Six weeks ago, during the last Newt Gingrich surge, I wrote here that “conventional weapons are useless against Newtzilla. . . . Everything bad about Gingrich — the flip-flops, the wives, the ego — is known. Once voters have convinced themselves they can overlook that stuff, it’s hard to change their minds simply by repeating it.”
Advertisement
For a while, it looked like I was wrong. The relentless artillery fire from Mitt Romney’s super PAC seemed to have felled the gray-maned leviathan in the cornfields of Iowa. But as anyone who has studied the oeuvre of Toho Studios (makers of more than 25 Godzilla films) knows, this is what usually happens to the heroic creature in the second act.
Godzilla always seems to be vanquished by King Ghidorah (a.k.a. Monster Zero) or some other nemesis, only to come back at the end, his atomic breath destroying all who stand in his way.
Newtzilla is a different kind of kaiju (Japanese for “strange beast” or “giant monster”) but not that different. Like Godzilla, Newtzilla has remarkable healing powers, allowing him to recover from charges that he wanted an open marriage and that he parasitically fed on Freddie Mac.
His own version of atomic breath is quite formidable. Just ask CNN’s John King and Fox News’s Juan Williams. He draws power from the popular resentment of the GOP establishment that he has been part of for decades and the widespread burning desire to make the entire press corps — conservative media included — march around the public square in dunce caps.
That the Republican equivalent of the elite civil-defense forces is now desperately trying to stop him in his tracks only makes his support grow.
For most of the primary season, Gingrich insisted voters should support him because he’s a great debater and can defeat President Obama by challenging him to a series of three seven-hour debates — or is that seven three-hour debates? I can never keep it straight. It was tactically smart but also a bit silly. Obama can always decline; presidents have done it before. Also, beating a president in a debate doesn’t automatically translate into beating him in the Electoral College.
Regardless, he’s changed the argument. “People actually misunderstand what’s going on,” he explained Saturday night after his South Carolina win. “It’s not that I am a good debater. It is that I know how to articulate the deepest-felt values of the American people.”
That’s the great thing about Gingrich: He can make describing himself as the divine manifestation of the vox populi sound self-deprecating. Still, he’s basically right. He’s managed to transform into a spokesman for all of the rank and file’s frustrations, insecurities, and grievances as well as their hopes and ideals.
He never could have pulled it off were it not for Romney’s shortcomings. For whatever reason, Romney seems like a creature put on Earth to blend in with the humans and report back what he finds. He clearly likes earthlings, and they in turn find him pleasant enough, and surprisingly lifelike. Occasionally he finds the right words, but he rarely connects them to the right tone. This dearth of convincing passion in the front-runner makes the passionate base of the party want to look elsewhere — even to Newtzilla.
The idea of seven-hour debates is funny, but Newt's persistent reference is to the Lincoln Douglas debates, which were seven in number and three hours each in length.
Interesting piece, Jonah. While it is true that debates are no sure guarantee of victory in the Electoral College, when there have been debates they have been largely decisive in convincing voters who to vote for. Kennedy/Nixon - Nixon's five o'clock shadow and Kennedy's style and high sounding arguments resulted in a close Kennedy victory. Carter/Ford - Carter didn't do an outstanding job, but Ford's gaffe on Poland and the Eastern Bloc cost him dearly. Reagan/Carter - Reagan clearly articulated his ideas and principles in the several debates those two had, and Reagan won going away.
The reason is clear: people have to make up their minds somehow. They see all of the crap in the press, they know more about the candidates than people think they do, and they have to weigh things. You can't weigh and make your judgment properly about any leader unless you know how somebody is going to react and make decisions under the pressure of the debate. After all, a President is going to be debating and making difficult decisions all of the time. With his staff, with members of Congress, with the media, and with the rest of the public (of course, many debates will take place behind closed doors, which is a necessary part of the government decision-making process).
The lesson here: if Newt clearly articulates solid conservative principles in all debates - not only what he thinks and believes in with his heart, but what the voters in their own minds are thinking about the same issue (Barack the Usurper's record and incompetency) - and if he handles the pressure Barack the Usurper will place on him, Newt will win, and win convincingly.
Limbaugh doesn't care who the Nominee is or if they lose in a landslide, as long as it's not Mitt Romney.
Back in June he declared Romney's candidacy "over" because he committed the heresy of saying climate change was real and man-made. Since then Rush has made it his mission to destroy Romney, even if that means promoting another candidate who said it was real and man-made...Newt.
Why? Because when (not if) Romney becomes the Nominee, Rush will be shown to be irrelevant and impotent (politically), so much so even his fans will see it. On top of being proven wrong, he'll be forced to support Romney or be branded a traitor to the Party if he keeps up his assaults on him. Either way...Limbaugh looks like a fool.
You lie about Rush. Clearly you don't listen to him, or you are deliberately mischaracterizing what he says. Rush doesn't care who the nominee is, as long as he espouses conservatism consistently, clearly, with enthusiasm and passion and good cheer. Rush defended Romney when Newt attacked him from the left. Rush even suggested to Romney that he could sew up the nomination quickly if he ran to the right of Newt. Seeing as you've gotten it wrong in all your observations of what Rush is saying, your conclusions are without merit and can be safely ignored.
