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-Election 2012
Romney Takes a Swing At Newt
2012-01-22
Mitt Romney
...whose real first name is actually, no kidding, Willard, was governor of Massachussetts and is currently the front-runner for president on the Publican ticket. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's foot is in an ideological bucket because of Romneycare, a state-level experiment that should have been a warning against Obamacare if anyone had been paying attention. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field...
, whose second-place finish in South Carolina's Republican primary on Saturday handed him his second defeat in three state contests, said the GOP could not take back the White House relying on a candidate who had waged a "frontal assault" on free enterprise -- a square shot at primary winner Newt Gingrich.

Romney, who was trailing Newt Gingrich on Saturday night, used his concession speech to strike back at Gingrich's attacks for Romney's tenure at Bain Capital and reluctance to release his tax returns, questioning whether such criticism disqualified Gingrich for the party nomination.

"Our party cannot be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business, and never run a state," Romney said. "We cannot defeat [Obama] with a candidate who has joined in that very assault on free enterprise."

If his rivals joined Democratic attacks, Romney said, "They're not going to be fit to be our nominee."

He added: "The Republican Party doesn't demonize prosperity; we celebrate success in our party."

The former Massachusetts governor also deployed his standard criticism of President B.O., saying the next primary state, Florida, had suffered under Obama's policies.

"We're now three contests into a long primary season," Romney said near the top of his concession speech. "We've still got a long way to go, and a lot of work to do. And tomorrow we're going to move onto Florida."
Posted by:Fred

#11  Put another way, I can respect someone more to the right who might support Santorum. I can't respect someone supporting Newt. It was the conservatives who threw him out of Congress.

Santorum is polling better than Newt against Obama. RCP average of -9 vs -11 for Newt. If a conservative doesn't like Romney, fine, support Santorum, in my opinion, but not Newt. That is a guaranteed losing bet.

Newt also has the worst negatives of any candidate in the field. He can't win, please don't push him. If you want to support a conservative, support Santorum.
Posted by: crosspatch   2012-01-22 23:49  

#10  I can understand a lot of the more conservative Republicans feeling Newt is closer to their own personal feelings. That's a valid position. But none of that does any good if you put a candidate up there who can't win.

Newt can't come too far right or he alienates Independents and center Democrats. The DNC does not want Romney as the nominee because if he is, there will be another wave of crossovers like there was for Reagan against Carter. Having Newt as the candidate pretty much ensures that won't happen because center Democrats *hate* Gingrich, or at least the ones who were politically aware during Clinton's administration do.

The far left Democrats will vote for Obama, if given a choice of Newt, the center Dems will, too, or they just stay home and don't vote at all. If offered a choice of Romney, many of those Dems jump ship. That's why Obama is polling ahead of Newt by 11 but ahead of Romney by only 2. The difference is independents and center Dems. Losing to Gingrich might actually improve his cred with those people, too.

Since Obama isn't running against anyone, look for Democrats to vote for Gingrich in droves in open primaries such as California.
Posted by: crosspatch   2012-01-22 23:23  

#9  None of that shift right stuff ever lasts. The wobbly ones talk conservative and then melt right back into mush and start creating new government programs, mandates and cabinet level revenue sponges.
Posted by: Super Hose   2012-01-22 23:22  

#8  the only good thing about Newt is that Romney has to shift right to stay with him. Get Romney to start pledging on right issues and we can work with that
Posted by: Frank G   2012-01-22 21:50  

#7  Newt Gingrich doesn't stand a snowball's chance in Rio in the general election. According to RCP's latest polling, Obama has him by 11 points. Not a single Democrat is going to cross over and vote for Newt and few Independents will either considering a large number if Independents are center Democrats. Because of what Gingrich did to Bill Clinton while he himself was doing the exact same thing, no center Dems are going to cast a vote for him except in open primaries in order to gain him the nomination so they can destroy him in the general.

Current Rasmussen polling had Gingrich up by 2 points. It looks like a lot of Democrats voted in the Republican primary (SC is an open primary state and there is no Democrat running against Obama so no need to vote in the Dem primary). Even looking at the numbers, it appears that 80% of SC Republicans stayed home and didn't even cast votes in the primary.

The LAST thing Republicans need is Newt Gingrich winning the nomination. It is a 100% absolute guaranteed loss if he does. Every vote for Newt in the primaries is a vote for Obama. Obama will absolutely crush Newt. Democrats WANT a center Republican they can vote for as an alternative to Obama, but they can't bring themselves to vote for Gingrich. They have an axe to grind and would be quite willing to suffer another four years of Obama to humiliate Gingrich.
Posted by: crosspatch   2012-01-22 21:13  

#6  including a possible three-way vee Santorum or Paul.

As long as they don't make a pr0n film out of it...
Posted by: badanov   2012-01-22 09:50  

#5  You know that no one arriving at the convention with the first draft votes isn't necessarily a bad thing. You'll be able to tell when the RINOs and country club Trunks start talking up how terrible it would be.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2012-01-22 08:21  

#4  with an assist by ABC and John King/CNN.
Posted by: Frank G   2012-01-22 08:19  

#3  FOX + CNN PERTS = Newt's win in South Carolina has thrown the GOP race wide open, including a possible three-way vee Santorum or Paul.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-01-22 02:29  

#2  
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2012-01-22 00:13  

#1  As long as it's not a slap fight.
Posted by: badanov   2012-01-22 00:10  

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