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Shake it and start over

Shake it and start over

Robert Costa says Newt’s not going to drop out:

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We’re beating a dead horse here.

As I predicted last fall, Newt flamed out mostly due to his baggage, (which was nothing new), in addition to his late substandard debate performances along with some grandiose proposals.

He lost touch with the masses and they reacted pure and simple.

I’m thankful that this whole pre-convention nonsense is about over…

You know, there was a time in this country when candidates entered and stayed in the race for the sole purpose of bringing issues to light, and garnering support of–in order to force the party to adopt said issue, and be include in the party plank.

Now-

You can’t win, get out!

If Newt stays in for the sole purpose of making Romney, the party–the country–actively pursue $2.50 gas..

Good for him.

Good for us.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this is the Newt that could’ve won the nomination. Romney’s negative ads notwithstanding, Angry Newt killed President Newt.

His candidacy for 2012 is effectively over. The odds of him denying Romney the nomination in a delegate battle are so long you might as well bet on lighting strikes. But who am I to tell him to get out … the man’s wanted to be President for his entire adult life.

    GrumpyOne in reply to Ryan. | March 21, 2012 at 9:16 pm

    You’re exactly right.

    Newt will be Newt and that’s fine.

    But for those who complained that Romney “bombed” them back into the stone age, what do those same people expect Obama to do in the *real* campaign?

    Running for president is not for mere mortals. At least not anymore..

      imfine in reply to GrumpyOne. | March 22, 2012 at 11:23 am

      Despite your “imminent” victory gloating, you come off as someone who doesn’t care his candidate is nothing more than an empty shirt. I would say you even revel in Romney’s willingness to basically be that etcha sketch. Romney apparently being the candidate of the uniformed voter, what do you expect to see if he wins presidency and finally shows us whats behind the curtain?

        wodiej in reply to imfine. | March 22, 2012 at 4:05 pm

        that is a person who does not care about someone’s core values or principles. Win at any cost, tear your opponents to shreds even when it’s dishonest and buy victory with money if necessary.

IFFFF it’s all the same to y’all, I would like the choice to send some Newt delegates to the convention by casting my vote for an active candidate.

And even if it’s NOT all the same…

Ouch – this could hurt: Ronmey’s “Etch-A-Sketch” Fake (?) Ad

H/T The Other McCain
http://theothermccain.com/

Brilliant. He needs to take this toy with him everywhere. Santorum too. “Etch-a-Sketch” is the word from now on.

Sorry – wrong link

This is it:

Romney: The Etch A Sketch Candidate

    Uncle Samuel in reply to alan markus. | March 21, 2012 at 8:47 pm

    About AmericanBridgePAC.org the group that made the Etch-A-Sketch ad: “American Bridge 21st Century is a progressive research and communications organization committed to holding Republicans accountable for their words and actions and helping you ascertain when Republican candidates are pretending to be something they’re not.”

    Not a moment too soon.

    Sounds like this: “From today through Election Day, November 6, 2012, we will vet this president–and his rivals.” http://www.breitbart.com/

    Yet another brave team of folks, “Being Breitbart.”

    Let the vetting continue.

It isn’t over until the etch a sketch is voted on in Texas and other non-rino states. We’ll see how the etch a sketch holds up until June. We all deserve a say in this nomination.

http://www.newt.org/2012/03/13/baker-evans-strategy-mem

The infantry mentality doesn’t give up – it forges ahead no matter how bleak it appears, and I repeat – appears. Things that are worth doing are often difficult. It isn’t over.

Choose muscle – Vote Newt

Certo!

strawberrygirl | March 21, 2012 at 4:53 pm

Remember how people showed up at Kerry events with flip flops? I see leftists showing up at Romney events shaking etch-a-sketches.

NC Mountain Girl | March 21, 2012 at 5:17 pm

Newt’s not playing to voters. He’s playing to Republican county chairmen and state central committeemen who can’t be all that happy today. Illinois turnout was abysmally low. Low turnout in a hotly contested primary is a strong predictor of low turnout in November. Second that CNN clip not only undercut every positive thing Mitt said in his speech last night, it suggested the candidate is not in full control of his campaign message.

