new one. We need to start fighting it.