Category: Newt Gingrich

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Newt Gingrich Politics

Newt Gingrich, Where Are Your Witnesses?

You can’t offer witnesses to something if no witnesses exist. Apparently, this little fact slipped Newt Gingrich‘s mind, as he continued telling ABC news that he had witnesses that will dispute his ex’s claim that Newt wanted an “open marriage.”

John King, the CNN host who moderated the last GOP debate and took a direct hit from Newt for asking about the ABC report, stayed on the story. And today, after a week of asking for these witnesses, King seems to take pleasure in announcing that Newt’s witnesses are just figments of his imagination.

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics

President Obama Talks About His Republican Challengers

In an interview with Univision, President Obama spoke briefly in response to the question of who he would rather go up against in the 2012 general election.

“I don’t really think about that,” Obama said in response to a question about who would be more of a threat in an interview with Univision conducted Wednesday night in Chandler, Ariz., and released Thursday morning. “What I can say is this: That whoever their nominee is, they represent ideas that I think are wrong for America.”

“On a whole range of issues I think that whether it’s Mr. Romney or Mr. Gingrich or Mr. Santorum or whoever else they might decide to select, they represent a fundamentally different vision of America. And it’s not the bold generous forward looking optimistic America that I think built this country,” he added.

The interview was Obama’s first since delivering his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, and comes as the Republican presidential candidates are stepping up their appeals to Hispanic voters ahead of next week’s Florida primary. Speaking to one of the top U.S. Spanish-language news outlets, Obama offered his own appeals, noting his efforts to make immigration laws more favorable to immigrants even without the comprehensive reform he’s repeatedly called for.

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics

The Gingrich That Stole South Carolina Is Now Leading In Florida

Mitt Romney has to be questioning himself and his position in this Republican party, as new polls show a sudden love for the once disgraced and despised Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich, a man with a political record comparable to that of the common criminal (really… the average person would be sitting in jail if they did the same things Gingrich did), won the Republican vote in South Carolina, and now has the lead in Florida.

The InsiderAdvantage poll of of 557 registered Republican voters is one of the first polls taken in Florida in the aftermath of Gingrich’s double-digit win in the South Carolina primary Saturday.

The poll results follow:

Gingrich: 34%

Romney: 26%

Paul: 13%

Santorum: 11%

Other: 2%

No opinion: 14%

The InsiderAdvantage poll was the first major poll last week to show the significant surge for Gingrich in South Carolina.

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Newt Gingrich Politics South Carolina

South Carolina Saturday Night After-Party: What Happened?

Newt pulled the upset, and the exit polling shows him with strength among conservatives, those concerned with electability, and women. Of course, that last demographic will get the most talk in light of Newt’s affection for more than one partner at a time, but I guess the desire to defeat President Obama outweighs all other desires combined. It was a solid win, and by an even larger margin than I thought. The results:

Prediction          Actual

Gingrich        36%               40%

Romney        34%               28%

Paul              15%               13%

Santorum      14%               17%

Obviously I missed out on Santorum and the margin, but Gingrich did what he needed to do. The debate performances and his robust conservatism won in a very conservative state. Now he can go on to Florida and see if he can win over the conservatives there. My guess is that he can. And if he wins Florida, then Romney’s stock will have taken a Great Recession-type hit.

Santorum says he won’t quit the race at this point. He gave it his all, but is clearly not the conservative voter’s choice and he would only make it easier for Romney in the Sunshine State. Paul has his reliable 15%, but is now more marginalized than ever.

At this point, all of the candidates have been vetted. What’s left will be an expensive, potentially nasty fight, although Mitt has to be careful because he was seen as running the most unfair race in South Carolina. I’m not sure what unfair means, but maybe Newt’s charge against negative ads has something to do with it.

On to Florida, where voters have already been casting ballots. I imagine that after yesterday, Newt will see a surge of support.

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Newt Gingrich Politics Republican South Carolina

Gingrich Celebrates The 15 Year Anniversary Of His Ethics Violations, By Winning South Carolina Primary

Tonight, as the polls closed in South Carolina, Rachel Maddow announced that NBC was projecting a win for Newt Gingrich. It is a historic achievement for the former Republican House Speaker, and Newt and his supporters can only hope that this momentum carries on to Florida.

Here are couple of interesting historical facts – Today is the anniversary of the Citizens United case, where the Supreme Court got rid of all the common sense rules on campaign donations allowing Corporations to donate an unlimited amount of funds to campaigns under the guise of “corporations are people.”

And this other piece of history – On this day some fifteen years ago, Newt Gingrich received  some embarrassing news while he was the Speaker of the house.

On Jan. 21, 1997, one of the most memorable days in congressional history, Newt Gingrich became the first House speaker to be reprimanded by his colleagues for ethical misconduct. The 395-28 vote, to reprimand him for bringing discredit on the House for failing to ensure his use of tax-exempt groups was legal, was historic by itself. But Gingrich’s peers didn’t stop there. They fined him $300,000 for misleading the House ethics committee and causing it to extend a costly investigation.

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Elections Newt Gingrich Politics South Carolina

Polling Report: Special South Carolina Edition

What a week this has been for the GOP Pack o’ Presidential Potentials. We started out with Mitt Romney strolling leisurely toward the nomination with a big lead, and today finds the contenders in an absolute dogfight (but will the dog hunt?).

Newt Gingrich’s well-received performance in this week’s debates has given him a new life. Rick Santorum can now claim to have won the Iowa caucuses. Rick Perry is now free to take Texas out of the union if he so desires. And Romney? He’s hit a bit of a rough patch on the way to the nomination, which I still think he’ll win. It just might take a bit longer for him to claim it.

