Looks like Mittens is feeling the heat, perhaps from the flip flops and/or because of the recentpolls and is firing back.
ORMOND BEACH, Fla. — Mitt Romney landed here Sunday with a simple message: Newt Gingrich is a failure and a fraud. And a disgrace. And a hapless showman.
Standing under a brilliant orange Florida sunset, Romney delivered his longest sustained critique of the South Carolina primary winner to date — ticking through a list as if he were reading off Gingrich’s Wikipedia page, and undercutting each item as he got to it.
“Speaker Gingrich has also been a leader,” the former Massachusetts governor said. “He was a leader for four years as speaker of the House. And at the end of four years, it was proven that he was a failed leader and he had to resign in disgrace. I don’t know whether you knew that, he actually resigned after four years, in disgrace.
Romney continued: “He was investigated over an ethics panel and had to make a payment associated with that and then his fellow Republicans, 88 percent of his Republicans voted to reprimand Speaker Gingrich. He has not had a record of successful leadership.”
Then Romney got into Gingrich’s post-congressional career.
“Over the last 15 years since he left the House, he talks about great bold movements and ideas,” he told the crowd of several hundred people gathered at a building materials company here. “Well, what’s he been doing for 15 years? He’s been working as a lobbyist, yeah, he’s been working as a lobbyist and selling influence around Washington.
To be clear, Newt Gingrich is not a saint and as Geller put it, “He is a son-of-a-bitch, but he’s our Son-of-a-bitch.” I know that personally I would rather vote for someone like Newt and hold my nose, than to vote for some idiot racist Mormon who worked for a Latin-American financed company that acted as corporate raiders. I am sorry, but that is simply Anti-American; the very idea that an American would sit at a table with Latin Americans to devise a plan to destroy American businesses is absolutely asinine and for this Mitt Romney should be held accountable. However, because Fox News and others are in the tank for that creep, you will not hear a word about it and that my friends is the tragic thing about corporate media.
So, yes, you can put me in the “anyone but Mitt Romney” category.
Obviously, I underestimated the power Chuck Norris. 😯
ABC, Fox News, CBS, AP, are all reporting that New Gingrich has won the South Carolina primary. I guess the accusations of his second ex-wife did not stick at all. Which says much about the moral condition of South Carolina and of the Nation as a whole.
AllahPundit, as always has some very good information. Here’s Romney’s speech, in this speech, he dings Gingrich, Newt does not return the favor and in fact, he compliments all of the people running with him in the primary. Voters will remember that:
Alternate Headline: “Chuck Norris gives the green light for Presidential Candidates to be womanizing freaks”
Not that this honestly matters, but it is news. 😀
No man or candidate is perfect. We all have skeletons in our closet. If buried bones became unforgivable bones of contention, the world would never know or will never know another Benjamin Franklin, King David and others like them. We must remember that we’re electing a president, not a pastor or pope. And with the mainstream media and a billion-dollar Obama campaign coffer on the president’s side, we need a veteran of political war who has already fought Goliath, because he will be facing Goliath’s bigger brother.
In the last few editions of my weekly column, I detailed “10 questions to find our next president” in no particular order of importance. I proposed that the name of the candidate that fills the majority of the answers deserved readers’ vote.
Who is most committed to follow and lead by the U.S. Constitution?
Who has the greatest leadership ability to rally, unify and mobilize citizens across political and societal spectrums?
Who has the best working comprehension of America?
Who has the best ability to influence a volatile world away from its brink of destruction?
Who has clear and present moral fortitude?
Who can best beat President Barack Obama (in and outside of debates)?
Who has the best abilities to lead Washington politics and politicians?
Who has the best plan and leadership ability to restore America’s economy?
Who is the most fiscally prudent?
Who has demonstrated the highest regard for human life?
For my wife, Gena, and I, we sincerely believe former Speaker Newt Gingrich is the answer to most of those questions and deserves our endorsement and vote.
He also should have asked the question, “Who was the first speaker of the house to be reprimanded by congress?”
To me, this just proves that the social conservatives movement has fallen a good deal from its moorings of long ago. The movement would have never allowed this sort of man to be even remotely consider for President years ago. It also shows, I believe, that the GOP is utterly desperate for someone to nominate for President. They’ve come along way since the ways of Eisenhower, Goldwater, Reagan, Bush and the like. That very sad fact is not a good thing at all.
CHARLESTON, S.C.—Newt Gingrich has cancelled a campaign appearance in South Carolina because of poor attendance.
The Republican presidential candidate was scheduled to speak to the Southern Republican Leadership on Friday. But a campaign spokesman told reporters that he would no longer be appearing due to poor attendance.
