The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Last Nail in Newt’s Coffin
UPDATE: Conservative Leaders Huddle With Santorum, Seek Deal With Newt

Posted on | April 5, 2012 | 53 Comments

Creditors will get pennies on the dollar:

Newt Gingrich’s health-care think tank has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The Center for Health Transformation, which has offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and St. Louis, plans to liquidate its assets, according to a filing Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Atlanta. . . .
The center listed estimated liabilities of $1 million to $10 million dollars and 50 to 90 creditors. . . .
Political observers said the negative publicity surrounding the bankruptcy spells the end of the former U.S. House speaker and Georgia congressman’s campaign.
“This ends his campaign. He’ll now be completely on the defensive about this,” said Emory University political science professor Merle Black.

Next? Newt will endorse Mitt Romney, and probably before the April 24 Pennsylvania primary. (I first predicted Feb. 3 that Newt would ultimately quit and endorse Romney, although it is taking longer than the “few weeks” I expected at the time.)

To be more specific, Newt will endorse Mitt sometime before his campaign’s March FEC report is due April 20, because otherwise the size of Gingrich’s presidential campaign debts would become a major element of the coverage. So expect Newt to join the “Roll Over for Romney” movement probably in an April 13-16 time-frame. Gingrich will portray his sellout — siding with the “elite GOP Establishment” and “money power” he was railing against all the way from Iowa to Louisiana — as a matter of fundamental conservative principle.

What Gingrich is hoping is that Rick Santorum will quit before then, so that there won’t be any reason to notice — or resent — Newt’s hypocrisy.

(Via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE: Putting aside my resentment that they gave this scoop to the New York Times, here’s the latest Santorum campaign news:

A group of conservative leaders met with Rick Santorum on Thursday to consider how to persuade Newt Gingrich to drop out of the Republican presidential nominating contest.
The conservative leaders met with Mr. Santorum and his top aides in northern Virginia . . .
The prospect that Mr. Gingrich might draw enough votes from Mr. Santorum in Pennsylvania — Mr. Santorum’s home state — on April 24 to cost him the primary has given new urgency to the task of getting him out of the race. . . .
“The leaders told us that they wanted to stop Romney, defeat Barack Obama and unite conservatives behind Rick,’” according to an aide to the Santorum campaign who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

More reason for resentment:

Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley refused to confirm or deny to confirm reports of the meeting, which was first reported in a tweet by Time magazine’s Mark Halperin.

Checking my cell phone again . . . Nope, no calls from Santorum staffers this morning. A fine way to treat the Future Ambassador to Vanuatu. But it is absurd to hope that Gingrich would endorse Santorum: Newt’s support is up for auction, and there’s no way Rick can outbid Mitt.

(Hat-tip: Azn_Chick on Twitter.)

UPDATE II: Tina Korbe at Hot Air:

If [Santorum’s] supporters can convince Gingrich that his nomination is not only still possible, but even probable without Gingrich in the race, maybe they can inspire Gingrich to let go.

Careful, Tina — you could be sued for libel. No one can accuse Newt Gingrich of giving a damn about anyone but Newt Gingrich.

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Comments

53 Responses to “The Last Nail in Newt’s Coffin
UPDATE: Conservative Leaders Huddle With Santorum, Seek Deal With Newt”

  1. Shelleys Playtime
    April 5th, 2012 @ 1:16 pm

     “siding with the “elite GOP Establishment” and this will surprise his supporters…lol

  2. smitty
    April 5th, 2012 @ 1:18 pm

    @rsmccain I, for one, feel that you can always be relied upon to resent Newt’s hypocrisy.

  3. Framing the Narrative: Using Evangelicals as Hook for MSM ‘Mormon Mitt’ Meme : The Other McCain
    April 5th, 2012 @ 1:18 pm

    […] Catholic. Perhaps Bill believed Newt was never sincere about his Catholicism, but why would anyone doubt Newt’s sincerity? Category: Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Election 2012, Media Bias, Mitt Romney, ReligionComments […]

  4. Adjoran
    April 5th, 2012 @ 1:22 pm

    I heard the campaign debt is now in the $4 million range – who is still lending this guy money or billing him for services?  They deserve to lose their shirts for such stupidity.

    PLUS – the campaign has spent over $1 million on Callista’s personal security and expenses.  WOW.

  5. Lisa Graas
    April 5th, 2012 @ 1:48 pm
  6. Lisa Graas
    April 5th, 2012 @ 1:48 pm
  7. Shelleys Playtime
    April 5th, 2012 @ 1:57 pm

    LOL…I have been waiting for that update : )

  8. ThePaganTemple
    April 5th, 2012 @ 2:02 pm

    The last nail in Newt’s coffin was Louisiana.

