Posted on 04/25/2012 6:17:07 PM PDT by svxdave
ANALYSIS/OPINION: You know you’re running a lousy presidential campaign when you get bitten by a penguin.
The Newt’s presidential campaign has got to be one of the worst ever run in American history.
Last May, when Newt was casually campaigning, as is his way, he found himself exhausted. He had, after all, been at it for weeks. So, he did what any pooped-out candidate would do: He split on a luxury cruise to the Greek Islands with Wife No. 3 (22 years his junior — he was already out of college when she was born).
Newt rose during the debates — he is, after all, a professional talker — but quickly fell again. By the end of March, he ended up “dramatically curtailing his campaign schedule, laying off about a third of his staff and dismissing his campaign manager” — again — the Associated Press reported.
And lest we forget, just before the South Carolina debate, his second wife said Newt offered her a choice of an open marriage or a divorce after he revealed to her he was having an affair with Callista.
But wait, there’s still more: By this month, Newt was so desperate to dig himself out of a $4 million hole, he resorted to renting out his presidential campaign’s donor list.
Insiders say Callista Gingrich required an entourage of at least two staffers — including one who dressed in an elephant costume to promote her children’s book — and a contracted security guard who followed her even on non-campaign trips.”
And when Newt disappears this time, it’ll be for good. And good riddance.
• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at jcurl@washingtontimes.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Considering his early no-hoper status and ongoing money woes, Newt overachieved in many ways.
If they want train wrecks, they need look no further than McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis.
No. He lacked cash. And people aren’t at the breaking point yet. We all aren’t freezers. Lots of idiots and moochers out there. People have an honest belief of freebies. We may never make it make.. he wasn’t the perfect candidate, but who is? Ie- that cp candidate aligns with me on almost every issue. But the bro has no dough.
I thought his speech after the South Carolina primary was excellent. He couldn’t continue — maybe it was partly money, partly old baggage, but no I would not say it was the worst.
I’m thinking Muskie 1972 and Johnson 1968 have to be worse.
Thompson 2008 is up there too.
Excuse the auto-correct on my phone. You get my gist.
But about this article, the author sounds like a petty, embittered POS reminiscent of Bill Maher.
No, it wasnt even the worst this year. He didnt have to quit before South Carolina, so I’d say he did better than the others.
John Glenn.
McCain's general election campaign in 08 for one.
The results speak for themselves. He was alright on the stump, but didn't have any ground game or plan of attack, but worst in history? The Worst campaign in history goes to Harold Stassen. He ran for 40+ years for the GOP nominee and never went anywhere.
He was just about the best darn spoiler you could have ever wished for. Ran a great spoiler campaign. He should be a charter member of the spoiler hall of fame.
Newt is a bright man but he carried baggage heavy enough to bring down a fleet of 747s. His candidacy was a non-starter from the beginning. Or as some said his was a campaign if it can be called that, was like a “Hindenberg ready to explode.” It was both quixotic and in a terminal state of disarray ending in a humiliating embarrassment punctuated by penguin bites, bounced checks in Utah, and a never ending on-again off-again mode. It would have been better if Newt took a role similar to Sarah Palin and influenced the election of conservatives with less baggage. He did however do lasting damage to Santorum who may very likely have dealt Romney a fatal blow had Romney been beaten in MI where he won with 3% points or in OH where Santorum came within 1% of beating Romney. No wonder that even the left-wing media called Santorum’s campaign “phenomenal” for its 11 state wins and over 3 million votes cast on a shoe-string budget.
This primary season is now over. Gingrich says he wants to make Obama a one-term president and will campaign for Romney. At the end of the day this is an epochal election. Anybody but Obama. I hope a Romney win will give Gingrich and Santorum key roles in enacting some radical reforms.
The worst campaign was Romney’s spending millions and millions to trash Gingrich and Santorum with lies and sending out liars and cowards to help the cause like Susan Molinari, Jim Talent, Ann Coulter and Fox News. Gingrich was a consultant and not a lobbyist for Fannie and Freddie. As for his ex wife, well, this writer has no clue how true her accusation was about the open marriage. I have more respect for Gingrich than I do those who called him crazy, erratic, and rewrote the history of his time as Speaker of the House. Lets not forget Beck who called him the enemy of God and the hysterical Brit Hume saying he had road rage. Charles Payne called him a crybaby and Ann Coulter called him crazy. Romneybots on Fox support the worst campaign in the history of time because it was the most vicious and dishonest. I do not intend to forget these low lifes.
Even at the end, they still kick in the nuts and destroy the Conservatives, to make sure they are dead and stay that way. This is why I am no longer a Republican. Because in the end, what do they really win? A big cell in hell.
Romney’s VP choice? Before you answer, don’t forget that, according to some FReepers, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, and Newt as well were stalking horses for Romney. Thanks svxdave.
This is a horribly vacuous and trumped-up hit-piece, virtually devoid of substance. His campaign was poorly run because his campaign manager quit last spring? Is that the same brilliant guy who devised Perry’s mega-losing-strategy attack on Romney’s gardener in one of the early debates?
Give me a break. This piece was written by a Romney butt-boy looking for a payoff.
Gingrich made some mistakes, primarily his unpreparedness for Romney’s vicious attacks in Florida, but this piece has nothing to do with the campaign at all.
One thing to keep in mind is that we cannot be sure that the four conservative Supreme Court justices and the moderate who often votes with them, Anthony Kennedy, cannot guarantee themselves or us that they will survive until 2017, and we can't let Obama be the person who picks their replacement. If the worst happens to one of the five, a replacement chosen by Romney might not be our ideal, but we could pressure Mitt not to pick someone obviously bad...whereas we can be sure the person Obama would pick will be awful.
