Jan 21 2012
Newt’s Big Win In SC!
As I expected, Newt must have just walloped Romney in SC. Fox News called it before 1% of the vote was in and based on exit polls only. The exit polls must be so one sided to be amazing given the way the media is reacting. The talking heads are acting as if Romney’s candidacy is just about toast.
Update: CNN is now acting as if Romeny might lose FL. The talk across the dial is this was devastating loss for Roomney.
Update: Krauthammer notes that 2/3rds of the voters decided this week and went with Newt. Can’t wait to see the final tally. It really is becoming anyone but Romney and Obama.
Update: Exit Poll data here, and a big hat tip to Hot Air. Romney’s ‘concession’ speech is a real snorer….
He’s boring his own supporters in his own campaign room.
AJ this Southern State has a lot of Evangelicals, they voted for Newt. Just thinking.
Newt is a snake I can’t bring myself to vote for. I can’t believe a word he says on anything. He will tell anyone what he believes they want to hear in order to get elected. More importantly, Obama would probably beat him by 20 points because not a single Democrat is going to cross over to vote for him and he isn’t likely to attract any Independent voters either.
He’s a loser. He might win the Republican nomination, but if he does, then the Republicans have simply given Obama another 4 years in office.
The more I study the Republican party, the more it seems dominated by people who have an emotional attachment to a candidate and want that candidate nominated even if it means the party loses. If the Republicans lose the White House, then there is a very good possibility that we end up with four more years of only a Republican Senate and nothing else. The Republicans aren’t likely to take the Senate this cycle. They may gain seats but they aren’t going to take the majority. There just aren’t enough Democrats up in vulnerable seats.
So the best possible position is to compromise a bit, nominate the candidate who might not be your optimum choice but who COULD attract a lot of crossover Democrat votes and at least what you have in the White House is better than Obama.
Giving either Santorum or Gingrich the nomination is a 100% guarantee that Obama gets re-elected. He won’t even need to campaign, he’ll be able to phone it in.
And don’t get me wrong, Romney is NOT my ideal candidate for the office. But I believe he is the only one that can beat Obama.
Gingrich has a long history of saying one thing and doing another. Congressional conservatives kicked him out of office as Speaker. He’s fundamentally a liar. I can’t vote for him in the primary and he would make a worse President than Romney in my opinion.
I hate the PREVENT defense – it always fails! have to say that I agree with your take on things, Crosspatch. Still, if Romney can’t figure out how to handle this surge by Newt then he probably won’t figure out how to beat Obama. Standing back and not taking chances won’t work.
I still hope Romney can pull this out – but he has got to shake up his campaign, do something dramatic, swing for the fences. If he can’t figure out how to do that than he doesn’t deserve to win.
What worries me most about Newt is the conviction I have that as soon as he feels confident he is going to say something outrageous that destroys all of his support. That’s what he’s always done in the past.
At least Santorum beat Ron Paul – but that won’t be enough to get him the financing he needs to compete in Florida. This is probably now a race between Gingrich and Romney.
These men are difficult to be excited about. Mitt is a nice guy, Obama will wipe the floor with him. Newt’s advantage is that he is wiser about how government works then Obama and can get under Obama’s skin pretty easily. So we don’t trust Obama or Newt, and Mitt lost to McCain who lost to Obama. If we elect a Republican Congress they will keep Newt in line. Our only solution I think.
oh the whining and screeching and bashing just because your candidate is toast. I’ve been saying for 2 months Newt was going to win. The writing was on the wall. Repubs do not want a moderate, that’s what they nominated 4 years ago and we see how that worked out.
Again, it’s comical to hear CP and WWS talking about ‘honesty’ amonst politicians. There is no such thing people. You find the least offensive and go with him. The ‘better’ liar. You sure don’t think Obama is honest do you?
As said above, if Romney can’t beat Gingrich he sure can’t beat obama.
CP: “The more I study the Republican party, the more it seems dominated by people who have an emotional attachment to a candidate and want that candidate nominated even if it means the party loses.” give me a break. You think that’s not true of Dims also?
Which party ever nominated someone that the party didn’t want? That’s why McCain got nominated. isn’t it?