Remember the Democrat insiders who gave the final nod in 2008 to Obama didn’t do so because they liked him. They feared black voters staying home in November would cost them their own jobs. The lack of enthusiasm among the base for frontrunner Romney has to be giving Republican insiders a collective ulcer.

Such glee over a relatively minor gaffe by an advisor shows more how of how desperate Gingrich is for any break at all after another fourth place finish behind Ron Paul than anything else.

    CWLsun in reply to Confutus. | March 21, 2012 at 7:14 pm

    Minor slip…..by advisor Eric Fehrnstrom. Good one. Bye, Eric.

      Uncle Samuel in reply to CWLsun. | March 21, 2012 at 8:53 pm

      Goodbye Eric is right. Remember how quickly Romney fired the helpful debate coach? Remember he really LIKES firing people.

    Ragspierre in reply to Confutus. | March 21, 2012 at 8:26 pm

    In a round-up of reaction to what he calls “the Kinsleyan gaffe of the year thus far,” Allahpundit adds…

    Oh, yeah…

    that one is going away…

    like the half-life of plutonium…

Have we talked about MESSAGING lately…???

I mean, HOLY CRAP…

Etch-A-Sketch…???

Let me guess: Flash?

Flash sucks sobad Apple devices won’t show it.

No Flash.

I think the people of Louisiana and Texas will have a big say about Mitt Romney.

They will say…….NO WAY, NO MITT!

I believe Santorum and Newt will score big with this.

I was very happy to see both of them jump on this right away.

MaggotAtBroadAndWall | March 21, 2012 at 6:11 pm

That clip made me want to hurl.

It validates what most of us suspected: that Willard’s sudden conversion to conservatism was phony and simply a campaign tactic to fool us wingnuts into voting for him. Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge and Ramesh Ponnuru must be proud of their complicity in perpetuating the sham that is Willard.

    MaggotAtBroadAndWall in reply to MaggotAtBroadAndWall. | March 21, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    I did not mean the clip of Newt made me sick. I meant the clip of the top Willard campaign spokesman on CNN saying Willard will have a new campaign in the general election.

    I so wish the rest of our country would take we simpletons down here in dogpatch, SC for our wisdom in voting for Newt. He may have some baggage but he sure does make my Democrat and RINO elitist friends go into a rage at the mere mention of his name.

9thDistrictNeighbor | March 21, 2012 at 6:20 pm

Proud to have voted for Newt yesterday.

Let’s start with the 13 “Red” states (i.e., the states won by the GOP in the last 3 presidential elections) to vote so far: SC, MO, AZ, WY, AK, GA, ID, ND, OK, TN, KS, AL & MS. Here’s how the vote breaks down, out of 4,052,212 votes cast:

Newt 30.4% (2 wins)
Romney 30.2% (4 wins)
Santorum 29.1% (7 wins)
Paul 8.5%

If we combine the votes for the 5 conservative and two moderate candidates as explained here*, we get the following:

Conservative bloc: 60.3%
Moderate bloc: 30.4%

From RedState…

BurkeanBadger | March 21, 2012 at 7:02 pm

Here’s my bold prediction: In a week (possibly less) this will be long forgotten. It was a minor gaffe by a staff member, nothing more. And while technically a “gaffe” because of the way it was stated, the idea behind it is true. ALL presidential candidates track to the center (or at least attempt to). Gingrich would do the same thing were he to win the nomination. Ultimately, America is a center-right nation, but the emphasis is on “center”. Neither party can ever win the Presidency without appealing to the muddled middle, as fickle and mercurial as it may be. This is why Democratic activists and the MSM have made Herculean efforts to portray Obama as quite moderate and mainstream, and shouted down anyone who dared challenge this portrayal.

