Newt Gingrich's Time in the Electoral Forge
LEE’S SUMMIT, November 16, 2011 – The most common comment I hear from a friend of mine (CFO at the company I work for) is that “…they [whomever I’m speaking about] are not electable…” and today I read a great piece by Dick Morris in his website “Is Newt Electable? Hell, Yes! I actually think that anyone who gets the nomination is electable, so I sort of agree with Mr. Morris.
Just before the Iowa straw poll, people were rallying around Michelle Bachmann and the media outlets kept talking about the fact she was not electable. They talked about the migraines she suffers from as “proof” that she could not do her job if she were elected President. Really???
Then Rich Perry blasted into the stratosphere of poll numbers and the attacks moved from Bachmann’s headaches to the fact that Mr. Perry was the ultimate flip-flopper because he had run a Democrat campaign from President. The latest attach came when Mr. Perry had a brain freeze during the debate (Mr. Perry; it’s the Department of Energy that you want to do away with).
Then the unthinkable happened: Herman Cain climbed up the polls and took the lead. His 9-9-9 Bold plan was ridiculed as being a “Pizza Commercial”; yet it stuck and changed the entire conversation to Tax Reform. Since that did not work, the attacks moved to “he won’t be able to govern” because “he has no experience in politics” but that too did not work. Suddenly women from the 90’s started to say he “sexually harassed” them, and that took some of the momentum from Mr. Cain’s campaign. The latest attack came when the Editorial staff interviewed him and he had a long pause, and gathered his thoughts; he was declared “toast”.
Now it is Newt’s turn in the barrel, and it won’t be pretty. As he said,” I’ve written 22 books, given hundreds of speeches; there are many words that people can use against me.” Further, Gingrich has the audacity of running for president without being married only to a single woman for 30 or 40 years. That will give his detractors plenty of fodder for their personal destruction cannons.
It is very true that all these relentless attacks on the “upstarts” bring the fire for the electoral forge upon these candidates. The only one who seems to be immune to it is Romney, yet even he is considered by Republican voters as someone they want to find a replacement for: look at all those upstarts who have caught up to him and passed him.
The point of the election process is to have each candidate vetted properly, see who has the courage of their convictions, the ability to pronounce a course of action we can all get behind, the tranquility to handle difficult situations, and most of all to win the nomination. Those who are vigorously challenged and succeed, are ready for the next step: The Presidential Election Campaign.
Those who know me, know I’m a huge New York Football Giants fan. I bleed Giant blue on Sundays. A few years ago the mighty New England Patriots were undefeated coming into the last game of the season. They were expected – in fact crowned a priori – to win the Super Bowl that year. They played the Giants in the last game of the regular season and defeated them, but they did not win big. The Giants were emboldened by that narrow defeat and went on to meet the Patriots again in the big game. At end of the season, the New York Football Giants defeated New England to become the champions.
To those who’ve dismissed Herman Cain, I say “remember the Giants”.
To those who’ve dismissed Newt Gingrich, I remind them of the interception thrown by Brett Favre that allowed the Giants to win a game in overtime that they should have lost – well, that’s what the media said when the Giants lost the coin toss at the start of the overtime period.
To those who have crowned Mitt Romney with the “electability” mantra, I say “remember the New England Patriots who lost to the Giants”
I’m not ready to crown anyone, nor count them out yet: Iowa has not voted yet, nor has New Hampshire. It is too early. Now is the time for all good GOP and Tea Party voters to watch the debates, learn what the candidates stand for, and see how they handle the cannon balls shot at them when they dare stand out in the crowd of candidates.
Respectfully Submitted
The Lee’s Summit Conservative