    The last nail in Rick’s coffin was Wisconsin.

  9. Shelleys Playtime
    April 5th, 2012 @ 2:07 pm

     I half  ‘like’ your comment…

  10. smitty
    April 5th, 2012 @ 2:10 pm

    Everything looks like a nail if you’re wearing a mitt.

  11. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    April 5th, 2012 @ 2:31 pm

      Who nails wearing a mitt?  Someone who can’t swing a hammer!  

  12. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    April 5th, 2012 @ 2:32 pm

    Newt embarassing himself?  That cannot be possible!  

  13. Adjoran
    April 5th, 2012 @ 2:36 pm

    Santorum is supposedly including Richard Viguerie in on his strategy sessions, which tips us that they are NOT discussing ending his campaign.  They must be determined to just go ahead and finish his entire career right now, and get it over with.

    Those prime-time speaking slots at the convention are filling up fast.  Just saying.

  14. Robert Birch
    April 5th, 2012 @ 2:39 pm

    Stacy,
         It’s a bit classless act that Rick’s campaign went to another news outlet other than yours (many times over),despite your dogged loyalty. It’s time to find a new friend/candidate. I think you’ll like this book ‘Boundaries’ by Cloud & Townsend. 

  15. Adjoran
    April 5th, 2012 @ 2:49 pm

     And if you choose to wear blinders, you can’t see much of anything.

  16. richard mcenroe
    April 5th, 2012 @ 3:24 pm

    Time to start a pool. I sayNewt endorses Romney the Wednesday before PA. And I say the vainglorious lot appears with and makes at least one commercial for Mitt.

  17. richard mcenroe
    April 5th, 2012 @ 3:25 pm

    Lot… lout

  18. Shelleys Playtime
    April 5th, 2012 @ 3:29 pm

     I don’t know. He really pissed of a LOT of people with Dee Dee… He got a LOT of backlash from that… I don’t have a clue as to what he is going to do…

  19. ThomasD
    April 5th, 2012 @ 4:24 pm

    I don’t think y’all are giving enough consideration to just how big Newt’s head is.  He’s not going to sell his credibility to Romney for a measly few million dollars. 

    Newt ‘knows’ that’s piddly stuff he could have written off in no time.

    None of which means he won’t go in for Romney, just that his asking price, and settling price are going to be much higher.

    And a single appearance won’t work for him or Romney.  If he goes in he’s going to want a bigger stage than that.

  20. ThePaganTemple
    April 5th, 2012 @ 4:31 pm

     Maybe Rick should get out and hand his delegates over to Newt. That’s no more silly or unrealistic than expecting Mitt to drop out for a guy with less than half his delegate total.

  21. Cube
    April 5th, 2012 @ 5:10 pm

    Gave the scoop to the Treason Times??!!?  And it’s not the first time either.  What’s up with that, Team Sweater Vest? 

    The left-wing media are not your friends and never will be, no matter what you do or who you throw under the bus.  RSM has covered your campaign when it was “Rick who?” and is the very definition of loyalty (and a fine journalist as well).  After the primary, the NYT on the other hand will forget you gave them scoops and clobber your guy to ensure Obama is reelected.  If even a flyover country political novice like me can see that, why can’t you?

  22. Shelleys Playtime
    April 5th, 2012 @ 5:13 pm

     If Rick was not in, I would vote for Newt over Mitt…

  23. ThePaganTemple
    April 5th, 2012 @ 6:00 pm

     Sounds to me like Viguerie is in denial. No surprise there. Since he was one of Ricky Poo’s earliest backers, he doesn’t want to face up to the fact that he backed the wrong horse. Too bad you can’t endorse for place or show, he’d make out all right. Now he just looks like a horses ass, mostly to himself.

  24. ThePaganTemple
    April 5th, 2012 @ 6:02 pm

    I never did get around to finding out whether you can write-in a candidate in the Kentucky Primary. If I can, I will write in Sarah Palin, just to make a statement.

    If I can’t write anybody in, I’ll go ahead and vote for Mitt, just to make another statement-

    It’s over.

  25. Shelleys Playtime
    April 5th, 2012 @ 6:16 pm

     FB REALLY needs a 1/2 like button!

  26. Bob Belvedere
    April 5th, 2012 @ 6:27 pm

    You can’t be embarrassed if you have no shame.

  27. Adobe_Walls
    April 5th, 2012 @ 7:21 pm

    I don’t  see what Newt gains by endorsing Romney. And since he isn’t the forgiving type and knows it was Mitt not Santorum who derailed him I wouldn’t be so sure about your hypothethis.

