More Romney campaign theater of the absurd.
The Romney campaign must know that Newt is surging in South Carolina:
“There are some increasing signs — though all of it anecdotal for now — that Newt Gingrich is gaining some momentum three days before the South Carolina primary. First was his strong debate performance on Monday, from which his campaign cut a new TV ad. Second, the Romney campaign today is holding a conference call (featuring former Sen. Jim Talent and former Rep. Susan Molinari) with the sole purpose of hitting Gingrich, and we haven’t seen one of those from the Romney camp since Iowa. And third, Sarah Palin sort of endorsed Gingrich last night.”
In the last 24 hours Romney has unleashed the character assassination campaign which worked so well in Iowa:
Romney has released a new ad called “Undisciplined Leader” and a new website of the same name featuring former New York Congresswoman Susan Molinari.:
Molinari, since leaving the House in the 1990s, has been a full time lobbyist. She also holds bitter family grudges against Newt, as this Miami Herald blog post indicates:
Molinari’s beef with Gingrich has a deeply personal aspect as well. Her husband, former Rep. Bill Paxon, was a top leader in the coup to oust Gingrich in 1997. It failed. Some blame Republican leader Dick Armey, now the leader of tea-party organizer FreedomWorks, for selling out his fellow plotters when he learned that Paxon would be speaker and not him.Paxon mysteriously soon left his post in Congress. It was never clear why.There is a concerted effort to take Bill Paxon out before he becomes a bigger threat to Gingrich than he is,” Hill reporter Sandy Hume reported at the time, according to this Arianna Huffington. “Paxon and Armey haven’t been on speaking terms since the coup.”
As the link above indicates, there was some other really personal nastiness which I’ll not repeat but it’s out there, so read it yourself. Molinari’s father, a former big shot in NY Republican circles, also hates Newt. This all helps explain why Susan Molinari is doing what she’s doing.
Theater of the absurd is an understatement. While Newt was advocating for the Contract with America and helping pass welfare reform and other conservative agenda items, Mitt Romney was running away from almost everything on the conservative agenda.
Read Major Garrett’s column, Romney’s 1994 Problem, featuring numerous clips, including this one:
Mitt Romney was very disciplined in 1994 — against conservatism.
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