Newtie Makes Excuses

Newt the historian offers some revisionist history for his poor performance during last night’s debate in a WaPo interview*:

“‘I think it’s the most blatantly dishonest performance by a presidential candidate I’ve every seen,’ Gingrich said.  At several moments during the debate, Gingrich simply leaned away from his lectern and looked down at his feet because he was so stunned by some of Romney’s statements, he said.  He didn’t engage Romney at the time, he said, because ‘I wanted to fact check.  I wanted to make sure he was as totally dishonest as I thought he was.'”

Newtie can’t just say he had an off night like a normal person.  It had to be Mitt‘s fault that Newt under-performed.  And Newt suddenly has an interest in fact checking?

* “Gingrich professes shock at Romney’s ‘dishonest’ debate performance,” by Amy Gardner and Philip Rucker

Quote of the Day

“Speaker Gingrich showed everyone tonight that he does not have the discipline to run a presidential campaign.  He clearly came into this debate with no plan and no strategy to win it.  If he had won this debate tonight, he would have won Florida, and pandemonium would have set in within the Republican Party.”  Emphasis added.

Curt Anderson, GOP strategist not working with any campaign

Cry Baby Newtie Wails Again

After not doing as well as he wanted or needed to in last night’s Florida debate, Newt is now claiming that the Romney campaign “definitely packed the room” with their supporters.

The Florida Republican Party, which gave out 900 of the 1200 tickets, says that Newt is delusional.  For a change.

When things don’t go his way, it’s always someone else’s fault.   In the Monday debate, he complained  that the audience was told to be quiet and insisted that they be allowed to “participate.”  Last night he complained that they participated too much in Mitt’s favor.

Newt Says Mitt Personally Profits from Florida Foreclosures

Apparently Mitt is one of the tentacles on that giant vampire squid we all know and love as Goldman Sachs.  Newt on CNBC today trying to tie Mitt’s great wealth to Floridians’ great suffering:

“He [Mitt] owns stock in a Goldman Sachs subsidiary which specifically is foreclosing on people in Florida. … I’d like to know from Governor Romney how many people [have] been foreclosed on by the places he’s made investments and how much money has he made personally out of the foreclosures in Florida? … But let’s find out tonight, how many people have been foreclosed on by the Goldman Sachs investment that he made,  how much money did he make out of Florida foreclosures?”  Emphasis added.

 

Gingrich Lied in Attack on John King

The Gingrich campaign has confessed that Newt lied at the CNN South Carolina debate in his attack on John King for asking about Mrs. Newtie Two’s Nightline interview.

Newt said:  “Every personal friend I have who knew us in that period says the story is false.  We offered several of them to ABC to prove it was false.  They weren’t interested because they would like to attack any Republican.”

The claim struck me as weird at the time because it seemed likely that if Newt did ask Marianne Gingrich for an “open marriage,” he wouldn’t have done that in front of their friends.

Newt’s campaign admitted to John King that no friends were offered to ABC.

The Marianne Gingrich interview sank like a stone.  I wonder if Newt’s lying will revive it.

It’s interesting that Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky didn’t get him into trouble, it was his lying about it.  It would be ironic if something similar happened with Newt.

They’re Disappointed Daniels Didn’t Run? Seriously?

Does Mitch Daniels remind anyone else of Frank Perdue?  I kept waiting for him to tell me how tender his chickens are.

Anyway, why was the GOP devastated that he didn’t run for president?  He has all the charisma of a funeral director.  He makes Tim Pawlenty look like Mr. Excitement.

I know why the GOP compares us to Greece — it scares people who don’t know better.  But it’s just so shameless.  You might as well compare us to Mars.

He lied and said that Obama has made things worse over the last three years.  We were losing 750,000 jobs a month when Obama became president.  We’ve added jobs for 22 straight months.

Having begun by saying that he would show respect for the president, Daniels accused him of “extremism,” “a pro-poverty policy.”  He shed crocodile tears for his false claim that “No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us….”  When?  How?  The President has erred too far in the opposite direction, trying to work with Republicans who are interested only in his failure and defeat.

He said “We will speak the language of unity.”  Has he been watching the Republican debates?

I understand why Mitch Daniels’ wife left him, he’s a humorless, smarmy little creep.  I have no clue why she went back.

Did Reince Preibus Confuse Obama with Cain?

Reince Preibus, head of the Republican National Committee, bizarrely said that Obama’s State of the Union reminded him of Saturday Night Live.  He must have meant Herman Cain’s Tea Party response, that was much more SNL.  Maybe he got them confused because, you know, they’re both black.

Reince Preibus himself reminds me of an SNL parody of an RNC chair.

The Republican primary debates remind me of Monty Python‘s Flying Circus.

Baby Newtie’s Tantrum of the Day

Baby Newtie is threatening not to participate in any more debates unless the audience is allowed to “participate” — not by asking questions, but by applauding, cheering, and booing.

So don’t debate, Newtie.  We won’t miss your racist garbage.

Wa, wa, wa.  Can anyone imagine this over-grown baby, who has needed to be mothered by three wives, being president?

A Little Newtie Snark

Newt’s campaign sent out an email right after the debate titled “Mitt Romney’s Top Conservatives Achievements.”   The rest of it is blank.

Newt is definitely enjoying himself.  Mittens, not so much.

Tonight’s Debate

Mitt’s performance in tonight’s Florida debate would have been fine if he still had a 20-point lead in that state.  But he needed to do much better, given his South Carolina loss and his precipitous drop in both Florida and national polls.

Mitt came out swinging, but Newt ducked effectively.  Newt stayed cool, looked and sounded presidential, and had an answer for everything.  His answers may not all have been true, but he didn’t hesitate or stumble.  Mitt focused on making the case against Newt, but he didn’t just fail to do that, he failed to make the case for himself.

Mitt didn’t hurt himself, but he didn’t help himself either, and he’s at a crossroads in his campaign where he has to help himself and quickly.  Newt still has the momentum.

And when asked what he’s done for conservatism, he needs to come up with a much better answer than his lame line about forcing Teddy Kennedy to take out a mortgage on his house.  Not quite up there with Newt’s taking credit for balanced federal budgets and welfare reform and millions of jobs created.

As for Mitt’s saying that he balanced the budget in Massachusetts, all states except Vermont are required to balance their budgets every year, so Mitt didn’t have any choice.  And he did it with a lot of tax increases that he likes to call “fees.”

The story line between now and the next debate on Thursday will be what’s in Mitt’s taxes and that’s going to keep him on defense.  If he has another so-so performance on Thursday, the whole week is gone, and then the voting is on Tuesday.

Tick-tock, Mittens, it’s all slip-sliding away.  You need to be bold and dramatic, and you’re not a bold and dramatic kind of guy.

I thought Santorum had a very strong debate, but all the attention is really on Newt and Mitt.  He and Ron Paul were just breaks in the action.