Per some FReepers, the Chicago political mob had incriminating evidence on the Clintons - a tactical nuclear weapon.
This prevented them from using their vaunted private detective operation from going after Baraq’s obvious weak points, like the birth cert.
The answer is ‘no’. When the MSM wants Romney to win it and the GOP wants Romney to win it, Romney wins it. Especially since he’s had scads of money to spend as well. What a stupid article.
Fred Thompson, Richard Lugar, Ed Muskie, Howard Dean all ran worse campaigns than Newt did.
Romney will be remembered as the Bishop Backstabber
of this Century.
He threw two elections to the DNC for his
partner Soros. And the GOPe loves him for it.
That would be Santorum.
I believe you but after being on the national scene for two decades, eight of them in the WH, the Lewinsky scandal and all the rest, what could Team Obama possibly have that nobody else did? It would be like Swamp Thing against Man Thing...identical creatures but different publishers.
I’m no Newt supporter, but to say his campaign was the worst in history is to be ignorant of history. Despite the foibles the results show he hung in there awhile, and had an impact. From recent memory, I would nominate John Connally for worst campaign ever. The guy spent millions of dollars and all he got was one delegate.
Yes I love the Newster. The worst campaign was Fred Thompson. No doubt about that.
Newt has the BIG Brain. Conservatism flows from Newt like honey. Newt’s problem is with action. His words are hypnotic but his action leaves a bit to be desired.
Romney will win hands down if he finds a way to use that charisma.
Bob Dole. A good man, but he ran a lousy campaign.
Dole’s was as lame as his ED ads.
I’m scratching my head trying to figure out what was the other election he gave to the DNC. In 2008, he was considered Mr. Conservative. The same people who trash him now, were all for him then, plus his governorship of Massachusetts was before 2008. Who was the candidate he prevented from winning then. Not McCain, he won. Was it Huckebee, he was considered a big government guy. A GOP Dukakis with his pardons in Arkansas. Was it Guiliani, his stances on the social issues made Romney look like Gary Bauer. Was it Thompson, as a candidate he had negative charisma. He was 2008’s Rick Perry, you knew he was good but his performance was god awful. So who was the guy Romney kept from the nomination in 2008.
If I had posted here a year ago that Newt Gingrich was our best hope to defeat Obama, I'd have been laughed off this forum. Newt was not held in very high standing at all in these parts.
But then Sarah Palin decided not to run, Michelle Bachmann floundered, and RINO Mitt Romney surged to front-runner status. Suddenly Newt wasn't looking so bad anymore and we elevated him to "messiah" status here on FR.
We do tend to live in a bubble here at Free Republic. While Newt is acceptable to us (especially in contrast to Romney), he is simply abhorred by the rest of the nation. Had Newt been our nominee, we would have guaranteed an Obama re-election.
Take a look at the results last night. Gingrich consistently finished behind Ron Paul and just barely beat Santorum, who dropped out weeks earlier. In our most conservative state, Wyoming, Newt only garnered one half of one percent of the vote (a few weeks ago).
I just think it sucks that Sarah Palin never got into the race. She would have won this going away.
hell no. He outlasted Perry, Cain, Bachmann, Huntsman, and that guy from MN whose name I cannot remember. He did it with little money, and by excelling in debate and on the stump.
Perry qualifies as the worst campaign in this cycle. Huntman is a close second. Perry should have won the nomination and lined up the base support and money almost overnight. Huntsman was a total bust, despite the hype.
Fieger's the worst campaigner I've seen, although it's due to his comments before he was a candidate. I did get a laugh when he said he was going to, and I quote "kick John Engler's fat ass." I remember it well. It was Fiegertime.
Bob Dole?
But the day he started to attack Romney from the left was the day that little voice in the back of my head started to whisper "It's over".
That did it for me to. When Newt went all Occupy Wall Street that was end of him for me.
Fieger had the worst personality of any candidate bar none. He found out being an asshole was not the road to victory.
The McCain/Palin ticket was up ++4 to 10 pts
in some polls, days prior to Election 2008.
So rather than helping the GOP, Romney and
TeamROMNEY and the RNME (Republican National Media Establishment)
decided …to attack Gov. Palin to throw Election2008.
Romney, and the Van der Sloot RNME RINOs for Obama in 2008
The Palmetto Scoop reported: "One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was
the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
… aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.
"These staffers are now out trying to finish her off ….hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."
"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"
"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"
"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"
"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"
"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"
You sound all giddy and stuff.
It wasn’t Lehman Brothers going down the drain and the economy plunging into the abyss at the time.With our party the incumbent one. Or McCain’s reaction at the time, acting like a nut. I remember the time, you could feel the panic everywhere. Maybe you are right, it wasn’t a full panic economic crisis at the time that had an influence, it was a few interviews, which most voters never heard of, by a few Romney staffers that changed the election. When you consider the events of the fall of 2008, our ticket did not do that badly. I do know it was McCain’s top staffers who did the trashing in print and film.
Don’t care - I’d still vote for him compared to the various losers that ran...or is running now.
In this campaign contest, it was the money raised in the 2008 election cycle that made the best campaign. However, money does not always measure who is the best man. As for Romney, we got an adequate candidate to take out Zer0. We could have had a superman with Gingrich.
No, Rick Perry’s was the worst in history. He capped it off by endorsing Newt..and then Romney.
yep. Thompson sold out to the traitor-senator John Glenn, which lowered Fred to the moral level of "hug-your-captor" McCain.
Lot of sewage in the GOP sh*t-house.
You are right! A REALLY stupid article!
The GOP would never have a big thinker only traditional big gov.
Newt is right. SC is right. Its not following the train thats going over the cliff thats smart.
...and Perry!
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