There were just a few dozen people in the audience at the College of Charleston’s arena, where the event was taking place. The conference has suffered from low attendance all week but Gingrich rival Rick Santorum went ahead and addressed the group on Thursday.
Interesting….very interesting. I wonder if it related these itemshere? It is to wonder.
For the record, this isn’t too bad either; quoting AllahPundit:
Let’s face it: The real winner of this debate is Mitt Romney for saying he’s lived in “the real streets of America.” Wait, what?
Quote the week there! 😀 😆
But seriously, Despite what all written was earlier; I think Newt handled himself very well here. He did not allow the liberal media to destroy him. I’m not a fan of the guy, but he did well here.
Which I consider to be very funny, considering which I just wrote about here and here.
Via Politico: (With a very big H/T to Ed Morrissey, whom I like alot, when I am not criticizing what he writes! 😉 )
Rick Perry is expected to drop out later this morning at an 11 a.m. press conference, two sources confirmed to POLITICO. He’s also expected to endorse Newt Gingrich, the sources confirmed.
Sources told POLITICO that Gingrich and Perry had a secret meeting to discuss a possible endorsement.
Gingrich had been assiduously lobbying Perry officials in recent days, POLITICO has learned. The former House speaker has repeatedly texted Perry manager Joe Allbaugh.
It gives the surging Gingrich a huge boost heading into the final debate tonight, and the South Carolina primary on Saturday, in which he’s already closing in on Mitt Romney.
Perry, however, did not make the decision about exiting the race until the morning. But the discord within the Perry campaign was evident even as the candidate prepared to drop out.
Top officials in Texas said they were unaware of his intentions and as late as this morning said they genuinely didn’t know whether he was still running.
Gingrich refused to comment on news Thursday morning as he exited his campaign bus at a town hall in Bluffton, S.C.
This really is not much of a surprise; Perry just was not a good debater; he had the brain freeze at the first debate and that just ended it for him. Nobody wanted to take him seriously. This earlier report says more:
With two days to go, Perry polls among South Carolina Republicans at about 6 percent — the same number of people who said they had no opinion about whom they’d choose. His campaign has been damaged by defections – notably top donor Barry Wynn, who left Perry for Mitt Romney – and an inability to gain ground with the public, despite spending millions of dollars.
Behind the scenes, many fundraisers and supporters who once waxed ecstatic over Perry as the GOP’s white knight when he entered the race now say they’re deflated and upset that he didn’t appear ready for the task.
“It’s over. It’s long over. Sometimes things are finished before they’re over. It’s embarrassing to come out of the gate and get shot down, but it happens,” said a Perry fundraiser who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “You’d think a guy who had 11 years in office … that he’d prepare, he’d read the paper and get prepared.”
Sad end to what could have been a good campaign. 🙁 I wish Governor Perry the best. 😀
Newt Gingrich lacks the moral character to serve as President, his second ex-wife Marianne told ABC News, saying his campaign positions on the sanctity of marriage and the importance of family values do not square with what she saw during their 18 years of marriage.
In her first television interview since the 1999 divorce, to be broadcast tonight on Nightline, Marianne Gingrich, a self-described conservative Republican, said she is coming forward now so voters can know what she knows about Gingrich.
In her most provocative comments, the ex-Mrs. Gingrich said Newt sought an “open marriage” arrangement so he could have a mistress and a wife.
She said when Gingrich admitted to a six-year affair with a Congressional aide, he asked her if she would share him with the other woman, Callista, who is now married to Gingrich.
“And I just stared at him and he said, ‘Callista doesn’t care what I do,'” Marianne Gingrich told ABC News. “He wanted an open marriage and I refused.”
Marianne described her “shock” at Gingrich’s behavior, including how she says she learned he conducted his affair with Callista “in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington.”
Wow, this is unreal; and with Perry dropping out, this is going to hobble Newt and I mean badly. I doubt he will even get out of SC now. So, it might just be over for him.
And Ed Morrissey is in full-on “poor Newt” mode and actually defend the man; which I really do not get at all, in fact, here’s a video he posted of an interview with Newt’s daughter:
Ed Writes:
It is, however, supremely unfair of Marianne to dump this on the race now — not to Newt, but to voters who sincerely backed Gingrich. If Newt so lacked the “moral character” for the Presidency, why did it take Marianne eight months to tell us? Her relative silence in 2011 gave voters the impression that she had nothing to add to the debate over who should represent the GOP in the presidential race. It’s also unfair to her former stepdaughters who have been working tirelessly for their father for the last several weeks to help broaden Newt’s appeal, and for Newt’s grandchildren who have to hear about this now. It’s also a large dollop of hypocrisy from the national news media who ignored reports of an ongoing affair involving John Edwards during the 2008 presidential campaign itself, complete with love child, until the National Enquirer ended up scooping everyone else. Suddenly a 12-year-old affair is prime-time news? It’s hard to come to any other conclusion that the party affiliation makes a big difference.
