Mad Mitt Beyond BlunderDome

A previous post expressed my concern that Mitt Romney lacked the good sense and sound judgement, if not the virtue that might have prevented him from sinking to this level. Evidently my concern was well founded. Emphasis mine.

Mitt Romney: Newt Gingrich is a ‘failed leader,’ ‘disgrace’

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – Mitt Romney landed here Sunday with a simple message: Newt Gingrich is a failure and a fraud. And a disgrace. And a hapless showman. Standing under a brilliant orange Florida sunset, Romney delivered his longest sustained critique of the South Carolina primary winner to date – ticking through a list as if he were reading off Gingrich’s Wikipedia page, and undercutting each item as he got to it. 

There will be time to say more, if this is to be Romney's Modus operandi in Florida. For now, it's unclear if he's confusing demonstrating passion in the more positive aspects of his message with angrily spewing slander, or if we're seeing the flailing of a desperate candidate who perhaps thought the GOP nomination was his for the asking before being trounced so completely in South Carolina by former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Whichever it is, it's most un-Presidential and runs contrary to the finely crafted image his army of consultants have crafted for him over the perhaps too many years he's been running for president. In that sense, I think it will backfire. As entertainment, Mad Mitt Beyond BlunderDome is a decidedly B grade movie. As a tactic in a presidential campaign, it rates a solid and rather unfortunate F for failing.

Comments

[Renford Q. Simpleton the Third]

But look at him, he has a nice conservative haircut and dresses conservatively. Forget about principles, the right pair of khaki Dockers determines who our nominee should be. He's also Mormon and they're conservative, so therefore he must be conservative as well. I'm right of course, because my college debate team was able to win one match because of my undeniable logic.

[Reaganite Republican]

Make that F for flailing

But has Mittens forgotten Newt fights back... that's how he just got his
head handed to him?

It's going to be funny watching Flipper, his PAC-attack buds, and the MSM panic as they unload their
entire clip into Gingrich only to see him keep coming at them like Frankenstein- with the attacks backfiring, what else have they got left?

We need to have this war with the DC establishment NOW... they will be loud and fight dirty, but here is our GOLDEN opportunity to wrest power from them and we can have some fun doing it.... Newt seems to be

[Snorkdoodle Whizbang]

Sounds like 'someone' took a look at their latest internal polling in FL and freaked out.

InsiderAdvantage/Newsmax poll from yesterday has Gingrich up by 9 and beating Romney in every demographic. Could be an outlier, but given Team Romney's new tone, maybe not??

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/2012/InsiderAdvantage_FL_0122.pdf

[sickofrinos]

We can win this fight against the establishment.

[Ragspierre]

Can Romney win by going negative on Newt, emphasizing the old phony ethics issues that the Democrats used against him when he was Speaker?

I doubt it. The nattering nabobs of Newtism failed to bring Gingrich down among the conservatives of South Carolina. Romney needs to make himself a vessel for the aspirations of “hope and change” that are driving conservatives this year. Instead he has offered weak tea.
--PowerLine

Huh. "...the old phony ethics issues that the Democrats used against him when he was Speaker".

I wonder if those negatives will move down when people start publishing the truth.

I still hear people talking about the lie that Newt "served divorce papers on his dying wife".

That lie being put to death...all by itself...could do a lot.

[BR]

"We need to have this war with the DC establishment NOW."

Agreed. That fight has been postponed way too long, everyone saw where nose-holding got you in 2008. The Live Free Or Die approach is long overdue. Regardless of anything else about him, Gingrich is valuable as a potentially successful kamikaze to stop Romney from getting elected. That alone gets him my vote. You can't win a war if you're not willing to take your chances. I don't know that conservatives will ever wrest power from the Establishment, but (eventually) they'll have to bargain with us if we're willing to go nuclear, so now it's time to prove it.

[sickofrinos]

Death to the establishment and their book writing loud mouths.

[Ragspierre]

As for the GOP establishment, such as it still is, Mr. Gingrich's re-emergence is likely to cause a panic attack. They don't believe he is electable. Our advice would be to relax and let the voters decide. If Mr. Romney can't marshal the wit and nerve to defeat the speaker, then he isn't likely to defeat Mr. Obama.

If GOP office-holders had a better candidate, they should have rallied behind one to get into the race, and they still could if the primary contest drags on without a clear winner. In any case the record of elected GOP politicians in picking nominees is hardly inspiring. Rank-and-file voters are likely to have a clearer sense of what the country needs. On to Florida.
--WSJ

But read the whole thing. It provided a pretty balanced analysis.

[A Stephens]

"We need to have this war with the DC establishment NOW."

Yes, Yes, and Yes.

[Tennwriter]

Things are looking up for Santorum, Newt, and the American People. Not so good for Romney and the Establishment.

[rrpjr]

We can win this fight against the establishment.
Posted by: sickofrinos | Monday, January 23, 2012 at 05:41 AM

Right on.