Gingrich opens up big leads in South Carolina and Florida [NBC/Marist poll - TEA PARTY POWER]

MSNBC ^ | Dec 11, 2012 | By NBC's Mark Murray

[Jim Robinson]

"In a new NBC/Marist poll, Newt Gingrich has surged into the lead in Iowa, but Mitt Romney's big lead in New Hampshire remains. NBC's Mike Viqueira and David Gregory report."

Newt Gingrich’s surge in the polls isn’t limited to just the early presidential-nominating contest of Iowa. According to new NBC News-Marist polls, the former House speaker has now opened up commanding leads in South Carolina and Florida -- two states that historically have played important roles in deciding the eventual Republican nominee.

Fueled by the support from conservatives and the Tea Party, Gingrich is ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by nearly 20 points in South Carolina. The winner of that state's primary has gone on to capture each GOP nomination since 1980.

And he leads Romney by double digits in Florida, whose primary ultimately ended up deciding the party’s pick in 2008.

“You can see why the Romney people are getting a little itchy,” said Lee Miringoff, the director of Marist College’s Institute for Public Opinion, referring to the Romney campaign’s recent attacks on Gingrich. Gingrich ahead “any way you slice it”

~~snip~~

Tea Party power

According to the two polls, Gingrich performs especially well among the most conservative primary voters.

Among Tea Party supporters -- who make up about half of all likely primary voters in South Carolina and Florida -- the former House speaker leads Romney by more than 30 percentage points in both states (51-20 percent in South Carolina and 57-22 percent in Florida).

Gingrich also enjoys huge leads among “conservative” and “very conservative” voters.

[caww]

Your information is wrong and outdated....Newt was found not guilty of those charges...and there were over 8 of them launched against him.....the number alone should have told people the rats were at it again.

So you need to get current....

...”Newt says that he told ‘em (Fannie and Freddy) that the housing market was a bubble that was about to burst.... He told them that they were making a mistake handing out loans to people who couldn’t afford them..... Newt says he told them what they were doing wrong and what they needed to fix it.... and he did get his consultancy fee for it.

If all that’s true it’s a shame they didn’t listen to him. Doesn’t matter what they paid him; it was good advice. Certainly better advice than what they’ve gotten from their own wildly overpaid executives. Certainly better advice than they’ve gotten from Obama..... The Fanny and Freddy stuff?... Newt has answered for the Fannie and Freddie stuff”. ....(Rush Limbaugh)

[La Enchiladita]

Santorum performs consistently well in the debates, and he was the most consistent conservative on that stage last night. Yet the Tea Party and evangelicals prefer to reinvent FreddiMac-supporting, global warming advocate, NY Times best-selling author (as he reminded everyone last night), Al Sharpton pal Newt Leroy MacPherson Gingrich into their preferred candidate, and he has polled as a sure loser to Obama.

One of Santorum’s best points last night was noting that Obama is the one talking about de-funding Social Security, not Republicans. And this is a fact, that the ‘little guy’ is getting screwed during this administration. I know; I am one. Also note that Santorum, Romney and Perry were the only ones who went after Obama, while the others bickered vs. one another.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Well I do come off as short sometimes - I am normally doing about five things at once and I type well over 100 wpm. Sorry if I offended you.

But I am not nearly as interested WHO people support as I am the WHY or WHY NOT. I am ABO but of course I do have my pecking order - and that pecking order has changed a lot since the beginning of the process. About mid October is when I started really considering Newt, after having written him off for good on more than one occasion.

Now some of the arguments on this board are childish and based on an ignorance of history or perhaps a denial of history. Or they are based only on a candidates negatives and do not factor in length of career or positive accomplishements. And they are often argued as false choices and with straw arguments.

I do have very little patience for such arguments. VERY little patience.

[caww]

correction “over ‘80’ charges filed against Newt”.

[C. Edmund Wright]

>> He played the Washington, DC insiders game and was trading on his past as Speaker of the House. >>

That must be why all the establishment types are pulling for him to win then. Oh wait, they are all AGAINST HIM. They have leveled the most withering attacks on him since the attacks on Sarah Palin - which were the most withering attacks on anyone since the last round of attacks on Newt.

Ruh Roh, you better try something else. That one bombed.

[ConservChristian]

"Tea Party Power my eye. Newts a Rino and NBC lies. Don’t believe it and not voting for him in the primary. I am Tea party and have not sold out my values to fake polls."

How many conservatives have actually accomplished a conservative agenda in Washington DC in the last 50 years? Name em! There are only 2 in my mind and one of them is Newt. Not sure how a "Rino" can get on that short list. Pretty sure the utopian conservatives around here would call Jesus Christ a RINO!

His clear stance on the Palestinian issue got the attention of the entire world instantly because he spoke truth to power. And he's only a primary candidate! Words mean things and that stance alone tells you he is no RINO. That is LEADERSHIP! In that one statement Newt Gingrich has provided more leadership to the entire world regarding the middle east than our entire government has over the last 3 years and beyond!

