It looks like the Republicans are starting to act like the Killkenny cats.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/72000.html The right drops a bomb on Newt By: Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen January 26, 2012 08:00 AM EST Newt Gingrich better hope voters who lapped up his delicious hits on the elite media and liberals dont read the Drudge Report this morning. Or the National Review. Or the American Spectator. Or Ann Coulter. If they do, Gingrich comes off looking like a dangerous, anti-Reagan, Clintonian fraud. Its as if the conservative media over the past 24 hours decided Gingrich is for real and they need to come clean about the man they really know before its too late. This is just a sampling of whats hitting Newt: The overnight Drudge Report banner: Insider: Gingrich repeatedly Insulted Reagan. The headline linked to a devastating takedown by Elliott Abrams in the National Review, who wrote, among other things, that Gingrich had a long record of criticizing and undermining Reagans most transformative policies. Drudge also linked prominently to the American Spectators E. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.s similarly harsh takedown of Gingrich over character: William Jefferson Gingrich. In it, Tyrrell writes: Newt and Bill are 1960s generation narcissists, and they share the same problems: waywardness and deviancy. Newt, like Bill, has a proclivity for girl hopping His public record is already besmeared with tawdry divorces, and there are private encounters with the fair sex that doubtless will come out. Conservatives are circulating a piece written by the editors of the National Review: The Hour of Newt. The editors, who have been extremely critical of Gingrich for weeks, waved conservatives off the Gingrich bandwagon. Gingrich backers say that he is inspiring. What he mostly seems to inspire is opposition. Ann Coulter, the conservative columnist writing on her self-titled web site, warns: Re-elect Obama, Vote Newt! She, too, gets Drudge promotion, with a column punctuated with this punch: Hotheaded arrogance is neither conservative nor attractive to voters. Tom DeLay, a top deputy to Gingrich during the Republican revolution of the mid-1990s, joined the chorus of other conservative members breaking their silence about Gingrichs erratic leadership style. In a radio interview with KTRH, DeLay said: Hes not really a conservative. I mean, hell tell you what you want to hear. He has an uncanny ability, sort of like Clinton, to feel your pain and know his audience and speak to his audience and fire them up. But when he was speaker, he was erratic, undisciplined. A top conservative media figure said the flood of attacks reflects a Holy crap, it could happen moment in the movement, as Republican leaders began to realize after Gingrichs South Carolina victory that he could become the nominee, the global face and voice of their party and theology. It could happen, and it would be a disaster, said the conservative, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect private conversations. All of us who were around and saw how he operated as Speaker theres no one whos not appalled by the prospect of what could happen. He thinks he embodies conservatism and if he wakes up one day and has a grandiose thought, he is going to expect all of us to fall in line behind him. Theres just so much risk on so many levels, the official continued. Everyones thinking, It could really happen. He could win the presidency if theres a way to win with 45 percent a second recession, or a third-party candidate. The immediate worry is him winning the nomination and losing the election, tanking candidates down-ballot. In a worst-case scenario, you could see unified Democratic governance, and wed be back where we were in 09 and 10. Its insane. The conservative media is voicing what dozens of Republicans lawmakers, governors and top establishment have told POLITICO in recent weeks in private conversations. Because Gingrich looks like he could win, many of these elected officials are reluctant to go public with their concerns. As POLITICO reported on Monday, Romney allies are putting pressure on conservatives to break their silence, and do it quickly before the Florida primary, because a Gingrich win would virtually guarantee a very long, divisive race. A Super PAC supporting Romney, Restore Our Future, is running ads in Florida that echo many of the charges mentioned above, especially Gingrichs claim that he is the logical successor to the Reagan legacy. Reagan rejected Newts ideas. On leadership and character, Gingrich is no Ronald Reagan, the groups ad says. Romney himself is hitting on the same themes in speeches, with an edge rarely seen by the cautious former governor. Gingrich, who has shown a sharper instinct than Romney and the establishment for playing the rawest frustrations of activists, will crank up his Newt v. the establishment rhetoric to beat back the attacks. Remember 2010 (Gingrich certainly does): the establishment doesnt have a great track record in picking candidates and warned voters against electing Sharron Angle in Nevada and Christine ODonnell in Delaware because they were too radioactive and unelectable. The voters didnt listen and it cost Republicans the Senate. Remember 2010 (Romney cert ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:345821 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
