Newt Gingrich with his wife, Callista, at his side, delivers outstanding speech after S.C. Victory
GOP Presidential Candidate, Newt Gingrich, wont the Palmetto state yesterday by a commanding margin – with 99% of the precincts reporting in – Gingrich had a lead of 40% to Romney’s 28% (his closes opponent) (CNN News). Santorum finished 3rd, and Ron Paul 4th in this, the third contest of the GOP General Election contest.
Gingrich, in his acceptance speech, had kind words for all the GOP contenders, including Mitt Romney, and gave a fiery speech to the crowed ballroom. This is what is become known as “Classic Gingrich” – he has both the gravitas and the will to speak to a specific situation without missing a beat – making him one of the most, if not the most astute politicians today. In addition, in exit polling done by CNN, over 50% of those casting votes felt that Gingrich was in the best position to defeat President Obama in the fall.
Gingrich won across all categories, including Evangelicals, Men, Women, Urban, Suburban and Rural, making it a sweep – South Carolina, one might note, is considered the gateway to the south in terms of Presidential races, and has yet to vote for a candidate that did not win their respective political parties nomination – since 1980.
This has the establishment GOP a bit on the worried side, and according to the National Journal and several news accounts, the national GOP is prepared to go to a brokered convention, and oust Gingrich by virtue of nominating someone along the lines of a Jeb Bush. The fact that Gingrich will not play into the party line, and was blamed for George H. Bush’s defeat to Bill Clinton, is the main reason that the Party is prepared to pull this stunt if Gingrich is the rightful winner.
See Screenshot of Article above from National Journal
Should that happen the backlash of support for the RNC would take a nose dive – they do not have the power of the media behind them to protect them from the same situation that occurred at the Democrat Convention in 2008 when the rightful winner, Hillary Clinton, was outs ted in favor of Barack Obama through Super Delegates. That would, in any event, hasten the formation of a third party, possibly a third party that runs a candidate in 2012 – a Tea Party candidate is not out of the question. These are big “if’s”, and the “sources” that are telling news organizations that this option is a possibility may be opting for wishful thinking rather than reality.
At this point, with only three contests underway, Gingrich, Romney and Santorum have won a primary or caucus each – that said, going forward, with the momentum out of South Carolina, it is impossible to see Romney gaining more than the twelve states he won in 2008. It is the debate arena, and there is not one candidate better equipped in that venue than one Newt Gingrich.
What to do about Newt? The word from pundits is that Newt will be batter with the fact that he is unstable, there will be attacks on his character and especially questions regarding Freddie and Fannie, as well as his ouster by Republican’s from the Speakership and the host of ethics charges brought by the Democrats, also while he was speaker. This tactic, in the face of facts which are handily available to Gingrich, will, in all likelihood, fall flat. One need only speak to JC Watts, who will vouch, along with others, that Gig rich never lobbied the Congress on behalf of the Mortgage Organizations; in fact, he testified that they should be given zip. Additionally, as a consultant he personally earned approximately $35,000 annually, which is a pittance as far as consultant fees are concerned. The ousting by “Conservative” was truly an ousting by vindictive Republican’s tied to the Bush family.
There is a fabulous History Channel program that ran several months ago on Gingrich as Speaker, treating his rise from a “backbench “Congressman to the man who would be third in lien to the Presidency as Speaker. In this film, one learns that Gingrich was relentless in bringing about a Republican majority in Congress for the first time in decades. IN addition, and perhaps the most interesting, is the segment on the relationship with the Bush’s – during a time when George H.W. Bush, faced with huge deficits, was going to levy a large tax increase on the nation, Gingrich was invited for a “photo opp” with then President Bush, where the President and his advisors planned to announce that Gingrich was on board with the President’s plan. Gingrich reminded Bush that he had committed to “no new taxes” promptly left and headed straight to the Halls of Congress where he brokered a deal for a better package with the Congress, including both republicans and Democrats, and basically “stuck it to” George H.W. Bush – Bush lost the election, and there was no forgiveness from the elites for Newt Gingrich – it remains the same today.\
On the Ethics charges, there were the usual 80 plus charges brought against Gingrich, however, the only thing they could prove was that Gingrich neglected to sign off on one piece of paper – that was the charge he was convicted on – failure to sign off on a document.
In his entire Career (which is available in the Congressional Record, granted a slog if one is not into reading legislation for a decade plus, and or roll call votes, but worth it), Gingrich proved through the legislation he wrote and sponsored, through the votes he took and through the number of “grandiose” plans, such as welfare reform and balanced budgets” that he has what it takes to lead a herd of Republican’s, half of which wanted to destroy him vis a vis Bush – to do great things for the American people.
In other words, those who will attack Gingrich truly will have to bend the facts in order to achieve their gains, which will be easily disproven. Which is why, the idiots at the RNC who still harbor this grudge against the man who is best equipped to bring sanity back to our nation, may be prepared to pull a nuclear convention, and elect say, Jeb Bush?
It clearly is a subversion to the process of our Republic that the Republicans’ would even consider doing something so despicable – what should happen: the winner of the most states, and most delegates goes on to the main contest, regardless of whether that person is Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney or Ron Paul – and let the chips fall where they may. After all, had the Democrats let the people have their say, Hillary Clinton would have been president, and chances are this entire GOP field would be a moot point, as one can imagine her decisions would have been far different that those of the President, and she would be looking forward to an easy run in 2012 and a second term.
Gingrich should do well in Florida which has changed from am moderate to a “Tea Party” Conservative mindset – should Florida fall to Newt Gingrich, and then Nevada (don’t discount), Super Tuesday should be divided between Gingrich and Romney with Romney taking a portion of the states, while Gingrich takes the balance. This sets the stage for a repeat of 2008, with Santorum the survivor (playing the role of Mike Huckabee).
There are two debates scheduled next week for Florida, one of which will take place on CNN networks, ahead of the January 31st Florida primary.
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