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Surrogate Fight Night – Open

Surrogate Fight Night – Open

A variety of things doing in the Stop Newt Express:

  • The Romney campaign is going to use surrogates like Chris Christie to go after Newt: “Campaigning for the former Massachusetts governor in South Florida Thursday, Mr.
    Christie showed he may be the Romney attack dog.”
  • Isn’t that part of the problem, Romney dodging hard interviews and whining about hard questions?  Man up and go after Newt yourself, face to face at the next debate.  If you don’t, you’re Tim Pawlenty.
  • Romney plans to play up his 42 year marriage, with an implied jab at Gingrich.  I don’t think that will work, and in fact it will boomerang.
  • Top Romney Aide Call Gingrich Evil.  And it all dates back to 1985, if you can believe it.
  • Rick Santorum is getting in on the anti-Newt act, although at least he’s doing it himself.
  • Newt, by contrast, has put out the word to his campaign to take the high road.  Newt’s playing chess, the rest are playing checkers.
  • Have you noticed how many Obama backers lately are putting out the word they would rather face Newt?  Sure.
  • Verum Serum has a very weak attack on Newt which nonetheless is getting a lot of linkage (such as by me).  VS fails to acknowledge that there is a huge difference between supporting the concept of GSEs and supporting bad practices at Fannie/Freddie, something I pointed out in a Twitter exchange.

In non-Newt news, Rick Perry has released an ad trying to use his brain freeze as a plus.  Can Perry claw his way back?  I don’t think so, and not because I have anything against him, I don’t.  He just never convinced me that he was ready for the national stage, and apparently I’m not alone as his polling numbers have cratered.  But I do respect him more and more as he fights on and on.

What else?

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Comments

“Have you noticed how many Obama backers lately are putting out the word they would rather face Newt? Sure.”

After watching Newt’s effortless fluency on Hannity I have just three words (and a grunt): Uh-huh. Yeah. Double. Sure.

Zelsdorf Ragshaft III | December 1, 2011 at 7:29 pm

They could put Gingrich/Obama debates on pay per view. It would probably resolve the national debt it would be so widely watched. Gingrich offered to let Obama use his teleprompter. Gingrich will leave Obama babbling over in a corner sucking his thumb after that debate. Gingrich can and will point out the direct line between Obama’s long time association with radicals and his policies and appointments today.

I’m still waiting for the examples of “undisciplined”.

workingclass artist | December 1, 2011 at 7:50 pm

It ain’t over for Perry till he either wins or runs out of money & he’s got a lot of money still. He gave a great speech to the NH legislature. I wouldn’t count him out.

    Thank you Professor for running the Perry ad. I respect you more and more as you give the other candidates more space on your blog. Shows quality of character.
    You know, Governor Perry had back surgery last July. He has stopped wearing his trademark cowboy boots, wearing orthopedic shoes and a back brace. His staff says everything is fine. Governor is our Energizer Bunny. Just keeps on going!
    His faith is strong, he’s got talent, time, and money. Surprises in store at the primary!

I like Perry. Always have. Felt bad when he screwed up in the debates.
Hell, he could be the come back kid! Dunno.
I’m voting ABO: Anyone but Obama.
Country first with me.
And Obama is a DISASTER for this country.

    GrumpyOne in reply to Tamminator. | December 1, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    As a resident Texan, I’ll take issue with supporting a guy that is clearly not ready for prime time, soft on illegal immigration and his penchant to ram junk bond financed toll roads.

    I am no for one minute fooled by his slickter tactics and bullying demeanor.

    The Democrats would wipe the floor with him despite the failures of Obama…

      boone in reply to GrumpyOne. | December 1, 2011 at 8:54 pm

      It’s fine not to like Perry, but I’m not going to stay silent while you lie about his record.