More importantly, voters of all parties and ideologies understand this. So, a gaffe in that it was worded badly. But hardly earth shattering

Yes, yes, I know: Given Romney’s trouble with convincing people he has firm political beliefs of any sort, this makes for a cute metaphor. And at this point, you can’t blame Gingrich for trying. But honestly, the whole thing is pure kitsch. It’s prime fodder for late night talk shows until Kim Kardashian, Snooki or a Real Housewife do something embarrassing again. That’s about it.

Romney will be the nominee folks; no brokered convention. To quote a past nominee: You know it, I know it and the American people know it.

    scooterjay in reply to BurkeanBadger. | March 21, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    ……and Algae is a viable replacement for oil!

    SeanInLI in reply to BurkeanBadger. | March 21, 2012 at 7:55 pm

    “In a week (possibly less) this will be long forgotten…”

    Nope. This is the kind of gaffe that sticks around for the whole campaign. You know it, I know it, and the American people know it.

    NC Mountain Girl in reply to BurkeanBadger. | March 21, 2012 at 8:39 pm

    Unfortunately what the American middle knows is the more they see of Romney the less they like because he is a negative campaigner with no corp beliefs.

    Illinois should be a wake up call for the pro-Romney people and the electability theme. It’s an open primary. If Romney has so much strength with independent voters why was Illinois turnout at a record low?

    Scorpio51 in reply to BurkeanBadger. | March 21, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    Not for one minute will this be forgotten.

    Do you actually think Axelrod hasn’t already jumped on this?

      Henry Hawkins in reply to Scorpio51. | March 22, 2012 at 11:10 am

      All of a sudden ‘bold’ = ‘stupid’, lol.

      The DNC had an ad out on the internet featuring this E-a-S gaffe within an hour, lol. This will be a staple Obama topic against Romney.

Two names just crossed my mind:

Ed Muskie. Gary Hart.

Both frontrunners, both undone by a bolt from the blue that resonated with the public. Then again, Bill Clinton survived one.

We’ll see.

Newt is a bit of a stone-thrower in a glass house. How many times has he done an Etch-a-Sketch reboot on his marriage/career/religion?

It is unmistakably true that the General elections will proceed on a much different political vein than the Primary elections, for example Obama will switch to his “Oh what a wonderful job I’ve done for the US, I need four more years to really make my legacy, this Mit fellow only wants to steal your money and leave you out in the cold to freeze to death without health care, he’s rich and evil and should be taxed into poverty to pay for your free stuff.” as opposed to his present strategy of…um… Well, maybe O won’t change his tune much after all.

    imfine in reply to georgfelis. | March 22, 2012 at 11:17 am

    I think there is a difference between a thoughtful and honest person who changes his mind upon life experience and changing evidence, and someone who will say anything to anyone to get elected. The fact that people changes their mind is a sign of commitment to self improvement and the ability to reach out and let the world influence you. Romney’s campaign is about building a monument to Romney. Completely ego driven.

The etch-a-sketch is such a brilliant metaphor it could only have been created by accidental genius.

It’s instantly recognizable to everybody over 35, carries multiple messages that don’t require a word to convey, and unlike other campaign metaphors like flip-flops or chicken costumes (Bush Sr.), this one has an actual screen!

Put an etch-a-sketch in place of the Romney-bot’s head in TV ads and you can use its screen to say anything you want it to, and the changeable-erasable nature of it fits right into an already established (partly self-defined) image of Romney-bot as someone with no true identity, willing to become whatever anybody wants.

Ad gurus are paid tens of thousands of dollars to come up with this kind of genius.

Romney’s campaign boy just gave an incredibly valuable gift to Newt, Santorum, and Obama.

Newt and Santorum can play with the etch-a-sketch right now, while the Obama campaign observes, to fine-tune better and more subtle themes later.

Yes….this ‘could’ be a short-term gaffe, but it has serious long-term potential.

If this had happened in September, the Romney-bot would be headed for the scrap heap.

As it is, I’ll bet the Obama campaign folks are high-fiving each other and jumping for joy.

I don’t really care if what was said was a gaffe, taken out of context, misinterpreted…blah, blah, blah. Romney was a liberal before the remark and will always be one.