Could Romney be testing Gingrich as a possible VP candidate via Meet the Press and Vegas with Trump?

May 26, 2012 | Ralph Mitchell

[mitchell001]

Sunday, Newt Gingrich will be on Meet the Press as a Romney surrogate. Tuesday, Newt will be campaigning with Mitt Romney and Donald Trump in Las Vegas. Could Romney be testing the Newt for VP waters? Nobody, gets TV news ratings like Gingrich. Nobody can be a campaign pitbull like Gingrich. Newt can sing many songs on TV news. The other GOP VP candidates are milk toast next to Newt. Is it possible?

[TexasFreeper2009]

This would make me VERY happy!

[biggredd1]

newt should definitely be considered and this can only help.

[toldyou]

Sounds wonderful!

[Dagnabitt]

Interesting idea. Think it would fire up some part of the base, but the media would go 24/7 on Gingrich negative stories. OTOH Gingrich can be effective...when he stays on message.

[deener]

No.

[Sacajaweau]

Would be Bush’s Cheney. Excellent!!

[Longbow1969]

Nah, I don’t think so.

Newt loves being on TV getting ideas out. He WANTS this role of being a Romney surrogate, and he is going to do a great job at it. I think Romney has made a good choice in accepting Gingrich’s help.

The VP nominee is much more likely to be a safe pick like Rubio, Portman, etc. A real surprise might be someone like Haley, Martinez or Jindal.

[yldstrk]

God must be so disgusted. First, a devil worshipper as the Republican candidate, then an adulterer for VP. Sick

[cripplecreek]

Well it would effectively euthanize any career Newt plans on having in politics.

[Drango]

I like Newt’s ideology. A lot.

His personal life is a shambles.

[RitaOK]

The negatives are ancient history because of all the personal and spiritual changes Newt has made, leaving now a very tough case for negatives to make.

There are the small group of the sinless, of course, who like to role Newt’s past personal misfortunes around in their fingers, but that says much more about them than anything of his historic accomplishment for the Republican Party, for which he crawled through glass to turn around.

As a party we are indebted to Newt for his genius and his toughness, but some prefer to lay stripes forever over periphreal issues.

[rwilson99]

Moses, Paul & David had pretty shabby resumes too.

[Common Sense 101]

God must be so disgusted. First, a devil worshipper as the Republican candidate, then an adulterer for VP.

Uh huh.... Any thoughts about the current White House occupant and his brain-dead gaff machine of a VP?

[RoosterRedux]

At the very least, he should use Newt as an attack dog and give him an important post in his administration.

[skinkinthegrass]

Good move, by NEWT.
..bad news for O'Bozo/O'Biden

[RoosterRedux]

The other GOP VP candidates are milk toast next to Newt.

Down in the South, we have a dish called milk toast (often served with creamed tuna, etc).

But I think the word you were looking for was milquetoast?;-)

[Verginius Rufus]

Newt has a lot of good ideas but he would keep wandering off the reservation--and his past conduct would offer the other side a lot of material. Romney needs to pick a conservative who could plausibly be a future Presidential nominee.

In the later primaries, Santorum got many more votes than Gingrich, so if Romney's main concern was to reassure conservatives, Santorum would be a better bet. Not that I think there is much chance of Santorum being chosen...there are other candidates who can reassure conservatives plus win independents and help win their own state (Santorum doesn't put his own state firmly in the Republican column).

[classified]

Newt would be a great wing man! He certainly would be able to debate and counter any statements that Romney made a mess of to reporters, etc.

[Sooth2222]

"At the very least, he should use Newt as an attack dog and give him an important post in his administration."

Chris Christie, too -- but neither should be on the ticket.

[Beagle8U]

The short answer would be...No.

[TangoLimaSierra]

It would sure make the bitter pill of Romney go down easier at the voting booth.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

IMHO, either Sarah Palin (if she’s willing to do so again) or Jim DeMint would be the best choices for VP, if Mitt, really, wants to excite the conservative voters base, to the best of abilities.

[Bulwinkle]

no, but mitt should rent newt as attack dog for 3 months and pay off newt’s debt

[Charles Henrickson]

Nobody gets TV news ratings like Gingrich. Nobody can be a campaign pitbull like Gingrich.

On the other hand, nobody has such high negatives and unfavorables among the general public as Gingrich. Also, which swing states would Gingrich help deliver? Pennsylvania? I doubt it.