CP and WWS, two old time pols who believe we need the center crap. AJ was closer to 2012 reality with Cain. Today in SC Cain received more votes than Perry. The country has moved right with the tea party. The big 10 states will be huge this year. IA, WI, MI, OH, and maybe PA. NC should be Newt’s as well as VA.
Next month should be interesting if Romney cannot win FL. The GOP establishment will not be pleased with Newt and will look for another candidate. Daniels, Christie.
The Senate is already gone. ND, NE, MT, and WI. Many more pickup opportunities for GOP.
hold on, I can’t resist: Cain got more votes than the guy who officially dropped out of the race and endorsed someone else? HOORAY CAIN!!! WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT!!! lolol!!!
come on, admit it – you don’t trust Newt either. Or have you forgotten or recently he was holding Nancy Pelosi’s hand and promising legislation to end “global warming”?? He’s gonna promise you the moon (he’s good at that) and then he’s gonna sell you out. This isn’t about what he says, it’s about who he is.
If you trust him he’s gonna cut your throat. He does that.
I’m disappointed in Gingrich’s SC win, especially by such a large amount. However, this is a contest, and if you lost, like Romney did, you’ve got some reevaluation of your campaign to do.
However, if Newt is as full of it as I think he is, then his ego will burst with so much South Carolina affirmation in accepting his hubris and lack of decency. He sails through this one with the disrespect of many. I only hope Florida will analyze his candidacy there less by his theatrics and more by the content of his character.
jan and WWS: what planet do you live on? You honestly expect politicians to be honest and truthful and above board? They are interested in winning. They are only interested in the best interests of the USA if it is also in their best interests. Just because Gingrich sat on a sofa with Pelosi doesn’t mean anything except that he sees it as an opportunity to benefit himself. That’s what politics is.
WWS: “He’s gonna promise you the moon (he’s good at that) and then he’s gonna sell you out. This isn’t about what he says, it’s about who he is. ”
Are you really that naive? That’s what politicians do. Do you honestly believe there is a politician that doesn’t do exactly what you say?
You think Obama isn’t promising? you think Romney isn’t promising? geez………
I’m not supporting anyone but I think that Mitt and Newt and Rick can beat Obama. Not Ron.
I would just love to see a debate in Florida where all the Repubs spend their time focusing on what obammy is doing wrong and how what they want to do is better. That would be a winner.
We need a brawler to win against Zero, and the brawler won in SC.
Word is that a lot of those Newt voters were Democrats. South Carolina is an open primary which means anyone can vote in any party’s election. Since Obama is running unopposed, Democrats don’t need to vote in their own primary and cross over and vote for whomever they believe would be easiest to beat in November.
I believe that if everything went perfectly for Newt, he loses by 10 points against Obama. One slip and he does much worse.
Also, Newt got 242,498 votes. Last Presidential election, South Carolina cast 1,868,000 votes (roughly). Of those about a million were cast for McCain. So Newt got about 10% of the people who are likely to vote on election day to vote for him and about 20% of the Republicans.
What that says is that people in South Carolina aren’t all that keen on any of the candidates. 80% of Republicans stayed home.
a rather amusing rundown from another blog:
“Since he imploded in the polls in late December, the following are the most prominent events which have surrounded (Gingrich’s) campaign:
He failed to get on the ballot in his home state and compared the setback to Pearl Harbor.
He finished a distant fourth in Iowa, losing badly to Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.
He whined incessantly about television ads which had the audacity to reveal his record.
He finished fifth in New Hampshire, getting crushed by a guy nobody likes who would leave the race days later.
He engaged in attack on Mitt Romney, seemingly inspired by an Occupy Wall Street protester, focusing attention on a factually bankrupt “documentary” on his opponent’s Bain Capital career and raising unfounded questions about what might be in his tax returns.
He received “sort of” endorsements from two prominent Republicans with over 60 percent disapproval ratings, one who didn’t have the guts to run for president and the other who probably wishes now he didn’t.
He angrily attacked a debate moderator for asking a legitimate question that he knew, and probably hoped, was coming, and proceeded to essentially call his ex-wife a liar hours after saying he wouldn’t say anything bad about her (and, in an even more impressive display of wizardry, fooled people into thinking that the daughters he cited as defending him belonged to the ex-wife in question).