[Matchett-PI]

Whoo Hoo! bttt

[stillafreemind]

Accepted.

What happens when the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae people come out and report what Newt really said and it isn’t the same as Newt says? Ya know that’s one of the things that the MSM and Obama are gonna hit him with.

How are you 100% sure that about those meetings? Not picking a fight here..just going by past experiences of what the media has done.

[La Enchiladita]

Your supercilious dismissal of erlayman’s post doesn’t hide the fact that “you can’t handle the truth.”

[La Enchiladita]

You are well named. Stay that way. We would be a better country if more people thought for themselves AND respected different points of view.

[stillafreemind]

Thanks .. lol, it’s in the genes.

[Jim Robinson]

Nor do I. Government mandated healthcare a la HillaryCare (which Newt blocked) and ObamaCare (which Newt is sworn to repeal) is socialist/fascism. I’m with Reagan all the way.

And so is Reaganite Newt Gingrich:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtkSFGkjaXU&feature=related

[TBBT]

TIMID. The one word that said it all in last nights debate.

Transcript:

GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY: 22:08:29:00 And I'm president of the United States, I will exercise sobriety, care, stability. And make sure that in a setting like this, anything I say that can affect a place with-- with rockets going in, with people dying, I don't do anything that would harm that-- that process.

22:08:47:00 And therefore, before I made a statement of that nature, I'd get on the phone to my friend Bibi Netanyahu and say, "Would it help if I said this? What would you like me to do? Let's work together, because we're partners." I'm not a bomb thrower, rhetorically or literally.

DIANE SAWYER: 22:09:00:00 Under the rules, we need-- your response. (APPLAUSE)

SPEAKER NEWT GINGRICH: 22:09:05:00 I think sometimes it is helpful to have a president of the United States with the courage to tell the truth, just as was Ronald Reagan who went around his entire national security apparatus to call the Soviet Union an evil empire and who overruled his entire State Department in order to say, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Reagan believed the power of truth restated the world and reframed the world. I am a Reaganite, I'm proud to be a Reaganite. I will tell the truth, even if it's at the risk of causing some confusion sometimes with the timid.

That exchanged said it all when it comes to the differences in these two men.

Romney made it clear in that exchange that he's nothing but a weather vane. No core convictions. No backbone. He would require approval in polls and the U.N. before he could overcome his own indecisive paralysis. A guy that has to make "phone calls" before he can take a stand is not what we need.

The complete transcript of that exchange can be found here.

[La Enchiladita]

...their a dirty bunch no doubt and may yet come out swinging when BO hits the trail again.

Of course they are and of course they will. But during GOP primary season, Newt is their boy.... and he laps it up.

[Jim Robinson]

Well, unlike you, I’ve made my mind up firmly against Romney and Paul, that’s for sure.

[C. Edmund Wright]

>> Your supercilious dismissal of erlayman’s post doesn’t hide the fact that “you can’t handle the truth.” >>

No, it just means that I was bored with his arguments and busy on about three other forums as well.

It also means that to define Newts career by this one episode is just beneath any polite description - except to say that it shows a breath takingly shallow understanding and perspective.

I would also add that the Freddie work (he never worked for Fannie) is probably the biggest blight potentially on his resume and may cause some problems.

I can handle the truth, 100% of it. Its idiots who cherry pick bits and pieces that I would rather not waste my time with.

[La Enchiladita]

Same here. I come from Pennsylvania Dutch stock, via Iowa and Nebraska, and am nothing if (not?) sceptical.

[C. Edmund Wright]

>> Newt is their boy.... and he laps it up. >>

What is the address of the parallel universe you live on? And how long has that universe had internet?

[BuckeyeTexan]

You know what sparked my interest in Gingrich? A year or so ago he was on Greta’s show. She asked what his biggest mistake was as Speaker. He said he failed to teach the Republicans how to lead as the majority party. They’d been the minority party for so many years and had to play ball by the majority’s rules that when they became the majority themselves they didn’t know how to take control and be on offense so-to-speak. He intimated that the Republicans have been too accommodating and not used their power as the majority to implement conservative ideals.

And in my opinion, that is exactly why we are where we are today. We let the Democrats call the shots and get away with their underhanded tactics in every aspect of our lives. It has to stop. We need a conservative leader who will call them out and put an end to their corrupt dealings.

[PapaNew]

mandate for financial responsibility - which could be achieved by a bond or statement or by buying health insurance

My view - we don't need a "Nanny State" telling us we must buy insurance. Insurance is actually a rigged setup - the odds are not in your favor - that's why insurance companies pay actuaries big bucks to figure out the odds in their favor and where the price breaks are. The government tries to make insurance some kind of moral issue like they do with taxes.