While I'm glad that Gingrich is on the team, I doubt that Romney will pick him for VP. I do think, though, that President Romney will do well to listen to Gingrich, whether he is a formal member of the Cabinet or WH staff or an informal adviser. Out of Gingrich's 15,000 ideas, several hundred of them could prove useful.

[Dagnabitt]

The media had no trouble running with Romney's minor, minor misadventure from high school. Personal salvation or not, Gingrich's far more recent and consequential professional and personal setbacks will be Page One until November. Not fair perhaps, but that's the way it is.

I love Gingrich when he's at the top of his game taking on Obama and Obama-lapdogs in the media. But I'm not that positive is worth the bucket of free ammo that putting him on the ticket would hand to the Rats.

[Lancey Howard]

I think Romney is testing Trump.

[Baynative]

I like Newt and would enjoy seeing him maintain a national presence. But, as VP to Romney, he would be similar to Joe Biden is that he would be out saying anything and everything that comes across his mind, some of which might be inconvenient to things currently on the table.

[shatcher]

Have you forgotten about David? An adulterer and a murderer. Yet when David repented, he allowed David and Bathsheba to be in the lineage of Jesus.

[Qwackertoo]

Be still my heart, I’m praying this comes true.

[doc11355]

We have a Word of the Day Winner!

Milquetoast

A milquetoast is a weak, ineffectual or bland person. The word is derived from the character Caspar Milquetoast from the 1924 comic strip The Timid Soul.

[Verginius Rufus]

Alaska and South Carolina should be among the safest Republican states in 2012. The media would just pick up where they left off with Sarah, and since 2008 they could add the fact that she resigned before her term as governor was up.

What about John Kasich of Ohio?

[Charles Henrickson]

I think Romney is testing Trump.

No way. There is no possible way that Romney would pick Trump for VP. That would be an extremely stupid move. Trump would alienate and disgust so many people that Romney needs, it would not be funny. I don't think I could hold my nose tightly enough to pull the lever if Trump were on the ticket.

[dennisw]

I like Newt but highly doubtful (in my opinion)

[dennisw]

no, but mitt should rent Newt as attack dog for 3 months and pay off newt’s debt

Then appoint him head of the EPA or Department of Energy.....the D-Craps would howl

[huldah1776]

Finally smiled today thinking about a VP debate between Biden and Newt.

Palin’s debate with Biden was pretty good.

[rod1]

Biden’s only hope in a debate vs. Newt would be outright plagerism.

Oh wait, that is about the only thing where Slow Joe is a proven expert.

[Charles Henrickson]

I agree. I don't think Palin would be the best choice, for the reasons you cited.

From what I've seen of Kasich (which admittedly is limited), I am impressed. He seems to be a solid conservative, a competent governor, and he presents himself well on television. And Ohio is one of the most important swing states to win.

[9YearLurker]

Not a chance.

Romney would never take on his baggage and his propensity for speaking too bluntly.

About the only things that he in turn would reinforce about Romney is that they are white, male, senior-citizen technocrats with expensive tastes.

[RoosterRedux]

I can't believe it. It took 64 years before I finally won something!;-)

"Tell him what he gets, Don Pardo!"

[Verginius Rufus]

Biden and plagiarism? Where have I heard that before?

[9YearLurker]

Exactly, Gingrich and Christie types both have their constituencies that they can speak to persuasively, but either would be an anchor on an already marginal ticket.

[personalaccts]

Allen West if he’s smart

[rawcatslyentist]

But he's not as well know of a devil whorshiper as B Wacky..

/ less evil fraudulent logic

[Signalman]

Newt would be good. The positive? Best debater in the business. The negative? His personal life could be used against him during the campaign. Maybe.

Outside of Marco Rubio, Jim DeMint would be my next choice. A solid conservative.

[Java4Jay]

Finally, some exciting news!

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Would enough conservative voters accept John Kasich as VP, and would Ohio be more than willing to let go their present governor, so that he would become Mitt’s VP?

[Charles Henrickson]

Allen West if he’s smart

I think the freshman West (currently running in a different district) needs to get a little better established in Congress first. If Romney were to pick anyone from the House, I would think it would be Ryan.

[nathanbedford]

As one of the very earliest supporters of Newt Gingrich on these threads my heart beats faster at the idea Newt on the ticket but my head tells me no.

The Vice Presidency is a constitutional office quite independent legally of the president who has no power to fire him. The power of the Vice President, apart from his constitutional power to break a tie in the Senate, comes from the expectation that he might be President. This can arise because the Vice President succeeds the President through death or resignation or by way of election in his own right.

