Rick Santorum Sweeps Alabama And Mississippi: Leading up to Tuesday night, all of the polls and all of the med... http://t.co/26IsXoz5
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20 January 2012
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Yesterday I asked for Rick Santorum to show some fire and agressiveness. Last night he did just that at the debate in Charleston. Rick Santorum was ready with numerous pieces of information that did not look good for Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and he delivered them with flawless timing and with genuine indignation, putting both of those guys on the defensive |
A couple of very telling things:
During the question on abortion, Newt had a few things to say, bringing up Mitt Romney to which CNN's John King gave Romney the opportunity to respond, then back to Gingrich. Gingrich pointed and said "I'll defer to Rick on that".
Newt basically gave up his opportunity to respond to Mitt's answer and allowed Rick Santorum to do it knowing full well that Santorum is uniquely more qualified and committed regarding the abortion issue.
Another thing was Mitt Romney's willingness to repeatedly tell Santorum that he supported his answers or agreed with them. It was as if Mitt didn't want Santorum attacking him as he knew those attacks would hurt the most, and they did.
Santorum also brought up a number of things that were occurring during Newt's time as Speaker of the House from 1995 to 1999. Newt's repeated failures as speaker prompted the conservatives in the House to kick Newt out as Speaker after his "Idea a minute" grandiosity resulted in the GOP losing seat in 1998. The specific issues Rick brought up of Newt's time as speaker were never addressed by Newt. Gingrich repeatedly brought up other things he so gallantly fought for in Washington. That is, until Mitt Romney brought up the fact that Newt was only mentioned one time in Ronald Reagan's book. And that was a negative.
Rick Santorum laid our clear distinctions between himself, Mitt and Newt last night on a wide variety of subjects from character to taxes, abortion to illegal immigration. I agree that character should definitely be a part of the vetting process and Newt's is questionable.
Ultimately, Rick Santorum is right. I don't want to go pick up my paper every morning wondering what our President has said this time. One liners and zingers play well to an audience. His mock indignation over the question of his ex-wife as the first question of the debate basically kept him from having to address it. Newt basically went downhill last night from there.
As for Romney, Rick Santorum called him to task on a number of issues, including Romneycare, that Mitt couldn't respond effectively.
A large number of Rick Perry's supporters are actually moving over to the Santorum camp after Rick Perry dropped out yesterday, seeing his "endorsement" of Gingrich nothing more than political maneuvering. Polls conducted today are liable to paint a different story than those the last two days and I'm looking forward to seeing them.
From the Washington Examiner:
Newt Gingrich had what will be the most talked about moment on the first question of tonight's South Carolina debate, when he brutally smacked down CNN moderator John King for asking him about his ex-wife saying in an interview that he wanted an open marriage. Gingrich eventually said the charge was false, but most of his answer was spent scolding King for asking the question at a presidential debate, which he called "despicable." The crowd broke out in a standing ovation, and it may have neutralized what could have been a damaging issue for him heading into Saturday's primary.
But other than that, it was Rick Santorum who dominated the debate -- taking both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney to task. He skewered Romney's Massachusetts health care law and Gingrich for supporting the individual mandate. He went after Gingrich for being an unreliable leader. And he attacked Romney's record on abortion and argued that Gingrich pushed to sideline social issues behind the scenes.