      First of all, Perry has done more to secure the border than every other candidate combined. Secondly, his stance towards illegal immigrants is stricter than Newt’s and Romney’s who both have supported some form of amnesty. Perry supports a guest worker program which would allow for temporary residence in the US but also require ultimately returning. Romney and Newt, when denying their support for amnesty, support plans for permanent residence.

      Second of all, Perry has more executive experience than any of the other candidates, and it isn’t even close. Your not ready for primetime line is out of place. He has had some bad debate moments, and so has pretty much every candidate on stage. Mitt’s recent interview with Bret Baier was more gaffetastic than anything Perry has done this Campaign, and he fully acknowledged his mistake, instead of whining that the media wasn’t being fair to him. He still hasn’t done anything nearly as stupid as sitting on the couch with Nancy Pelosi or calling Paul Ryan’s plan rightwing social engineering.

      Perry isn’t a great debater, but he has improved markedly in his recent debates. Frankly, I would rather have the guy who plans on showing that conservatism works than one who can give all the merits of conservative views on paper but has no plans on implementing any of them.

        Joy in reply to boone. | December 1, 2011 at 9:00 pm

        Dittos ^

        Joy in reply to boone. | December 1, 2011 at 9:33 pm

        I find it so sad that the average voter will cast their vote for someone who is “ready for the national stage” rather than take the time to learn the true record of who they choose to elect and vote for the smoothest talker or the one with the best sound bites…if I recall correctly, that’s how we ended up with Obama 🙁

        GrumpyOne in reply to boone. | December 1, 2011 at 9:53 pm

        boone Said on December 1, 2011 at 8:54 pm

        “It’s fine not to like Perry, but I’m not going to stay silent while you lie about his record.”

        Lie??? Exactly what did I lie about?

        “First of all, Perry has done more to secure the border than every other candidate combined. Secondly, his stance towards illegal immigrants is stricter than Newt’s and Romney’s who both have supported some form of amnesty. Perry supports a guest worker program which would allow for temporary residence in the US but also require ultimately returning. Romney and Newt, when denying their support for amnesty, support plans for permanent residence.”

        First, Perry’s feeble attempts at border security haven’t a gnat’s impact regarding the infiltration of illegals in Texas. It might make good political sense but other than that, it’s all show.

        Second, Perry’s score with NumbersUSA is a D as compared to C- for Romney and D- for Gingrich which is pretty close company.

        Third, despite his “enlightening” that occurred during the last legislative session which is populated by a bullet proof Republican majority he could not get them to pass E-Verify of punish sanctuary cities.

        Fourth, I’d call his guiding the Texas “Dream Act” a pretty good indicator of his mindset.

        “Second of all, Perry has more executive experience than any of the other candidates, and it isn’t even close. Your not ready for primetime line is out of place. He has had some bad debate moments, and so has pretty much every candidate on stage. Mitt’s recent interview with Bret Baier was more gaffetastic than anything Perry has done this Campaign, and he fully acknowledged his mistake, instead of whining that the media wasn’t being fair to him. He still hasn’t done anything nearly as stupid as sitting on the couch with Nancy Pelosi or calling Paul Ryan’s plan rightwing social engineering.”

        Sorry, but I would give the nod to Romney when it comes to executive experience or Sarah Palin.

        Now, if you would bother to read my other posts regarding this “open” session, you would find that I’m not a fan of either Romney OR Gingrich.

        “Perry isn’t a great debater, but he has improved markedly in his recent debates. Frankly, I would rather have the guy who plans on showing that conservatism works than one who can give all the merits of conservative views on paper but has no plans on implementing any of them.”

        The ability to debate is important in that it shows how well prepared a person might be, how he handles impromptu discussions etc. With that, I will reiterate that I’m not pro Perry at all and now find myself just waiting it out.

        Certainly, you’ll agree that Obama must go and even Donald Trump would be better…

          spartan in reply to GrumpyOne. | December 1, 2011 at 10:19 pm

          The ability to debate is important in that it shows how well prepared a person might be, how he handles impromptu discussions etc. With that, I will reiterate that I’m not pro Perry at all and now find myself just waiting it out.