Therefore there is no way apart from moral persuasion that a strong personality in the office of Vice President can be kept from going off the reservation if that is his bent. Gingrich, if nothing else, is a strong personality.

Gingrich is too old to run for President after eight years and so the position should go to a younger man like a Marco Rubio. We as conservatives are fortunate to be confronted with an opportunity gifted to us by Obama who has overreached because of his own narcissism. We are, however, challenged by a demographic drift which threatens to engulf conservatism and wash it into the backwaters of history.

In other words, if we lose this election we may never get another chance because demographics will have sealed the fate of conservatism.

The Hispanic vote is becoming more crucial every year and the headlines this week tell us that more babies of color are born than Caucasian babies which is ominous because mothers of color let their babies grow up to be Democrats. We need a good 12 to 16 years of Republican rule (which I can only pray equates to conservative rule) to shape the culture of the country so that we can expect Hispanic babies as well as Asian babies to vote conservative. We cannot afford to give the country back to the Marxists and hope to prevail against the demographic tsunami about to overwhelm us.

The upside of the Gingrich appointment is that he could develop a relationship with Romney akin to the relationship between Cheney and Bush in which the President entrusted Cheney with vast powers and responsibilities for the security of the homeland. Cheney did a magnificent job. He offered advice on all matters domestic as well and the country was the richer for it. Gingrich could fulfill such a role. But he does not have to be a Vice President to do so.

Gingrich can effectively campaign for Romney even though he would not be on the ticket because of the force of Gingrich's personality. It were felt that he needed to be given a sanctioned role to play, Gingrich could be bruited as the administration's point man on energy, for example. Finally, Gingrich brings no state into play. Georgia is already in the bag and he does not have any known coattails in Virginia where he currently lives. Gingrich might have broad appeal nationally but it is not clear that his appeal exceeds his liabilities. I am sure Romney's internal polls inform him well on that subject.

It is my feeling that this election will break later for Romney in a big way but a prudent course is to campaign as though the election will be decided in Ohio. Romney must carry Virginia as well. Accordingly, Romney needs to nail down Ohio and Virginia and that suggests Portman and McConnell. It is even conceivable that Romney's internal polls tell him that Santorum could deliver Pennsylvania, although I am skeptical even as I am willing to be educated.

I am of the view that Marco Rubio offers the most upside, virtually guaranteeing Florida-a must win state-and hopefully drawing well in the Southwest among Hispanics even though he is Cuban and not Mexican. There is a very clear path to victory for Romney if he can tie up Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and perhaps even New Mexico. Rubio would also draw in many places along the East Coast with growing Hispanic minorities such as, believe it or not, New Jersey.

A final word about Newt Gingrich. I have posted long (no surprise to anyone there) and hard that it is not enough just to win the next election, it is vital that the new administration recognize that the Republic must be pulled back from the brink of economic and political destruction.

Short-term, the economic threat is obvious with the whole world moving toward recession. Our debt is overwhelming and the debt clock is ticking ominously. If we do not deal with the debt soon we will be overwhelmed and representative democracy will be under the gravest threat.

Longer-term, we have a cultural malaise in this country cresting in a demographic wave which is swelling our economic and political malaise even as it affects the whole culture. We cannot educate our kids who cannot compete with well-educated, highly motivated Asian kids. We are loaded with debt. At least 50% of the country is ignorant and self indulgent.

We are engaged in a world wide generational, existential war with aggressive Islam which is quite prepared to use weapons of mass destruction or indulge in terror, or both. Neo-communism is linking up with Islam to do us great mischief. Europe is threatened with the destruction of its currency if not its political structure. China is slipping into recession caused by the world's largest real estate bubble. There is no glimmer of hope anywhere on the economic horizon but only storm clouds, the storm clouds of a perfect storm.

These are the concerns that impelled me early on to call for the election of Newt Gingrich despite his baggage. If Romney has the humility to use his undoubted intelligence, he will find a role for Gingrich. If he is what so many of us fear, a Rino, he will either marginalize Gingrich or seek to use him as a beard to disguise Romney's own liberalism but not really collaborate with him.

We need someone like Gingrich to move the country toward a great vision of renewal. I regret deeply that he was not nominated. I hope he is patriot enough to give Romney every assistance and I hope Romney is humble enough to accept it.

[chris37]

Yeah, boy, Newt could really help deliver Georgia for the GOP...

Not to mention all those other state he won.

Such a choice would be made of SHEER WIN.

/s