  28. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    April 5th, 2012 @ 7:59 pm

    Yes indeed!  

  29. richard mcenroe
    April 5th, 2012 @ 8:02 pm

     Who expects Mitt to drop out?

  30. richard mcenroe
    April 5th, 2012 @ 8:03 pm

     Aw, Newt’s a big enough man to get a hate on for two people at once… and Santorum’s the only one he can screw here.

    Well, aside from the GOP base and the American people….

  31. ThePaganTemple
    April 5th, 2012 @ 8:50 pm

    A lot of people talk like they think Rick can still pull it off, so I don’t know how they can think that without expecting Mitt to drop out, because Rick sure as hell ain’t going to win eighty percent or more of the remaining primaries.

  32. richard mcenroe
    April 5th, 2012 @ 9:01 pm

     I want to see a brokered, contested convention.  I WANT to see Mitt have to defend himself, his positions and his record out in the open instead of behind a cloud of handlers.   Bring. That. On.

  33. M. Thompson
    April 5th, 2012 @ 9:20 pm

    Ah, the joy of knowing the only way you think your political voice will be of some importance is to vote for a party that believes enthusiasm is a secondary concern

  34. Ford Prefect
    April 5th, 2012 @ 10:00 pm

    You seem strangely unaware, PT, that some people actually have principles. 

    Most conservatives I know always figured that Romney was both a.) most likely to run a vile, negative campaign, and as a result b.) would win the nomination.  Given that Viguerie has principles that you don’t seem to understand, doesn’t mean that he regrets backing the “wrong horse”. Maybe he figures the country is more important than his own standing among the liberal establishment.But here’s a thought for you PT.  At this point, it looks like Obama is as likely as not to win in November.

    So, from where I stand, you may want to change over to him ASAP since backing the “wrong horse” is so abhorrent to you.

  35. Ford Prefect
    April 5th, 2012 @ 10:13 pm

    Mitt will not drop out but he could be forced out in the convention.  

    But to be clear, this doesn’t mean we want want a “brokered convention”.

    What we want is a floor fight in Tampa. If Mitt wins that fight, he’ll be the better for it.

    As Quin Hillyer said the other day: 

    “To be clear, conservatives should not wish for a brokered convention. Technically, a brokered convention is one in which, yes, power brokers pull strings behind closed doors and shift entire blocs of delegates with them, as if the delegates are sheeple. This scenario, of course, would cause a public-relations nightmare, with the media going nuts sliming Republicans for resorting to tawdry deals from proverbial smoke-filled rooms.”

    “Instead of a brokered convention, what is needed — and what is likely to happen if no candidate enters a convention with majority support — is a contested, open convention. This would be a good thing for the party.”

    http://spectator.org/archives/2012/04/02/this-race-is-far-from-over

  36. Danny
    April 5th, 2012 @ 10:30 pm

    richard mcroe the commerical with Newt & Romney would not surprise me , Newt made one with Nancy.

  37. JakeSnake
    April 6th, 2012 @ 1:19 am

    Yea, I’m sure Romney is scrambling to cut a deal with Santorum and Newt.  They really have him on the ropes.

    Both of these clowns promised to go to the Convention and try to steal in from Romney in a floor fight, despite the fact they both admitted they couldn’t possibly earn enough delegates to honestly win.

    Newt is now bankrupt and Rick is on the verge of losing his home state (again) in a humiliating defeat.

    They’re not conceding, they’ve been destroyed.

    If I was Romney, I’d let both twist in the wind.

  38. Bob Belvedere
    April 6th, 2012 @ 8:08 am

    How come Callista’s cost so much?  I mean, she already has her own helmet.

  39. ThePaganTemple
    April 6th, 2012 @ 8:34 am

     @bd09aa54196053c4cf9c0dca0c4de3a1:disqus 

    Ahh, the old “floor fight at the brokered convention” scenario. If I thought that might result in a willing and eager Sarah Palin drafted as the nominee, I’d be behind that one hundred percent.

    But Santorum? Naw, sorry, I never liked him that much when I was at my most supportive of him, and I sure as hell don’t now.

    And more than likely, it wouldn’t result in him getting it anyway, or Sarah.  More than likely it would end up being Mitt anyway, or if not him, probably somebody like Jeb Bush or Chris Christie. Maybe Mitch Daniels.

    So no, I think I’ll have to pass on that little scheme. I don’t want a damaged GOP going into the general election. It’s not just what it would do to Mitt’s chances in November so much as how it could negatively impact the House and Senate races, maybe even the various state elections.