Obviously, anyone who can think so outside the box and turn such apparent lemons into sweet tasting lemonade is exactly the type of miracle worker we need to beat Barack Obama!!”
http://www.newtcantwin.com/wwwnewtcantwincom-endorses-newt-gingrich-president
After 8-years of Pres. George W. Bush and 3-years of Pres. Obama, what grass roots Conservative primary voters want more than anything else is someone who rhetorically fights in public for conservative positions.
Liar or not, Gingrich does that.
Romney doesn’t.
That won Gingrich S.C.
End of story.
I don’t understand the logic that some think strong rhetoric alone will be the key in defeating Obama. Again, people seem to be more taken by political theater, a candidate’s bombastic style, than other less ‘shiny’ qualities, such as steadiness of temperament, private sector business experience, the backing of people in your own party, a noteworthy personal life.
Also, in looking back over Gingrich’s life, there are frequent references to him of going for the brass ring before it was deserved. When he first started out teaching he wanted to become chairman of the department immediately, then he was eying the position of President of the college. In the meantime, his attention then wondered over into politics where he begin to spend a great deal of time, skipping teaching his classes. He has had a long term tendancy to ignore his less exciting responsibilites — financial obligations to his children, teaching classes — when something more stimulating came along that gave his stature elevation. I don’t find this quality appealing, along with many other traits he has shown.
When Gingrich was Speaker, Tom Campbell recently said that he was the one who started the explosion of ear marks. It was his way of bribing congress people into getting their support for what he wanted. Now, of course Newt is against ear marks.
Tom Colburn has bluntly said he wouldn’t support Gingrich, saying he wasn’t fit for the presidency — poor, erratic organizational and management skills .
Livinginston just said the other day the Newt was volatile.
And, this is the man you want to be seated in the Oval Office!!!
The battle for the 2012 elections are as much with the media wing of the DNC as they are with the individual candidates, probably more so!
Newt gets it, the Tea Party largely gets it.
A Candidate that unites “American Exceptionalism against a Saul Alinsky radical” and his Presstitute water carriers will raise all boats, bring out the base and disaffected independents and deliver the House Senate and Whitehouse.
The hand-ringers supporting the Big Wall Street Fat Cat, One Per-center don’t get that a moderate will never beat the media arm of the Democrat Party.
The plan is in place the army mobilizing to take to the streets this fall.
Armed with free cell phones the Occupy Wall Streeters await their orders from Obama and his media whores to mobilize, march, and destroy in order to continue the Socialization of America and hand over Americas wealth to the do nothing entitled whose purchase guarantees their votes forever.
Obama lost the entirety of the midwest and south with his stands against the Keystone Pipeline, his drilling moratoriums and immigration law lawsuits. Add in his AG suing over voter ID requirements.
Only Newt has the ability to frame the debate in such a way as to turn the people against the media and Obama. Him or Sarah, else we become a socialist nation with four more years and a couple of outrageous Supreme Court appointments.
http://ethics.house.gov/committee-report/matter-representative-newt-gingrich
“Well, after a 3.5 year probe, after Newt paid the $300,000 fine, the IRS announced on February 3, 1999, that it found NO IMPROPRIETIES IN THE TAX FILINGS of Gingrich and the sponsoring Progress and Freedom Foundation. The IRS said the principles taught in the course were not of use only in political campaigns. “The … course taught principles from American civilization that could be used by each American in everyday life whether the person is a welfare recipient, the head of a large corporation, or a politician.”
In other words, the ethics charges David Bonior filed against Newt were ALL bogus. Every single one of them. In the end, what was Newt’s “ethics problems”? One of the papers filed by his lawyers had an error and Newt didn’t catch it. That little oversight cost $300,000.
There were no ethics violations. NONE AT ALL. A stupid mistake on a single sheet of paper out of thousands that his LAWYER SUBMITTED and he failed to correct was the whole of his fine. The IRS found him not guilty of the charge.”
Newt balanced budgets, the progressive repubs didn’t like that and he was forced out after bringing them the majority, reforming welfare and balancing budgets.
Hastert and the Progressive Repunks promptly went on a spending spree bankrupting the country and losing the majority.
Anyone here remember that the Democrats ran against REPUBLICAN spending and job loss under Bush in addition to the war in Iraq? On all the Progressive Repunks were vulnerable as Romney will be on Massacare the model for Obamacare!