Who the Hell Does Newt Think He Is?

Posted on | January 17, 2012 | 70 Comments

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.
Monday night in the spin room after the Fox News debate in Myrtle Beach, I had the opportunity to score a brief interview with Rick Santorum’s campaign manager Mike Biundo, which included this exchange:

RSM: A lot of people in the media are trying to play this up as Mitt versus Newt. They’re kind of low-rating your chances here.
BIUNDO: Well, they’ve been doing that all along, haven’t they? And we’re 2-and-0 versus Newt Gingrich right now. You know, you see what happened in Texas this weekend, and conservatives are starting to rally behind Rick’s campaign.

The fact that Santorum beat Gingrich in New Hampshire has been woefully underreported. As the Boston Globe pointed out, it appeared late on primary night and into the next morning that Gingrich had won fourth place. But when the final votes were tallied, Santorum took fourth by a margin of 138 votes, with 23,312 votes to Gingrich’s 23,174.

Meanwhile, as Byron York reported Monday, it is still quite possible that the final official count in Iowa will show that Santorum defeated Mitt Romney there, and Santorum is planning for a long campaign:

“This nomination is not going to be decided in two or three states, it’s going to be decided over a long primary process,” he said. “We’re optimistic that we can pull out a win here and stop this narrative that [Romney’s nomination] is inevitable.”

With that background, then, it is shocking to see what Newt said today during a campaign stop in Florence, S.C. :

A reporter asked the former House speaker if the former Pennsylvania senator should drop out of the race. “Well I would be delighted if he decided to endorse me,” Gingrich said, but added it was Santorum and Perry’s decision to make.
“So I am respectful that Rick has every right to run as long as he feels that’s what he should do, but from the stand point of the conservative movement, consolidating into a Gingrich candidacy would in fact virtually guarantee a victory on Saturday,” Gingrich said in Florence Tuesday. “And I’d be delighted if either Perry or Santorum wanted to do that.”

What the hell kind of talk is that, coming from a guy who placed fourth in Iowa (13%) and fifth in New Hampshire (9%), especially in regard to Santorum, who fought Romney to a standstill in Iowa?

Yesterday, Santorum was endorsed by Penny Nance of Conservative Women for America. Today, Santorum was endorsed by Richard Viguerie, a legendary figure in the conservative movement, and also endorsed by the chairman of the Berkeley County (S.C.) Republican Party.

Newt’s suggestion that Santorum should be “consolidating into a Gingrich candidacy” is preposterous and insulting, and enough to make me want to post this attack ad from Romney’s “super PAC,” just for spite:

Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, South Carolina

Comments

70 Responses to “Who the Hell Does Newt Think He Is?”

richard mcenroe
January 17th, 2012 @ 8:28 pm

This is the Newt Gingrich your daddies warned you against, kids. Signed, Daddy.
Multimedia Group
January 17th, 2012 @ 8:29 pm

This is totally in keeping with his character. The man is very confident in himself. To a fault usually.
Adjoran
January 17th, 2012 @ 8:42 pm

The conservatives already “consolidated behind a Gingrich candidacy” – back in 1998 when we booted his worthless butt out of the Speaker’s chair, having had quite enough of his unbearable Newtness.
Anonymous
January 17th, 2012 @ 8:43 pm

Nobody has a duty to vote against his or her conscience.

If you think Santorum is the best candidate, better than any of the others, by all means support him.

But why try to fool yourself into thinking he has a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Obama in November? He doesn’t, and of the remaining GOP candidates — including Perry, Roemer and any local “I’m actually an alien vampire” vanity candidates — he’s the one of whom that statement is most true.

The only way Rick Santorum will ever be POTUS is if he gets into the line of succession — cabinet or congress — and happens to be the only one out of town when a giant asteroid strikes DC.
smitty
January 17th, 2012 @ 8:44 pm

Haha! I see through your reverse psychology play, you big kidder.
Charles G Hill
January 17th, 2012 @ 8:57 pm

It is as I have always found: Charleston is lovely, but North Charleston’s hotels empty your wallet more slowly.
richard mcenroe
January 17th, 2012 @ 8:57 pm

Knappster, your scenario is WAY out of line, mister.

Wouldn’t have to be THAT big of an asteroid…
Anonymous
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:04 pm

Smitty,

No reverse psychology intended — see here.

I abhor the notion of yapping at people that they should sacrifice their principles any time someone comes to them with a candidate who “isn’t THAT much worse than yours, but can WIN.” It’s race-to-the-bottom stuff.