          Well, that shows how much you know about debates. These are not debates as much as they are sound bites. Some folks are good at packaging an answer in 30 seconds; others are not. You think that is what is required to be POTUS?
          This is not American Idol but that is what it has become. Careers are now made with a 3 minute song. If you go off key for 3 seconds, your career is done. If that is what you want in our political system, that is fine. Don’t be surprised whenever you make a bad post on the world stage of LI, that others will toss brickbats at you for being off …… key.

          BTW, can you enlighten us how the governors of NM, AZ, and CA are doing a much better job than Perry of halting illegal immigration?

          GrumpyOne in reply to GrumpyOne. | December 2, 2011 at 1:23 pm

          spartan said (I said):

          The ability to debate is important in that it shows how well prepared a person might be, how he handles impromptu discussions etc. With that, I will reiterate that I’m not pro Perry at all and now find myself just waiting it out.

          “Well, that shows how much you know about debates. These are not debates as much as they are sound bites. Some folks are good at packaging an answer in 30 seconds; others are not.”

          No one forced any of the candidates to attend any the debates as offered. That said, their answers were important as indicators of position or knowledge thereof.

          “You think that is what is required to be POTUS?”

          Um, it played a major role in getting Obama elected.

          “This is not American Idol but that is what it has become. Careers are now made with a 3 minute song. If you go off key for 3 seconds, your career is done. If that is what you want in our political system, that is fine. Don’t be surprised whenever you make a bad post on the world stage of LI, that others will toss brickbats at you for being off …… key.”

          Yet, it’s life and the way things work…

          BTW, can you enlighten us how the governors of NM, AZ, and CA are doing a much better job than Perry of halting illegal immigration?

          Sure, AZ has taken to correct steps to limit the effects of illegal immigration. Why do you think the administration is fighting it so hard?

          NM and CA are not on *my* list as doing anywhere near to a good job…

      spartan in reply to GrumpyOne. | December 1, 2011 at 10:04 pm

      Soft on immigration?

      Why did Sheriff Joe endorse Perry?

      Please be more specific …

        thekatzemeow in reply to spartan. | December 2, 2011 at 3:21 am

        “Soft on immigration?

        Why did Sheriff Joe endorse Perry?”

        Sheriff Joe CAN NOT be trusted for political endorsements.
        As I posted in another thread:

        Having been my sheriff for a long time I respect him in that role. Knowing he endorsed Janet Napolitano when she ran for gov of AZ in 2002 and Phx Mayor Phil Gordon in 2003, I pay ZERO attention to his political endorsements.

        “Napolitano became a rising star in the Democratic Party when she became governor of Arizona in 2002. She narrowly defeated Republican Matt Salmon, a former congressman, giving Arizona (and the United States) the first ever back-to-back female governors of a state (she succeeded Republican Jane Dee Hull). Her campaign was helped by Arpaio’s endorsement and appearance in a television ad, and Napolitano continued her hands-off policy towards the sheriff’s controversial ways while she served as governor.”
        http://www.allgov.com/Official/Napolitano__Janet

          spartan in reply to thekatzemeow. | December 2, 2011 at 9:06 am

          That response does not answer either question but it appears many from both parties seek his endorsement.

          thekatzemeow in reply to thekatzemeow. | December 2, 2011 at 1:26 pm

          I don’t know enough about Perry to answer your question. I was mearly pointing out that using Sheriff Joe’s endorsement as proof that Perry is strong on imigration only shows that you know not of Joe’s past endorsements. Sheriff Joe is fantastic at enforcing the current laws in Arizona, however he has a history of publicly supporting others who will help HIM politically not because they do the right thing.

        GrumpyOne in reply to spartan. | December 2, 2011 at 1:27 pm

        Even good guys like Sheriff Joe, (Who I consider a hero), can make mistakes or be duped.

