Posted on 01/09/2012 11:15:29 AM PST by Jim Robinson
Edited on 01/10/2012 3:33:58 AM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]
If you are looking for a conservative alternative to Romney and had to choose today between Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry or Rick Santorum, which one would you choose?
Final results of the Free Republic 1/9/2012 non-Romney Conservative Straw Poll (see post 548)
| Newt | 225 | 59.7% |
| Perry | 77 | 20.4% |
| Santorum | 75 | 19.9% |
Today? Rick Perry. Ask again after SC.
He may have cost me money (w/his budget cuts), but I can trust him. Ten years of being around the GWB/Kay Bailey Hutchinson elites has only made him more determined to be different than them.
As governor, he’s proven he’ll listen and stand down if he’s wrong. But if he’s right? If it’s “the right thing to do,” especially concerning the 2nd and 10th Amendments?
To use a junkyard dog metaphor, he’ll find his target, go for the jugular, and will NOT be enticed away the first time someone waves a juicy red steak under his nose. The very thought of Barry-Boy being the one who is his target sends a chill up my leg. :)
Newt, without any question.
Rick Santorum
“For giving me His grace everyday, for loving me, warts and all, I offer a public thanks to God.” Santorum, Iowa Caucuses
“We will work together to get America to work.” Santorum, Iowa Caucuses
If Perry gets his act together, Perry. Baring that I will have to hope that Santorum keeps his promise to cut $5T in five years and pull the lever for him. Not Speaker Moonbeam.
Perry
Newt
(Still don’t trust Santorium; not sure why.)
Rick Perry
So she wouldn't have to watch her fellow conservatives sit around at a keyboard every day and rip her to shreds.
Perry a close second.
Santorum a distant third, barely ahead of Huntsman.
Each one of these “alteratives” are more conservative than Romney, even on a bad day...
What seems to be slipping through the cracks here is the distraction that this one national race is doing to our effort to take back the Senate this next election...
While we are consentrating on beating Romney, which seems to be the number one choice that the liberal media and the administration (and the Republican Party leadeship) wants to fight when the election comes around, we will forget that the Senate needs to be in our hands as well, and we can ill afford to lose that effort in the mean time...
Romney will beat himself in the later primaries, just like he did last time, and we’ll have to hope whomever is left standing will have the support of conservatives that had better damn well show up to vote, or I personally don’t want to hear any griping...
I hope to be proven wrong...I just don’t think enough of us will show up in November...
Romney is liberal, plain and simple, he is a shell of a failed politician trying to stay relevant in a time where it is not about just one person, it is about a nation that is failing more and more everyday, and a feckless elected class of elitists that believe they are above reproach...
Enough is enough...
Newt. He’ll git er done.
The most serious issue is the economic state of the union...all the rest, I'm afraid, is BS. Since 1980 there has not been one three month period in which GDP expanded faster than new debt did, except during the brief collapse itself. If you understand grade-school math and the law of exponents, you know we are heading towards a cliff. The whole system of progressive ideals is unsustainable. We need someone smart enough, and brave enough, to cut government in half. And even that may not be enough to save us.
Newt is the only one [of the three] who understands the intricacies of Congress and how to reduce its spending; he has already proven he can do it, because he already did it once.
We need Newt again; we need him badly.
If i had to choose today, it would be Santorum.
Reason: I would not be worried that he would do something we hate while president.
1st choice - None of the Above
2nd choice - Perry with Newt as VP
3rd Choice - Santorum with Newt as VP
4th Choice - Newt with Santorum as VP
5th Choice - Newt with Perry as VP
6th Choice - ABR (Anyone But Romney)
7th Choice - For General Election Only - ABO (Anyone But Obama)
Anyone got an updated, accurate tally?
Funny you should mention “gun to your head”...
IIRC, Newt went along with the AWB back in the day...
Thats one of the biggest hits I have on the Newt...
But, I’m not a one issue kinda guy, this is just one of those things that kinda sticks out there for most folks to forget, or ignore...
Perry has the resources and is conservative enough for me plus he can ride those Texas job numbers a long way. That’s my top choice.
Santorum I am right there with on most issues but I think he lacks the resources to give Romney a fight, much less Obama.
Gingrich scares me. The pre-1998 Newt would be worth getting behind but the post-1998 Newt has been too off-putting and prone to monumental gaffes like the Pelosi ad and the Scozzafava endorsement. I feel the media will be able to destroy him if he’s the nominee.
Let me ad too that many claim they just want a candidate who can bury Obama in the debates. I think most voters either tune out the debates or already have their minds made up. I watched J.D. Hayworth totally destroy John McCain in debates the last election cycle and it didn’t make a dent in the polls. We Republicans would love to debate policy but policy doesn’t win elections anymore. In this American Idol culture, the one who wins is the one who most looks like who the public wants to see in the role of president. Newt doesn’t fit the profile nearly as well as the more handsome and statured Perry and Santorum.
Bottom line, though, I’ll support any of them against Romney or Obama but, if you asked me who matches up best, I have to go with Perry.
But I could easily vote for the other two. Sadly, when the primary gets to Texas I fear only Rino Romney will be on the ballot.
So you’re a big government guy!
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