But I am also of the considered opinion that:

– Gingrich probably can’t beat Obama.
– Romney almost certainly can’t beat Obama.
– Santorum doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Obama.
– Perry and Paul can’t get the nomination to have a shot at beating Obama.

So, if you want to beat Obama, and that matters more than anything else, Gingrich is your best bad bet, mainly because he doesn’t go to pieces under pressure, and Romney already is.
Rose
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:10 pm

BECAUSE – Gingrich kicks ass in debates, will annihilate Obama, who will try every which way to avoid having to debate Newt, up to and maybe including “Uhhh, I think maybe I won’t run for a second term after all…. Hilllllllary…????”

Gingrich knows what makes Washington tic and how to make it work – and he will bulldoze Pelosi and Reid.

No one else can do it.
RSS Ronald Reagan
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:17 pm

Agreed. This was just…politically stupid.
ThePaganTemple
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:18 pm

I’ve been wondering what this 2-0 shit is about, and now I know. Do I really have to tell you how fucking dumb it is to crow about one candidate beating another by 134 points FOR FOURTH FUCKING PLACE!!
Anonymous
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:24 pm

Sarah Palin just said if she were in SC she would vote for Newt.
DAN
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:32 pm

RSM,

calm down.

Go watch the video of last night’s debate once again.

Gingrich is demonstrably the superior candidate. Santorum was left trying to pretend that the ONE guy who actually balanced the federal budget was somehow the one guy most likely to throw additional gasoline onto the conflagration.

Sorry it doesn’t add up.

There’s NO WAY the Republicans would have had a balanced budget during the Clinton years without Gingrich insisting on one. And that’s the honest to God, no shit assessment.

It’s time for Mr. Sweater Vest to go away………..

Let the race devolve into a conservative versus Romney, a conservative capable of electrifying crowds and bringing them to their feet.

And that’s not Santorum, is it?
Donn
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:32 pm

Sarah palin says she will vote for Newt. I am with her. Palin Gingrich 2012
DAN
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:34 pm

IF you’re serious about stopping Romney, and stopping a moderate from gaining the nomination, then you have no choice but to throw your support behind Gingrich in South Carolina.

RSM is about to help Romney by continuing to support approaches that disperse conservative opposition to Romney.

Romney must be stopped cold.

It must occur in South Carolina.

Gingrich is best able to accomplish that.

ERGO Gingrich must receive the support of all conservatives and Tea party types in SC.
DAN
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:36 pm

But without that confidence as you term it, would he have electrified the crowd as he did last night.

Gingrich has PASSION.

That passion can be contagious, even for those determined to thwart him, such as Lowry and Hillyer. But Romney is incapable of electrifying anybody, including probably his own family members…….

Santorum does not have the political skills or the passion that Gingrich does.
DAN
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:42 pm

If it was as you say “Conservatives” that booted him, —————— then tell me where were the conservative policies implemented after his removal.

What conservative polices did Gingrich oppose that those supposed conservatives were determined to implement by ousting him.

It wasn’t “conservatives” who insisted on his removal, but go-along-to- get-along Republicans who wanted to enjoy an unruffled majority status.

Republicans would never have challenged Clinton, nor sought impeachment.

I hardly know where to begin to rectify your unawareness of the context and the political situation at the time that Gingrich was removed.

But know this, that meme you’re repeating was contrived by those opposed to the Tea Party, opposed to the Contract with America, opposed to a balanced budget and opposed to Reaganism before all of that.

Repeating these falsehoods and smears against Gingrich, {and these smears have been laid out by JC Watts and Florida Congressman Bill McCullough} advances only the interests of Romney and Meg Whittman types.
DAN
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:45 pm

Not a “duty.”

But nonetheless prudence, which is as much a Cardinal Virtue as the other three, strongly speaks to us at this moment.

And prudence tells us that Santorum is not a national candidate, and he doesn’t have the national credibility as former Speaker Gingrich, and he doesn’t have the ability to articulate conservative policies and approaches, and doesn’t have anywhere near the ability to galvanize crowds.

Prudence suggests we steer well clear of Romney.
DAN
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:48 pm

I complete disagree with you that Gingrich would lose to Obama.

I think Gingrich who is fond of using 80/20, 60/40 splits, would blow out Obama.

ONLY Gingrich goes after Obama in an electrifying way.

Nobody else does.

Just watch the video from last night.

Nobody in our party is at his level.

And that’s just how it is.
Anonymous
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:49 pm

Video of Sarah Palin on Hannity, says if she were in SC she would vote for Newt…
DAN
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:49 pm

By the way, I obviously misread that comment of KNAPPSTER.