        I think that thekatzemeow said it best though.

        Perry has a lot of lobbyist money and believe me, he’s one slippery character.

        Do a little research…

I think that Gingrich is setting himself up for a big fall along with the fact that he is out of touch with what most Americans are thinking.

His illegal immigration stance is abysmal, (see: https://www.numbersusa.com/content/nusablog/beckr/november-23-2011/gingrich-shows-compassion-illegal-aliens-he-helped-stay-rooted-us.ht? ), and his ego is already puffing up.

All that baggage is going to haunt him…

DINORightMarie | December 1, 2011 at 8:46 pm

On the political front, nothing you haven’t covered. As @Tamminator said, I am a firm ABO person, but I agree that Newt has earned his front-runner status, as I’ve said before. However, if Perry surges, or even if Mitt recovers, I will vote for either one – gladly! ABO, baby, ABO.

On another topic, there is this Andy Stern editorial in the WSJ where he is touting China as the golden model nation for the 21st century. Andy Stern, former SEIU leader, who believes in the “persuasion of power” to solve problems, and a mega-frequent visitor to the White House.

His Communist love is outed now for all to see.

Actually, on Mark Levin’s show tonight, Mark mentioned that a friend emailed him and remarked that he thought Stern was outlining Mussolini’s fascism. (Really!!) Very telling, since Stern is such a buddy of Obama’s, such a staunch ally and supporter.

That should give Newt some new material for his overview of what the “community organizer” really is. 😉

Love Perry. Will settle for Newt.

Romney is the embodiment of everything wrong with the Republican Party.

DINORightMarie | December 1, 2011 at 9:09 pm

Also of note: Cain will be (is!) on Hannity tonight, and Sarah Palin will, too. 🙂

I wonder how many “takes” it took to get Perry to look/act that good?

Next to politics, advertising is the other less-than-truthful enterprise.

Just sayin’…

Mr. Jacobson, you missed the part where Newt has already declared victory.

Yes, he has won the primary, before even a single vote has been cast, no less! And Newt didn’t back down when questioned about that. Keep talking, Newt, remind everyone how arrogant you are.

The LAST thing we need is another president who genuinely thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. “I know what’s best for you, so get in the back seat and shut up.”

    GrumpyOne in reply to Astroman. | December 1, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    Bingo!

    My thoughts exactly.

    Now, for the big fall…

    Now the democrat attack machine can switch from destroying Cain to focusing on Gingrich!

    Oh what a tricky web we weave..

      Astroman in reply to GrumpyOne. | December 1, 2011 at 10:13 pm

      Sorry, GrumpyOne, Newt’s head is “too big to fail.”

      Seriously, given that every other front runner has cratered, and even Romney is now taking on water, Newt actually believes it can’t happen to him. Why? Apparently because he’s too smart.

      Does Gingrich seriously think we are that stupid to believe his lie that he was paid 1.6 million for a history lesson? Earth to Newt, there are better historians out there. Do you think it might possibly have ANYTHING to do with Newt’s political connections? NAH.

      The fact is, Newt was in the pocket of Fannie and Freddie as they took down the American economy, and he made money doing it, too. Newt IS the problem. Newt really believes we are stupid enough to buy his lie about his role.

      If Perry thinks you’re heartless, Newt thinks you’re stupid.

        GrumpyOne in reply to Astroman. | December 2, 2011 at 1:34 pm

        I think you have a real good handle on this.

        If the smartest of the bunch falls, where does that leave us?

        My guess is Romney. If so some folks might compare him to McRino but is this a fair assessment?

        McRino was and is a career political hack. Romney is not.

        McRino did badly in the debates with Obama and my guess that Romney would do much better.

        McRino had no executive experience and limited the exposure of his running mate who had such experience. Romney has a proven record of executive experience in the private sector.