In answer to your question, of course there's not enough time. Romney's had six years of time, yet still he's choking on the ashes of defeat.
Whereas Romney has progressed from the Romney 1.0 of 2008 to the Romney 1.2 of 2012, Newtzilla has moved from Newtzilla 1.0 of 1994 to Newtzilla 2.0 of 2012.
What I mean to say is ... RAWRRRR!!!!
All hail the nominee! The man of a thousand accomplishments.
He seems "grandiose"! In a country that no longer believes in itself, the establishment can't believe that someone can believe in themselves when they haven't given prior approval. Far be it for someone to have confidence in themselves anymore.
Perhaps, he's just grand and the very man history has been asking us for to deliver us from the darkness and into the light.
Anywho, Romney: you're terribad at politics. Thanks for running again, we all needed a laugh in tough times like these.
To carry the pop culture comparison further: after the John King/Juan Williams smack down electing Newt would be like owning a four season DVD set of "Justified".
The premise of the films is "you set a Monster to destroy a Monster." If Obama-ism is the monster many believe it to be then it must be destroyed at all costs.
And so, with trepidation, conservative voters disturb the centuries old dust and tread the ancient pathway, turn the locks of doors which should never be opened, shatter the glass which encases him, loose the chains that bind him and unleash The Gingrich.
This has never been about Romney. It has always been about The Obama.
"He never could have pulled it off were it not for Romney’s shortcomings."
The primary one being that many do not believe he is a conservative.
"Romney’s challenge is greater than he realizes. Long unable to connect with voters on his terms and his timetable, he must now try with time running out, and without seeming desperate."
There are primarily two ways to connect with voters. One (the Obama way) is to promise people other people's stuff. The other way is to extoll the traditional freedom-based American virtues and principles.
Call Newt any type of Japanese monster that you like, that is what he is doing and enough people think he is genuine.
There is, of course, a third way. It is to present the image of a traditional American whose implicit bona fides are that he will not rock the boat too much or take anyone's established stuff away. He will have the decency to be congenial above all else and be a good manager of the status quo -- or what we otherwise call a "RINO."
"No doubt there’s a temptation in the Romney camp to out-populist Gingrich, to beat him at his own game."
God forbid that adherance to our founding principles be a "populist" appeal. The scandal of it all.
Sorry Jonah, I think you have the wrong show here as your metaphor. If there is a show going on it is more in the realm of the popular 80's television show, Dynasty. Here we watch the bad girl Alexa-newt Carrington taking on Blake's sweet honest 2nd wife, Crystal-ney, for the affections and attention of their much love Blake.
Alexa-newt tries every dirty trick in the book to keep the crowd watching, because the crowd loves to watch this bad girl in action. If you missed last week's episode, you missed seeing Alexa-newt battle a spurned lover getting ready to dish all of her bad girl ways to her beloved ex-Blake-crowd mania. By the end of that show Alexa-newt proves she is the wicked bad girl we all so love by putting the ex-lover in her place.
This week? I hate to be the spoiler here, but, we don't want to watch the good Crystal in her big mansion getting her hair done and being so plain vanilla. We want to watch Alexa-newt take on her nemesis, Nancy Pelosi. It is now revealed on a popular web site, that Nancy can bring down Alexa-newt once and for all! What will it be? Surely, Alexa-Newt will win, she beaten the Republican Establishment, the Main Stream Media, an ex-lover, we cannot wait for this week's show.? We (the true Republican Mob) hate Nancy with a passion, how will our favorite bad girl beat her? And now I hear the finale of the season will have Alexa-newt throwing the good nice Crystal in a mud bath! We can't stop watching!
Sorry, Jonah - all this drama is a little too much for me. From a party that preaches traditional values, the American Dream, individual achievement and success, the Crystal-Mitt Romney character may not be as fun to watch, but in the real world, it is nice to know they exist and can be depend upon.
Please take note, Gingrich will lose and by a landslide. He is better suited to go rule the Jersey Shore. Women will not vote for a man who has demonstrated such a stunning display of poor character. Anyone who is a "historian" knows that the past will teach us what to expect in our future. We are facing tremendous difficulties in this country and what are we focused on....Newt. It's all about Newt. As a wife and mother I care deeply about the future for all. I care enough to vote (as a life long Republican) against Mr. Gingrich in a general election. It is my belief that women of this country will do the same.
It is time to stop talking about some "white knight" coming into the race. Let us focus on who is left, and of those choices Mr. Gingrich needs to be put back into the abyss where he belongs.
Newt won women 38% to Romney's 29% in South Carolina, so if you think that he cannot connect with women, then you should REALLY be concerned about the other candidates.
Look, ma'am, Newt has been an awful cad. On that there is no argument. He has loved very badly. But I urge you to consider that he might have finally gotten his act together. Sure conveniently and late in the game I admit but I think the man may have finally mellowed.
But in the end, should this be a race between Gingrich and Obama, do you mean to tell me that you would curse you country to four more years of "The One" rather than vote for a flawed yet better candidate.
I would kindly ask you to reconsider. If you sit it out for vote for the other side and Obama win's, then I guess you/we deserve the country we will get. I hope to God you and others like you come to your senses, swallow your pride like I will have to, and vote "Not Obama"!
Follow
