Here’s the deal. mitt romney has played so down and so dirty throughout this entire process that his campaign has literally destroyed its opponents into oblivion. Rick Perry stepped out on the wrong foot, but his ideas are fantasric and should not be ignored. No one else could withstand the withering lies and underhanded rumors and insinuations fed to the media by romney’s opposition research, so what have we left?
We have Gingrich who I think is going to go out as a weapon aimed squarely at taking romney out knowing it will take himself out as well. (And if it DOESN’T take him out, then HE is the man.)
Perry still has a warchest and can afford to try again. Santorum is a very principled man and will also stand for us AS A CONSERVATIVE.
So from my point of view, let them have their shot. Trashing any of them only helps romney.
If Rick Perry can’t break out in SC, he will fold. That is just the way it is. But I ain’t going to trash him regardless. I would hope that someone else picks up on some of his better ideas and builds on them if he can’t do it himself.
IF he stays low as he is right now in the polls without making a good showing in SC and keeps going anyway, THEN I might be tempted to see him as a spoiler. But right now, it is ron paul and mitt romney who scare the bejeezus out of me and anyone who can take either one or both of them out gets my vote because beating romney is beating obama. Period.
Anyone that spends taxpayer money like a drunken sailor is not a conservative, in my opinion.
Which counts Santorum out. (and Mittens, too - though, for more than just that reason alone)