        So, it all boils down to…

Personally, I sick to death with surrogates doing the attacking. It just shows that the candidate is cowardly.
Mitt, just like Obama, is a coward.

    GrumpyOne in reply to Neo. | December 2, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    Or are you upset that Romney chose an able attack dog?

    I love Christie’s demeanor. I don’t like his views regarding human caused climate change and illegal immigration.

    Nevertheless, Christie is more than adequate to take on Obama…

Felt like an ad for Cialis or Viagara.

    Sorry – I chopped off my last comment. What I meant to add was the next President is going to face truly horrible situations in Egypt, Iran and Pakistan – maybe more dangerous than anything Roosevelt faced before WWII, since there were no nukes or biowarfare in the 1930s. I would love for the candidates to address the situation in these three countries more than they have.

1. Newt, by contrast, has put out the word to his campaign to take the high road. Newt’s playing chess, the rest are playing checkers.

And he’s following the 11th Commandment.

2. Have you noticed how many Obama backers lately are putting out the word they would rather face Newt?

Similarly, so it’s said, the Carter people wanted to run against Reagan in 1980.

Gingrich is no Reagan, but, as Instapundit keeps noting, Obama is shaping up to be worse than Carter.

3. @GrumpyOne: I think that Gingrich is setting himself up for a big fall along with the fact that he is out of touch with what most Americans are thinking. (p)His illegal immigration stance is abysmal…

A nation that refuses to secure its borders or finances, while fully capable of doing so, does not deserve to survive. The sword of Damocles will drop sooner or later.

Notwithstanding what some people I respect would have me believe, I’m not sold on the existential importance of this election. Given how things are shaping up, we may be offered a choice between different rates of national decline. Slow decline is better than fast decline, but…

4. Paul : Gingrich 2012 :: Nader : Gore 2000 ?

5. Despite my reservations above (and others), I am more inclined to roll the dice on Gingrich than on Romney or Palin. I have never forgotten that Romney did not run for reelection in 2006 and I will never forget that Palin resigned.

6. Can Perry claw his way back? I don’t think so, and not because I have anything against him, I don’t…But I do respect him more and more as he fights on and on.

Perry may be positioning himself for a potential opportunity in 2016.

    GrumpyOne in reply to gs. | December 2, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    “Perry may be positioning himself for a potential opportunity in 2016.”

    I don’t think so… My feeling is that he will be all but forgotten by that date.

    Add to that the fact that he has a considerable amount of excess baggage that the democrats would exploit should he decide to resurrect himself…

The question isn’t ‘who among the GOP would make the best candidate against Obama?’ The question is ‘who *among the following* would make the best candidate against Obama: Gingrich, Romney, Cain, Perry, Bachmann, Paul, Santorum, or Huntsman?’ Not a single perfect, wartfree, pure as snow candidate there that I can see. Few would disagree, yet all we do is point out the warts on each other’s favorites.

I suspect Perry entered the race hoping, of course, for the nomination, but after nosediving, reset his sights on becoming the then ‘inevitable’ Romney’s VP. I think this is why he fights on despite nary a hint of resurgence.

I strongly doubt Ron Paul would make a third party run. Despite his iconoclastic history, he remains loyal to the GOP, fully understands a third party run may well guarantee an Obama second term, and is unlikely to do anything that might damage son Rand’s future political fortunes, which are currently quite promising.

As for Romney….. he’s the Stepford Candidate.

Re: Gingrich’s ‘baggage’, particularly the morality issue vis-a-vis his previous infidelities…. Keep in mind that one feature in people for which social conservatives and evangelicals bear a soft spot in their hearts is the redeemed sinner. Newt did what he did, quit doing it, and converted to Catholicism, with all apparent sincerity. Such rebirths are strongly approved among the large numbers of social conservatives and evangelicals who make up a considerable primary voting bloc in Iowa, South Carolina, and Florida, among other southern and southwestern states. Certain types of baggage can become a blessing in certain circles.