Sorry about that Knappster; I’m momentarily multi-tasking, though that’s hardly an excuse.
DAN
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:52 pm

The other thing is what is the value of winning New Hampshire when that primary vote is not exclusively Republican or conservative.

New Hampshire awarded a good chunk of support for Paul and Huntsman?

So why should we listen to them?
DAN
January 17th, 2012 @ 9:53 pm

I agree with you.

Obama won’t be able to play his games debating Gingrich.

What Obama will try to do is limit the number of debates, but that again would be a victory for it would expose the intellectual pretensions of the erstwhile Ivy Leaguer.
Anonymous
January 17th, 2012 @ 10:13 pm

Dan,

I don’t think that Gingrich is unlikely to beat Obama because Gingrich isn’t good at being a candidate. He’s VERY good at being a candidate.

Obama has the advantage of incumbency, and of a GOP that’s not offering anything particularly different, except trying to raise the bloodthirst quotient for the third time in a row when the public is tired of that.

My analysis of the situation is such that if Jesus descends from the clouds on a white horse and declares his candidacy on a GOP-2012-like platform, his over/under in the electoral college versus Obama will be somewhere south of 200.
Newt Has Some Nerve | The Lonely Conservative
January 17th, 2012 @ 10:35 pm

[…] from the guy who hasn’t finished in the top three in either of the contests held so far. The Other McCain is as disgusted as I am.The fact that Santorum beat Gingrich in New Hampshire has been woefully […]
DAN
January 17th, 2012 @ 10:42 pm

Incumbency in 2012 is as much a millstone as an advantage.

10%+ plus real unemployment.

20%+ plus real underemployment.

You’re aware of the stats too.

The wrong track direction, Gallup numbers for this a President this far out from a general, —- there’s a host of numbers out there that almost dictate that Obama is heading for one term.

I see that Obama has two major advantages:

1} A media that is determined to cover for him and carry him if necessary; and

2} A determination to do anything, to foment urban unrest if necessary, to secure reelection.

This is going to get so ugly………
Duke Chesnut
January 17th, 2012 @ 10:45 pm

When Romney spoke of his support for NDAA, #SOPA, and #PIPA, he lost the nomination and the election, I support Gingrich for his debating skills, only against his amnesty plan for illegals,
richard mcenroe
January 17th, 2012 @ 10:53 pm

Sarah Palin said EXACTLY what she meant to say. The Newties heard EXACTLY what they wanted to hear.

You guys wouldn’t last one scene in Quigley Down Under. OR a Terry Pratchett novel.
Anonymous
January 17th, 2012 @ 10:53 pm

DAN,

Incumbency is an advantage for several reasons, the conditions you cite notwithstanding.

1. Contra the conventional wisdom that the “big money” favors Republicans, it usually actually favors incumbents (and when it doesn’t it favors Democrats). This particular incumbent has served big money well, and they are already coming through for him, while the GOP field is still trying to pay for the nomination.

2. There are only two real flanks to get around on this incumbent — health care and foreign policy. Romney obviously isn’t well set up to take him on on healthcare, and Paul is the only one not trying to drag foreign policy even further in the wrong direction (Obama has been Bush on steroids; the GOP field other than Paul is trying to be Genghis Khan).

Unless something changes, and in exactly the right direction, only the reddest of red states are up for Republican grabs this year.
ThePaganTemple
January 17th, 2012 @ 11:18 pm

I guess Ace and Erikson are apoplectic by now. Fuck them anyway, it serves them right. And it makes sense. Since the establishment pressured her out of the race in the most disgusting, despicable manner imaginable, it stands to reason she would rightly come out in support of the candidate the establishment hates the most.

But note how she said it. If she was in SC she would vote for Newt. That sounds like a tactical endorsement based on Newt being the one with the less ground to make up to derail Romney. She could have easily said it about Santorum if he was that close to Romney in the polls. Or for that matter, Paul or Perry.

She clearly is an Anybody but Mitt person.
Anonymous
January 17th, 2012 @ 11:29 pm

I think both gave up on Perry long ago. Dan Riehl too. They are anyone but Mitt. I see them all going Newt.
Did Sarah Palin Endorse Newt Gingrich? - The POH Diaries
January 17th, 2012 @ 11:50 pm

[…] states, why Gingrich? She could have made the same argument by saying that she’d vote for Santorum. “I can tell you what I would do if I were a South Carolinian…If I were a South Carolinian […]
Adjoran
January 18th, 2012 @ 12:09 am

We know all about Gingrich’s passion. So do his first two wives – except his passion turned to employees. Is Callista worried? Well, Newt has the half-million line of credit at Tiffany’s just in case, right?