Speaking of Newt’s daughters, here’s my interview with Jackie Gingrich Cushman in New Hampshire from nine days ago. Jackie worked hard for her father in the Granite State, but this week she’s probably having to work harder than ever to rebut the story line that the ABC interview will provide in the final hours of this race. It’s a shame; no matter whether one supports Gingrich or not, Jackie very obviously has enthusiastic support for her father, and as I said last night on Twitter, it’s a shame that her time will have to be spent on dealing with family matters in a very public forum.
Um, Ed, it might actually have something to do with the fact that his ex-wife didn’t think he would actually have a chance at winning; and now that it is getting close, she wants the world to know what kind of pig he really is. I’m sorry, I feel no pity for the man or his family or his supporters.
They, being his family, supporters and such; knew what they were getting into when he decided to run and now this comes out — so, I say deal with it. Should have known better to do something stupid like this, with stuff in his closet.
Marianne Gingrich has said she could end her ex-husband’s career with a single interview.
Earlier this week, she sat before ABCNEWS cameras, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
She spoke to ABCNEWS reporter Brian Ross for two hours, and her explosive revelations are set to rock the trail.
But now a “civil war” has erupted inside of the network, an insider claims, on exactly when the confession will air!
ABCNEWS suits determined it would be “unethical” to run the Marianne Gingrich interview so close to the South Carolina Primary, a curious decision, one insider argued, since the network has aggressively been reporting on other candidates.
A decision was tentatively made to air the interview next Monday, after all votes have been counted.
Gingrich canceled a press conference on Wednesday to deal with the matter.
“He believes that what he says in public and how he lives don’t have to be connected,” Marianne Gingrich, Newt’s wife of 18 years, explained to ESQUIRE last year.
Here’s hoping she dishes, But AllahPundit says this is a nothing burger; Well, Howard Kurtz does anyhow:
A knowledgeable insider says that Newt Gingrich’s second wife does not say anything in the taped interview with ABC News that she hasn’t said in previous print interviews. But to repeat her account of how their marriage failed—because the then-House speaker was having an affair—in a form that can be endlessly replayed on television could prove a serious distraction for the presidential candidate two days before the South Carolina primary.
As you can well imagine, the Democrats and the Not-Romney crowd are licking their chops on this one.
In an evolving power struggle, religious conservatives are feuding about whether a weekend meeting in Texas yielded a consensus that former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is the best bet to stop Mitt Romney’s drive for the Republican presidential nomination.
A leading evangelical and former aide to President George H.W. Bush said he agreed with suspicions voiced by others at the meeting of evangelical and conservative Catholic activists that organizers “manipulated” the gathering and may even have stuffed the ballot to produce an endorsement of Mr. Santorum over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Mr. Santorum, who nearly upset Mr. Romney in the Iowa caucuses, won the first ballot ahead of Mr. Gingrich in Saturday’s Texas meeting but the margin was too slim for organizers to claim a consensus. It was not until the third ballot, taken after many people had left to catch flights back home, that Mr. Santorum won more than 70 percent of those still in attendance and claimed the endorsement.
Atlanta, GA – Gingrich Faith Leaders Coalition National Co-Chair Don Wildmon released this statement today:
Perhaps you have heard a rumor that I have changed my support from Newt Gingrich for President to another candidate. I want you to know that is not true. To suggest that I have switched my support is inaccurate.
Without question, this election is the most important in the history of our nation. Our culture has become saturated with corruption and immorality. I firmly believe the future not only of our nation but all of Western Civilization is at stake. Voters in South Carolina will help decide if we can return our nation to its Judeo-Christian roots, or continue to slide down the slippery slope?
In the past, Christian conservatives have split their votes among three or four candidates. This has allowed the moderate-liberal wing of the Republican Party to capture the nomination. It appears we might do the same thing again.
He goes to laud praise on and support Newt, of course. I personally believe that this demonstrates just how unified Christians can be. Further more, I believe this is all really for naught; the social conservative ship sailed long ago. What really puzzles me is how Social Conservatives could honestly support Newt. The man has been married three times, how do social conservative square that with their beliefs that marriage is honored by God and that divorce is simply not a good thing? I guess that shows just how compromised the Evangelical Christian world has become. I will say this, Reagan was married twice and they still elected him. So, this is nothing really new.
But still, Newt?!?! My goodness. 🙄 I can see Santorum, he has kids, been married for a long time. But Newt? It makes no sense at all.