    Professor Jacobson…….great discussions but not much content about surrogates….I suspect it’s because most of us don’t care about who is the latest attack dog in this race…..I think you should have named this discussion Fight Night 😉

    ” . . . Gingrich’s ‘baggage’, particularly the morality issue vis-a-vis his previous infidelities . . . ”

    I was surprised to learn – only lately – that a lot of that “morality”-centric hospital-bedside set of tales that eventually became The Story of Newt in our collective memories was made up out of whole cloth (Newt thinks he knows by who), so at least some of the pause-giving parts of The Story shouldn’t. Give pause, I mean.

I find it hilarious that so many people who can’t stand John McCain’s guts are so far in the tank for Newt. They are essentially the same guy.

Both have strongly conservative voting records, but would go out of their way to back stab conservatives on a few important issues. Both are very arrogant, and both are total suckers for anything “green.”

Beyond that, McCain’s apostasies are perhaps more easily predictable, while Newt just goes rogue when he gets a wild hair up his anus.

But both love to disparage conservatives, to twist the knife. Neither can just disagree, they MUST be right and the conservatives who oppose them MUST be wrong and treated as if they were zombies breaking in the door.

Remember, Gingrich wasn’t thrown out of the Speaker’s chair by Democrats, he quit because his own caucus wouldn’t support him anymore.

    janitor in reply to Estragon. | December 2, 2011 at 12:57 am

    Newt just goes rogue when he gets a wild hair up his anus.

    Could you provide an example of this, please?

    SmokeVanThorn in reply to Estragon. | December 2, 2011 at 9:35 am

    List all of the ways McCain went “maverick,” then list all of the issues on which Gingrich took non-conservative stances. Does the comparison support your contention?

I was getting the famous thrill up my leg when Newt started showing up at these debate thingies at the beginning. I have always (I’m 55, for context of “always”) thought that, if he could somehow control one certain side of his personality – if he could avoid incidents or discussions or relationships that might somehow involve the use of the word “tantrum” – he could really hit his stride (finally) and do us a lot of good.

I’d love to see him come out and describe what really went on in Clinton’s AirForceOne aisle that day – in a spirit of honest full disclosure – and then (if warranted) tell us that he feels he’s matured quite a bit since then, that he recognizes now that he used to get a little too full of himself, and he’s embarrassed about times like that. That would be evidence of a self-awareness that was maybe weak twenty years or so ago, and would allow some of us oldsters
to relax a bit.

I don’t mind if he still occasionally looks like he thinks he’s the smartest person in the room. He usually is. But it’s jarring when a person starts throwing that out as a dismissive shorthand for “no, I already have the answer for that, let’s move on.” Newt lacks patience for muddled or lazy thought (and his threshold for these is a bit higher than yours or mine) and sometimes he forgets how not to communicate that fact.

If he’s figured all that out, he’ll be better than before. And he had an impressive “before.”

    Astroman in reply to bobby b. | December 2, 2011 at 8:02 am

    bobby b, Newt is convinced he is the smarter and knows better than everyone else. Behold the arrogance of Newt:

    GINGRICH: “They are not going to be the nominee. I don’t have to go around and point out the inconsistencies of people who are not going to be the nominee. They are not going to be the nominee.”

    TAPPER: “You are going to be the nominee?”

    GINGRICH: “I’m going to be the nominee.

    Even Jake Tapper appears to be stunned and asks the question just to make sure he heard Newt correctly.

    Now my itty-bitty brain may not be anywhere near as brilliant as Newt’s, but even I’m not stupid enough to declare victory before even a single vote is cast.

    And this is true, even if one were to believe Newt is highly likely to win – it is an incredibly stupid thing to say. And given the polling throughout this primary, it is an incredibly stupid thing to believe, too.

    We already have a president who thinks he’s a lot smarter than he already is. We don’t need another.

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