Posted on 01/02/2012 8:06:07 PM PST by Mariner
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) - Struggling to reverse a slide in his standing, Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich said Sunday he'd been "Romney-boated" in Iowa and suggested his GOP rival would buy the presidency if he could.
The sharp words against Mitt Romney, a multimillionaire many times over who is in strong contention to win Iowa, come two days before voters here weigh in on the Republican field. It was part of a stepped-up effort by Gingrich to contrast himself with Romney, and the candidate said he would adopt an even more aggressive strategy when the race moves to New Hampshire, the former Massachusetts governor's backyard.
Gingrich's nautical attack was a reference to a 2004 TV ad campaign by a group called the "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth" that bloodied Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. This year, Gingrich has faced an onslaught of negative TV advertisements by a group aligned with Romney.
Asked Sunday whether he felt that he had been "swiftboated," Gingrich replied, "I feel Romney-boated."
It was his second swipe of the day at the Republican frontrunner.
Speaking to reporters after attending morning Mass at the St. Ambrose Cathedral in Des Moines, Gingrich said the amount Romney will eventually spend on his various campaigns will rival the spending of billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has poured at least $261 million of his own money into his mayoral campaigns.
"Romney would buy the election if he could," Gingrich said.
A new Des Moines Register poll put Gingrich in fourth place, after leading the field a few weeks ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at siouxcityjournal.com ...
All I want to know is, what truths did Romney tell about Gingrich?
“Newt learned a valuable lesson, and is going to hit back hard now”
I hope so, but as someone said last night, it takes more money - lots of it - to go negative (to wit, Romney/Paul) and I’m concerned about Newt’s funding.
Good thing there are debates coming up again - NH and FNC - soon. Newt’s forte is debate and hopefully, they’ll give him a needed boost. He should also start going after Romney hard in those to show the public how weak Mittens is when actually challenged, and expose how incapable he’d be to go head to head with BHO and the hostile media.
I don’t understand the fickle sheeple. When interviewed, they say that attack ads/nasty campaigning turn them off. Yet all the studies/polls show that negative ads seem to work. So Newt needs (I guess) to start going on the offensive against Romney and Paul rather than defensive.
I was a Cain man, like u. The only one I donated to.
I don’t like any of the candidates, although I might vote for Santorum or I mat write-in Palin in the Tn Primary.
I despise what Freddie Newt has become.
Just because I think Freddie Newt is a phoney, does not make me a Romulus supporter. The fact is Freddie Newt Got sliced and diced in Iowa. You like Freddie Newt, I don’t.
Exposing his baggage in SC will have the same result as Iowa.
I'm not in support of them, necessarily. They could be in the Romney camp for all I know. I just think this is what caused the slide. Along with the negative ads from Romney.
Gingrich also appears defeated to me. He lacks the confident fighter personality he displayed in previous weeks. Plus he cried in an interview the other day. I think his feelings are hurt because his own comrades in D.C. are fighting against him and he knows its an uphill battle.
my .03
wow thank you, your message made my day!!
How dense do you have to be to not see that by not accepting the “Swift Boat” tag and altering it to “Romney Boating” was a complete rejection of the idea?
re: “dense”
Since you don’t seem able to read what I posted on the matter you will not grasp what the media does with this sort of thing.
Altering the “swift” in “swift-boated” is not a “complete rejection of the idea” — it is a perpetuation of the idea in a new guise.
Since the “Watergate” scandal many new controveries get suffixed with a “gate” to imply they are also scandalous.
Since the MEDIA (not you or I) defines “Swiftboating” as a scandalous smear job of a political candidate, accepting and perpetuating the “*****-boated” metaphor fits snugly into the media theme that it is similar, scandalous behavior being discussed.
Feel free to call me dense if that makes you feel good, but you don’t seem to understand analogies, metaphors, or MSM propaganda.
I read what you wrote and understood it. You’re blaming Gingrich for a question a reporter asked as if he had any control over that. He deflated the “Swift Boat” meme by saying “no” and re-naming it. I’m totally amazed that you and others can’t wrap your minds around that. It’s not complicated.
Oh, please..... OF COURSE I’m not blaming him for the question that was asked. That’s out of his control.
MSM reporters do this kind of stuff all the time. The question is how to respond to it without accepting the MSM “framing”....
If you’ve read the thread then you know that lots of FReepers share my view of this, so whatever one can say about the Gingrich reply it is very very far from “obvious” that he deflated or rejected the meme.
You think that merely attempting to re-name it to his own political advantage somehow changes everything.
What I and many others have stated on this thread is our belief that Newt (who I like and admire, overall) accepted the “Swiftboating” reference rather than knocking it down.