Gingrich never met a “green” scam he wouldn’t waste our money on, and cannot possibly win a general election. Heck, he can’t control his arrogant mean streak for three days running.

Conservatives threw the bum out in 1998. For good reason.
Adjoran
January 18th, 2012 @ 12:10 am

Wrong. It was the conservatives in the caucus who wanted him out. He was an embarrassment. And still is.
Dianna Deeley
January 18th, 2012 @ 12:10 am

Honestly, I didn’t care that you misread, because I agree with what you said! I’m not crazy about Newt, but here I am, muttering a line from Monty Python.
Dianna Deeley
January 18th, 2012 @ 12:13 am

My head aches, and I’m wondering what happened, but here I am, supporting Newt.

I swore this day would never come. But here it is.

“It’s a fair cop!”
Pathfinder's wife
January 18th, 2012 @ 12:23 am

There is passion, and then there is arrogance. For me at least the verdict is still out on whether it is the first or the second with Newt.
Pathfinder's wife
January 18th, 2012 @ 12:30 am

He certainly lost my vote with those comments (maybe even for the general) — with that he has proven that he would not be many shades difference from what we have now.
No thanks.
Pathfinder's wife
January 18th, 2012 @ 12:31 am

Well at least they have perhaps moved on to a canidate that can actually say something smart from time to time…
Mike Rogers
January 18th, 2012 @ 1:46 am

I have previously contributed huge to Cain, moderately to Newt, who has not been judicious with his advertising, and now a little to Santorum to see what he can do. If he beats Newt here, I’m all in, because the alternative is the candidate sometimes known as Gromit:
http://granitegrok.com/blog/2012/01/cbsvf-poll-is-he-really-called-mittens
MrPaulRevere
January 18th, 2012 @ 3:30 am

Who the Hell Does Newt Think He is? Why he’s Winston Churchill, Andrew Jackson and Teddy Roosevelt all morphed into one world historical figure! I think I’ll take a pass, I like a little humility in my politicians thank you very much. Newt Gingrich was the most hated politician in America when he resigned his post because of his lack of discipline and focus. Ronald Reagan was the most admired conservative politician in America when he left office. Just a little food for thought.
DAN
January 18th, 2012 @ 6:35 am

And you think in an era of rampant un and underemployment those marriages are an issue?

Voters don’t care about his former marriages.

They care about what he has to propose and whether he can win.
DAN
January 18th, 2012 @ 6:37 am

I’ll leave it to you to vote for some milquetoast, some mild-mannered, selfefacing candidate, who has little to say, and would accomplish less.

This is no time for an incompetent or for someone who is not sure of himself.
DAN
January 18th, 2012 @ 6:38 am

Well answer the question then?

What happened to spending once Gingrich was ousted?

What conservative reform happened once he was gone?

Let’s take a good, hard look at this wonderful record of conservative leadership once Gingrich was gone?

Open your eyes!
ThePaganTemple
January 18th, 2012 @ 6:47 am

Yeah, rite. I’m sure if you asked the average American citizen of the day why they hated Newt Gingrich, the answer would be “I hate him because of his lack of discipline and focus.”

Sounds like spin to me. I want to know who did the spinning. And then I want to know specific examples of where he displayed lack of discipline and focus.

Then I want to know why I should care, and why that should disqualify him now. To say somebody lacked discipline and focus thirteen years ago, well sorry that seems a little vague.

When Newt lost the speakers chair, what did we get? Denny Hastert? How’d that work out? Was he “discipline and focused”. He must have been, those things are a requirement when you’re a back-stabbing, snake in the grass power monger.
ThePaganTemple
January 18th, 2012 @ 6:49 am

In answer to the question posed by the title of the post-

Newt thinks he’s the man who can beat Obama.
Bob Belvedere
January 18th, 2012 @ 7:47 am

Hey, Dcmick, how are you?
Bob Belvedere
January 18th, 2012 @ 7:50 am

The Unbearable Newtness Of Being – you inspired me, Adj!
Bob Belvedere
January 18th, 2012 @ 7:52 am

Several feet in diameter should do it.
Bob Belvedere
January 18th, 2012 @ 7:55 am

Methinks Newton Leroy is knowledgeable enough of history to understand that if he can rewrite Reality [ie: that he is the only person who can beat Willard and then BHO] the legend will become fact.

Newton understands the mechanics of The Big Lie.