Byron York has been one of the few level heads throughout the primaries. There’s no point in naming names, since I’ve done that plenty, but so many in the alleged conservative punditry and media put in abysmal performances.
This post shines, With his serious talk, Gingrich elevated GOP race:
Watching Newt Gingrich’s graceful and low-key withdrawal from the presidential race Wednesday, it was hard not to think back to January, in Columbia, S.C., when he drew a wall-to-wall, fired-up crowd to celebrate his blowout victory in that state’s primary.
Stop right there. “Graceful and low-key withdrawal.” Exactly, a point I made the other day and which the Newt-hating pundits tried to spin into something else.
But even with his raging resentment toward Romney’s tactics [in Florida], Gingrich could still shine on the stump. In Cape Canaveral, he delivered a remarkably good speech on space policy; it was smart, filled with substance, even inspiring. A few days later, Romney came to the Space Coast and delivered a lackluster message that mostly showed he had no space policy at all. And after that, Romney, the man with no ideas on space, mocked Gingrich for having ideas, saying if he were still in business he would fire Gingrich for coming up with a crazy plan like establishing a base on the moon.Gingrich, usually quick on his feet, thought of a good comeback only later. Romney, he said, “is the kind of guy who would have fired Christopher Columbus.”Gingrich never recovered from Romney’s thrashing in Florida, although he later won his home state of Georgia by a huge margin….
I sensed, and knew in my heart, that it was over for Newt after Florida. But I wasn’t going to turn on a candidate just because someone else was better on the attack, had more money, more media friends, and more political weaponry.
In an organizational sense, Gingrich never really had much of a campaign. But he is a serious man who has accomplished big things in his life, and his presence made the race a more substantial affair. And it’s fair to say Romney became a better candidate after facing the Gingrich challenge. Even those Republicans who never wanted Gingrich to win should be glad he ran.
Damn straight.
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