Conservative Establishment Piles On Newt
Newt Gingrich may win the Florida Republican primary.
This thought is sending frissons of fear throughout Washington -- but not from Democrats. Instead, the Republican Party establishment (and their minions) are out there dumping truckloads of mud on Newt in the hopes that some of it sticks -- and fast -- as far as their base voters are concerned.
Some conservative news sites, led by the Drudge Report, have gone to an "all Newt-bashing, all the time" format, it seems. From these depths to the rarefied heights of the party elite, the ranks are closing against Newt.
The most extraordinary example of this appears in the National Review, penned by Elliott Abrams (a high-ranking official in the Reagan administration). It opens with a broadside:
In the increasingly rough Republican campaign, no candidate has wrapped himself in the mantle of Ronald Reagan more often than Newt Gingrich. "I worked with President Reagan to change things in Washington," "we helped defeat the Soviet empire," and "I helped lead the effort to defeat Communism in the Congress" are typical claims by the former speaker of the House.
The claims are misleading at best. As a new member of Congress in the Reagan years -- and I was an assistant secretary of state -- Mr. Gingrich voted with the president regularly, but equally often spewed insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides, and his policies to defeat Communism. Gingrich was voluble and certain in predicting that Reagan's policies would fail, and in all of this he was dead wrong.
Whew! Abrams goes on to quote Newt extensively from the Reagan years, to prove his point: Newt Gingrich is always out for himself, and always seeks the headlines by being contrarian no matter who is in the Oval Office at the time.
So as we all sit back and wait for yet another Republican candidate debate to begin, be aware that not all of the fireworks are exploding onstage. There is a concerted effort going on behind the scenes to push Mitt Romney over the finish line by absolutely destroying Newt Gingrich.
And it's all coming from Republicans.
Pass the popcorn.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Thank you for helping me popularize the popcorn-passing :D
Osborne -
Heh. It's been a fun few months, hasn't it? If Newt wins FL, look for this Republican-on-Republican violence to reach an absolute frenzy...
:-)
-CW
The coverage I've read gives the impression that the campaign has been about two great theses: 1) the Republican primary electorate don't like Romney, and 2) they can't find anyone else they like for more than a week, either. The suggestion is that there's no positive enthusiasm.
Michale denies it. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, we've got an observed enthusiasm rate of 100% among Republicans -- with a sample size of one.
The media is prone to getting stuff wrong because it fits a story line, and same for the pundits. Is that what's going on, or is the level of enthusiasm among Republicans really as low as the media makes it sound.
dsws -
It's hard to tell. Primary participation rates are slightly up in general (in only three states, I hasten to point out, not many data points), but sometimes (as in IA) that's because Ron Paul is pulling in votes from people who wouldn't ordinarily bother in a GOP race. SC, I believe, was higher than normal, though. FL is a closed primary (Michale doesn't get to vote) so it may be a more accurate measurement. Or not -- the hype for FL must be incredible down there.
Michale -
Sick of political ads on your teevee by now? Just wondering... inquiring minds want to know...
-CW
dsws,
Michale denies it. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, we've got an observed enthusiasm rate of 100% among Republicans -- with a sample size of one.
huh? wha??? Whaaadddiii miss???
CW,
Heh. It's been a fun few months, hasn't it? If Newt wins FL, look for this Republican-on-Republican violence to reach an absolute frenzy...
I hate to pee on ya'alls parade (sheeya right! :D) but I am constrained to point out that we haven't seen ANYTHING close to the frenzy of the Dem vs Dem violence of the 2008 primary.. :D
"It has begun. The sport ends. The massacre begins. Rihannsu has begun killing Rihannsu."
-Grand Primus T’Cael, STAR TREK: Final Frontier
Sick of political ads on your teevee by now? Just wondering... inquiring minds want to know...
Well, I don't have/watch TV in the conventional sense, so I don't see any of the ads.. I don't see ANY commercials, for that matter...
On the other hand, I do have Drudge on "speed dial" (so to speak) and was amazed at the hysterical manner in which his Anti-Newt campaign was spun...
Giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, I would like to think that they are just concerned about getting Obama out of office (a goal I whole-heartedly endorse) but the desperation of the Anti-Newt campaign makes me wonder..
Since I don't have a vested interest in the Republican Party per se (at least not beyond the afore mentioned supported goal) I look upon this as simply another piece of evidence to support the claim that Democrats and Republicans are the same...
"Your good and your evil use the same methods to achieve the same goals."
-Yarnek, STAR TREK, The Savage Curtain
Michale
http://cache.blippitt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Popcorn-02-Stephen-Colbert.gif
:)