    Thanks though for giving me another reason to vote for Mitt in the Ky primary. I’m thinking of starting a new Kentucky oriented blog just for that purpose.

  40. ThePaganTemple
    April 6th, 2012 @ 9:00 am

     By “wrong horse” I wasn’t inferring that the “right horse” was Romney.

    Now of course Romney is neither the “wrong horse” or the “right horse”.

    He’s the “only horse”. Santorum can “whiney” all he wants, but the race is over for him.

  41. ThePaganTemple
    April 6th, 2012 @ 9:03 am

    “Instead of a brokered convention, what is needed — and what is likely
    to happen if no candidate enters a convention with majority support —
    is a contested, open convention. This would be a good thing for the
    party.”

    Except its living in a dream world where politicians and delegates don’t get together in private and make secret deals and no one would ever think of bribing or strong-arming anybody.

  42. Tennwriter
    April 6th, 2012 @ 10:46 am

    Given that we’re going straight over a cliff into waters filled with sharks, perhaps not seeing much of anything is a good idea.  Play another game of Angry Birds, and get right with God on the way down.

  43. Tennwriter
    April 6th, 2012 @ 10:53 am

    I will be outside the convention center with a wild beard, disheveled clothes, and a sandwhich board that says….

    “Romney Must Resign”.

    I do this for you, and your children, and your children’s children Because I Care!

    P.S. For those not clued in, this is obviously mostly a joke.  I have no desire to go to the convention and see a bunch of idiots nominate Luzer.  Well, maybe if they had free sandwhiches with rice bread…

    Romney Must Resign.

  44. Tennwriter
    April 6th, 2012 @ 10:56 am

    Exactly.  He can write another alt-history SF novel with William Forschten, and an Analysis of Politics and America book, and make most of that pretty easy.

  45. Tennwriter
    April 6th, 2012 @ 10:59 am

    Honestly ‘honestly’?  I don’t think you know what this word means.  A floor fight is perfectly honest.  It is unusual true, but unusual does not actually mean dishonest.  Look it up.

    But thanks for confirming the FUD among the Romneyites.

  46. ThomasD
    April 6th, 2012 @ 11:44 am

     I’d also suspect that Newt is looking to use the approaching PA primary for maximum negotiating effect.

    Romney cannot afford to lose PA – it will give Santorum fresh life, and conceivably could turn out to  be Romney’s  own high water mark.

    Can Romney afford not to pay the price?

    But that also assumes Gingrich really is selling himself as the guy who can get Romney over the hump.

    There is another alternative.  Gingrich is simply trying to get an inside peek at what the Romney camp thinks about the coming primaries, which would prove very useful intel should Gingrich then double back and try to work out a deal with Santorum – a deal that would award Gingrich with a much more significant role than he would ever get from the Romney camp.

    Remember, Gingrich is the one of the three with the most inside Washington experience…

  47. ThomasD
    April 6th, 2012 @ 11:53 am

     You are not thinking big enough.  Gingrich certainly can screw Romney, if merely by romancing his campaign but then leaving them at the altar heading into the PA primary.

    And that’s just the most simple and obvious scenario. 

    Do not underestimate Gingrich, he’s by far the most intelligent of the three and he’s the one with the most national political experience.

  48. Tennwriter
    April 6th, 2012 @ 1:02 pm

     Gingrich is the most intelligent of our current leadership class save for perhaps a few of the conservatives judges on SCOTUS.

  49. ThePaganTemple
    April 6th, 2012 @ 5:18 pm

    What nobody has bothered to explain is on what grounds Santorum, or Newt, could expect a floor fight at a brokered convention to go their way. By the time the primaries are all over with, they’d both be damn lucky to have half of Mitt’s delegate total if they added both of their together and threw in Paul’s for good measure. So again, what would be the rationale for a Mitt delegate to swing over to Newt or Rick.

    And then of course there are all the various state conventions which will be adding their own slate of delegates.

    So now pretend I’m one of these delegates, and give me your pitch for Santorum at a brokered convention.

    The object of the game should not be to make me spew pop all over my computer keyboard as I double over with laughter.

  50. JakeSnake
    April 7th, 2012 @ 12:59 am

    “Honestly” winning means the person that comes in with the most delegates (and also votes) should be the nominee, especially considering it’s not even close.

    Trying to take the nomination away in a smoke-filled room while coming in with half the delegates and millions less in votes is a dishonest way to win the nomination.  Period.

    It’s AWFULLY satisfying to see someone who was trying to cheat his way on the ticket get blown to smitherenes, let’s see if he has the balls to even compete in his home state.