If you want an example of how well he can do the latter when he is so moved, there is a great video someone linked up-thread showing how well he chastised some MSM reporter in 2008 about a stupid question. He can do it better than anyone when he wants to. I think that’s what was needed in this case but he found it more convenient to whine about “Romney-boating” which just makes him look weak and whiny, imho.
The media will never let a Republican candidate benefit from that kind of complaint — just look at how badly Bob Dole fared in ‘96 when he was saying that Clinton should “stop lying about my record.” He was right, of course, but the media just made him (Dole) look whiny.
Like I said I am amazed at how many FReepers are so gullible.
as “Goldie Lurks” posted at #43 above,
Newt is great at the MSM smack-down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkaKwJ9eOUU
He may not have wanted to get into anything about the “Swiftboating” meme in this way but he could have simply indicated that he didn’t accept the frame of the question. He is quite capable of spotting MSM b.s. much of the time.
sure go ahead and blame/disparage numerous FReepers if you feel better.....
I’d say “gullibility” has a lot more to do with kissing up to the MSM and accepting their terms of reference such as the “Swift-boating” meme and then thinking that anything will ever change......
I know one has to pick one’s battles. I’ve said that Newt had reasons not to get into any discussion of the “Swiftboating” reference. But he is perfectly capable of rejecting the question and then saying what he wants to say without pandering.
The MSM would have loved it if he had gone off on a rant about how the Swift Boat Vets were right given how successfully they have instilled the popular opinion that they lied. Newt’s not that dumb even when ambushed in a doorway on his way out.
He didn’t accept it. “No” is a word that many generations of people have understood as signifying rejection. If that has become too difficult to understand then it’s not a disparagement to point it out. It’s no wonder that the concept that they were trying to get him off track is light years beyond those who don’t know what “no” means.
??? huh?
I don’t know if you are relying on a different source but the article for this thread does not show Newt saying the word “no” and the reporter presents Newt as taking up the “*****boated” meme just as offered (it is the use of the Swiftboating-is-evil meme by a leading conservative that many of us have objected to).
He did not need to go into any “rant” against the term, he just didn’t have to use/adapt it as offered. Granted, anyone speaking off-the-cuff may not say what they most wish to have said, that’s human. But it was Newt’s own words and response which generated the “Romney-boated” headline and story.
If you have reason to believe that the article misrepresents Newt’s remarks then please explain that. But the comments of most here on this thread seem to be responding to exactly what was reported as the words and context for Newt’s remarks:
Newt Gingrich: ‘I feel Romney-boated’
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) - Struggling to reverse a slide in his standing, Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich said Sunday he’d been “Romney-boated” in Iowa and suggested his GOP rival would buy the presidency if he could.
....
Gingrich’s nautical attack was a reference to a 2004 TV ad campaign by a group called the “Swiftboat Veterans for Truth” that bloodied Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. This year, Gingrich has faced an onslaught of negative TV advertisements by a group aligned with Romney.
Asked Sunday whether he felt that he had been “swiftboated,” Gingrich replied, “I feel Romney-boated.”
I watched/listened to the video.
I don’t just swallow whatever propaganda is pushed by the media.
It matters NOT ONE BIT if Newt uttered the word "no" on a video that hardly anyone will ever see, ...
IOWs you are making excuses for getting sucked in by the MSM and putting the blame on Newt for not controlling the spin they might put on it later. You're a freakin' idiot.
I could not care less about your “kid gloves” -— your ignorance and venom have been obvious throughout this thread.
Silly phrases like “getting sucked in by the MSM” are an Orwellian inversion of what I’m talking about.
I am talking about intelligent conservative management of “messages” in the media, which Newt usually understands rather well.
Why you prove to be such a fanatical devotee of Newt that you cannot bear one bit of criticism of him is your psychological issue.
What I and many others discussed here are issues of interest to many conservatives who detest how our ideas and messages do get distorted by the media.
You have continually twisted and fabricated words for ME in ways that cause me to think you are not interested in a sincere and honest discussion.
What I am advocating is the very OPPOSITE of “getting sucked in by the MSM” -— one has to recognize and understand the kinds of “narratives” and “memes” being pushed by the MSM in order to AVOID headlines like “Newt Gingrish: ‘I feel Romney-boated’”....
I’m talking about how NOT to play the game the way the MSM tries to force us to play it, while you just make more excuses for Newt’s mis-step.
Anyway, I have seen from every one of your comments here that you have grave difficulties with reading comprehension and logic, since often you are not responding to me at all. You are creating silly straw-men which you proceed to knock down, but nothing you’ve said has touched my actual positions in this thread.
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