The latest RealClearPolitics polling average, including the latest PPP tracking poll, has Newt surging to the top of the pile, which spells real trouble for Romney. Paul will win his 15%, and despite an endorsement from many conservatives, Rick Santorum will be lucky to approach 15%, as some of his voters move to Newt. With Rick Perry out of the race, the real question is where do his supporters go. Again, I’m thinking Newt.

South Carolina is now critical for Romney. I said after New Hampshire that he could end the whole race with a showing above 40% and could claim inevitability with more than 30% in SC. Now, that’s not necessarily the case. Mitt could get 30% and lose to Gingrich, or only win by 1 or 2 points. That would be a win, but he needs to improve, not regress. If he loses, or loses steam, Florida would be in play. Santorum could drop out, with his voters moving in larger numbers to Newt. Conservatives would be emboldened. Democrats would jump for joy.

My predictions: An Upset Special

Gingrich        36%

Romney        34%

Paul              15%

Santorum      14%

Santorum drops out. The race in Florida tightens. Gingrich and Romney duke it out through Super Tuesday in March. More GOP moderates publicly endorse Romney in order to save the party. Chris Christie gets even more bombastic in his support for Mitt (is that possible? healthy?). You join in here at ezkool, at www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and follow me on Twitter @rigrundfest.

Isn’t this fun?

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Barack Obama Newt Gingrich Politics Racism South Carolina

Why South Carolina Would Not Vote For Barack Obama – Is It Racism?

On this day when we honor d Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we are sadly reminded of an unfortunate fact, that here in America, there are still those who will base their opinions on the color of one’s skin, rather than the content of their character.

Today on MSNBC, the question was asked if the people in South Carolina would vote for Mitt Romney or for Barack Obama. Mr. Jimmy Williams, himself  born in South Carolina, tried to answer the question and in his answer, the ugly truth was revealed.

I think that Romney could eek out a win… I think South Carolinians would do something interesting, I think they would hold their noses because they hate Barack Obama so much. And I’ll tell you why they don’t like Barack Obama, because he’s black.

Happy Martin Luther King’s Day people… and welcome to 2012!

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Rick Santorum South Carolina

Newt Gingrich – Missing In Action In South Carolina

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? We don’t know. We also don’t know where Newt Gingrich is. He was supposed to be at an event in South Carolina, but last time we checked, the event went un-Newt-ered!

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was greeted with a standing ovation when he was announced at a barbecue.

Too bad the former House speaker wasn’t around to see it.
He was inexplicably missing, and his absence forced the event’s moderator to ask awkwardly, “Can we check and see where the speaker is?”

It was just one in a string of clumsy, head-scratching events staged by the Gingrich campaign since the Republican primary moved to South Carolina, a state that the candidate says he must win if he wants a shot at the nomination.

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Rick Santorum

Judge Rules Against Rick Perry And Other Republican Candidates In Virginia Lawsuit

Judge John Gibney heard the case brought by Rick Perry and the other Republican candidates who joined the law suit, and he made the decision. Perry and the other candidates will not compete in Virginia. They knew the rules and did not do what was necessary to get their names on the ballot in a timely fashion.

“They knew the rules in Virginia many months ago; the limitations on circulators affected them as soon as they began to circulate petitions,” he writes. “The plaintiffs could have challenged the Virginia law at that time. Instead, they waited until after the time to gather petitions had ended and they had lost the political battle to be on the ballot; then, on the eve of the printing of absentee ballots, they decided to challenge Virginia’s laws. In essence, they played the game, lost, and then complained that the rules were unfair.”

The decision means Perry, as well as Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman, will not appear on the ballot in the state’s March 6 primary.

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Boston Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics South Carolina

Mitt Romney Also Took Jobs Away From South Carolina – Made Millions For Doing It

David Wren writes: 

Boston-based Bain Capital LLC more than doubled its money on GS Industries Inc. [of South Carolina] – the former parent company of Georgetown Steel – under Mitt Romney’s leadership in the 1990s, even as the steel manufacturer went on to cut more than 1,750 jobs, shuttered a division that had been around for 100 years and eventually sank into bankruptcy.

Bain Capital spent $24.5 million to acquire GS Industries in 1993, according to an investment prospectus for the company that was obtained by the Los Angeles Times and reviewed by McClatchy Newspapers. By the end of that decade, Bain Capital estimated its partners had made $58.4 million off its investment in GS Industries, according to the prospectus.

Bain Capital’s partners also earned multimillion-dollar dividends from GS Industries and annual management fees of about $900,000. But by the time GS Industries filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001, it owed $553.9 million in debts against assets valued at $395.2 million.

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Republican Rick Santorum

Conservatives Have Made Their Choice – It’s Rick Santorum

 

David Brody Writes: After a two day meeting at a ranch outside of Houston a group of 150 Christian leaders, business leaders and conservative activists have coalesced behind Rick Santorum.

Friday night surrogates from every GOP campaign (except that of Jon Huntsman) attended the meeting and made the case for their candidate.  Saturday leaders took part in a “passionate time” of discussions about what they’re looking for in a conservative leader.  After three rounds of balloting Santorum emerged as the candidate leaders feel they can support.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council says conservatives are looking for a candidate who will repeal the nation’s health care law, fight for pro family values and address the national debt.

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics

Gingrich Explores Romney’s French Connection – Ad

Newt Gingrich, one of the most vocal attackers of the Republican frontrunner Willard Romney, is being convinced by the Republican establishment to end the attacks. It appears that asking questions about Romney’s time at Bain Capital is a no-no for other Republicans, so the often outspoken Gingrich is beginning to tone down the rhetoric. He is falling in line.

But we are not scared to question Mitt about his poor “job creation” record at Bain Capital or any French connections the former Massachusetts governor had, and we will use Gingrich’s own ads to ask these questions.

Exhibit A:

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