I didn't watch it. 9:00 pm is too late a start for this early bird. (Brian Williams would have sent me to dreamland within the first five minutes, anyway.) I gather it wasn't the battle of the titans so many had hoped for. But I think Romney scored a palpable hit here:
Santorum's moment here. Of course he's right. Does it matter?
But if you want real entertainment, watch Sarah Palin cut Chris Christie off at the knees, mom-style:
Poor Chris!
(The Right Scoop has the entire Palin interview here.)
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Update: I just read some of the transcript of the Palin interview. She was quite serious about that "rookie mistake":
I think if Chris were asked about some of his past actions, taking a state helicopter to his kid’s baseball game, some people may say, well, that sort of embarrassed your party, Chris. And he would then be on the receiving end of a comment that maybe he wished that somebody kept as an inside thought and not blasting that to the rest of the nation. He’s been in office a year or two is all, and he’ll learn that the media goad you. They want you to say things like that in order to boost ratings and make it more of a reality show-type scenario that we’re watching in the GOP primary. And a comment like that just kind of played right on into that narrative.”She goes on to defend Newt's record, back in the day, of conservative action. At least he's got something to point to, which is more than you can say for Romney.
He just produced an ad for the Democrats.
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See comments on whether Newt has actually embarrassed the Republican party, assuming it's capable of being embarrassed.
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Come on... Christie is right. Newt did embarrass the party in significant ways that a state-funded helicopter ride just doesn't rival.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, I agree, that if the Republican party is capable of being embarrassed, Newt has embarrassed it.
ReplyDeleteBut I think Sarah was also correct, that this was a rookie mistake, politically speaking.
What I mean is that he has dramatically embarrassed the Republican party, such as it is. Frankly.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I think they all stink. That said, what Newt has done is stand up and say enough. One of my biggest complaints against Dubbya was the fact that his white house allowed the left and the media make the narrative. He never stood up to the lies. He says that he felt it was beneath the office. Ok, maybe true. But conservatives have had just about as much as they can take of being portrayed as ignorant idiots in every possible venue.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, appreciate that.
Newt isn't perfect. Far from it as a matter of fact. But he is good for the party at the moment. We need someone to stand up and get our viewpoints out there. I firmly believe that conservatives win when the truth is told. We just don't have too many telling that truth.
Christie was talking about the ethics investigations put up by Wackjob David Bonior. One after another after another, talking mostly about "the appearance of impropriety", the persecution funded with taxpayer dollars, the defense funded by Newt's wallet. The same thing happened to Palin in AK, so she knows whereof she speaks.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, Chris-2-4, a state-funded helicopter ride not only rivalled but topped all the petty "appearance of impropriety" complaints that Gingrich had to pay 300K to make go away.
So what's Christie right about? Newt embarrassed the party when he sat with Pelosi on Global Warming - but Christie's a Warmer too. He should shut his face.
Walt, it's hard to tell because you appear to be using alot of sarcasm that doesn't quite come through in text, but if you think the only "embarrassment" Newt may have caused the GOP is the ethics investigation (which you blow off) and sitting on the couch with Pelosi, then I don't know what to tell you. Except... there's plenty more where those came from.
ReplyDeleteSarcasm? I tried to be clear, let me try again.
ReplyDeleteI do "blow off" the Dem ethics investigations. Bonior's a commie thug, and the Dems' criminalization of politics shouldn't be helped along by Christie. The GOP should have united behind Gingrich and Delay and Palin, but too often our Establishment pols use the Dems like a rock to scrape Conservative barnicles off the hull. (That's why we get MSM moderators at GOP debates.)
I was for Bachmann, now I'm for Santorum. But I dislike this silly sniping at Newt - and the using of Dem talking points. (Didn't like it when Newt went after Bain Capital for the same reason.)
The problem with Newt is he ain't a Movement guy - we have no idea what he'll say next week. Maybe he'll pick up on the fact that people love it when he articulates Conservatism and grow into it....
As for embarrassments, I don't think his divorces are my business. Lots of people here on Jill's blog think that keeping marriage vows is the insuperable test of character. I respectfully disagree.
Here's from Byron York:
ReplyDelete"Given all the attention to the ethics matter, it's worth asking what actually happened back in 1995, 1996, and 1997. The Gingrich case was extraordinarily complex, intensely partisan, and driven in no small way by a personal vendetta on the part of one of Gingrich's former political opponents. It received saturation coverage in the press; a database search of major media outlets revealed more than 10,000 references to Gingrich's ethics problems during the six months leading to his reprimand. It ended with a special counsel hired by the House Ethics Committee holding Gingrich to an astonishingly strict standard of behavior, after which Gingrich in essence pled guilty to two minor offenses. Afterwards, the case was referred to the Internal Revenue Service, which conducted an exhaustive investigation into the matter. And then, after it was all over and Gingrich was out of office, the IRS concluded that Gingrich did nothing wrong. After all the struggle, Gingrich was exonerated."
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/what-really-happened-gingrich-ethics-case/336051