Gallup’s daily tracking poll for 1/19 is out. Below are the graphics courtesy of Gallup. I have left Perry’s numbers in for one last day.
Romney has arrested his slide for at least a day. He remains at 33%.
Gingrich continues his slow rise. He has risen a single point each day for four days straight and is now at 17%. It’s not quite enough to call it a “surge”, but certainly is enough to show promise. It gives Romney something to worry about if nothing else. If Newt wins South Carolina, look for his numbers to do some serious jumping.
Santorum just can’t seem to get any traction. He falls yet another point to tie with Paul for third place. He is now four points in back of Newt. His big endorsement from the Evangelicals last weekend doesn’t seem to have helped him a whit.
Ron Paul returns to 13%. That’s good enough to tie the struggling Santorum for third. He hasn’t budged from his 12 and 13% oscillation since the start of the New Year.
Perry leaves the race on a positive note. He has risen steadily three days in a row. Unfortunately for him it was too little too late. He finishes his campaign at 8%.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Scary, Newt up to more than 1/2 of Romney and Santorum and Paul are duking it out for 3rd and 4th.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Newt is about to take a big fall… again.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:25 pm
Nooot! Surge!
January 19th, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Santorum needs to take his aim off of Mitt and focus entirely on Newt tonight. It’s his only hope. In fact, Rum/Ron/Rom need to gang up on Newt big time: 3 against 1.
Dippy conservatives are just dying to see Newt debate BO, which is stupid on so many levels. Newt needs to be defeated on his one strength: the debate stage.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Can we leave Perry out of tomorrow’s Gallup update? And when does he get “greyed out” in the top banner?
January 19th, 2012 at 12:29 pm
Last debate Mitt called Newt’s policies “insanity,” a line that went ignored by the talking heads. Rom/Ron/Rum need to show how Newt’s policies are just plain wrong. Rip up that paper tiger.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Romney might not move and Gingrich comes up to join him. Thats what I expect in the next week on national poll.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Who would you rather run our country Obama or Newt? That is the question that Rush asked…
How about neither. Or how about who would you want to represent conservative values and principles? Newt or Romney? Or Newt or Santorum?
January 19th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
If Republicans are willing to give Newt Gingrich a pass on his becoming a Socialist like Obama, then I have a hard time believing that they will have a problem with his adulterous past. His attack on capitalism is far worse than his marital problems for the country, IMO.
Newt Gingrich will give us another 4 years of attacking business and pushing for more big government regulation. Replacing one narcissist socialist with an even bigger one doesn’t do us much good.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Hopefully Mitt and Paul are carpet-bombing SC with Newt’s “baggage” and his numbers begin to settle back down–as well they should.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
#7 Tommy, you’re out of the loop. I think Gingrich might actually duke it out for third after Nightline.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Mitt tanking and Newt skyrocketing for SC on Intrade. (sigh)
Mitt now 55 (down from like 88)
Newt now 42
January 19th, 2012 at 12:34 pm
9 – Quasi conservative socialist…there is a such a thing – career politicians who’ve never run a business or employed more that three people in their lives.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
In 1995, when Vanity Fair magazine asked Marianne what would happen if Newt ran for president, she boasted she could derail the bid with a single TV interview.
“He can’t do it without me,” she said.
“I told him if I’m not in agreement, fine, it’s easy.
“I just go on the air the next day, and I undermine everything . . . I don’t want him to be president, and I don’t think he should be.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/19/marianne-gingrich-in-95-i-don%e2%80%99t-want-him-to-be-president-and-i-don%e2%80%99t-think-he-should-be%e2%80%9d/#ixzz1jvjNw2Vl
“He can’t do it without me.”
hhuuuummmm…jealousy?
“He can’t do it without me”
Yep, this happening at the time of Newt’s SC Surge is going to give the impression that Newt survived the Interview, if Newt does happen to in SC.
Marianne has been waiting for this day for a long time……I wonder what is going to happen to her if Newt still wins SC, while dragging his huge Marital flaws across the finish line. I think she is going to be devastated.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
14 – Smack. You are pathetic. How can you justify supporting such a morally bankrupt man?
January 19th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
Rush is now Gingrich press secretary.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
The Bain bump is over. Now Romney has to go back out there and “Earn it”.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Conservative Gladiator,
You better up that number of 3 just a bit….Newt employed over 30 at his consultanting company.
Just trying to help you out.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
What is a conservative anymore if they don’t live the lives that they espouse others live?
January 19th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Here’s the problem with Newt: He’s a despicable adulterer, he’s a 68-year-old grandfather, he’s a conservative; he’s a socialist; he was the first GOP Speaker in 40 years; he got kicked out by the GOP; he can’t manage money, he’s “undisciplined,” he’s a liar, he’s charming, he’s a charming debater, he was a Luthern, he was a Baptist, he’s a Catholic, he took tax payer money to lie for Freddie, he’s for big government, he’s for mirrors on the moon, he’s for junior janitors, he’s vindictive; he’s mendacious, he’s for paying kids to read, he’s a proud progressive, he’a megalomaniac, he’s a dead beat dad, he promised an attack-free campaign and his PAC ran what’s been described as a “lyin’ bag of sh&t.”
He’s just not an immoral, arrogant and flip/flopper. He has some form of untreatment bipolar condition.
Why is this so hard to see for some people?
January 19th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
14.
>>hhuuuummmm…jealousy?
Maybe she’s just a True Conservative who actually believe the values True Conservatives are always touting for everyone else.
Or is asking your sick wife for an open marriage so that you can continue your 6 year affair with a woman a 3rd your age now a True Conservative value?
Just curious.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Romney needs to ignore the attacks that will surely come at him tonight, and pivot back to real issues.
If he gets a petty question, simply say, “Look! This isn’t how we elect Presidents. We have millions of people out of jobs. We have a deficit that is going to kill us. We can sit here and talk about felon voting rights or about contraception, or we can focus on preventing the reelection of the worst President in American history.”
He needs to be above the fray the entire night. Let the clowns rot in the trenches.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Is that Jax personally insulting me again?
Yep.
asparagus,
Mitt is in real ggod shape in Florida. He is up big with absentee voters………I will be eating crow on Florida Election Night…I didn’t think Mitt would win FL.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
Mark B. Lowe’s FPP fails to mention anything about Newt’s current scandal. The Gallup poll is a rolling average. GOP voters will now see Newt’s unelectability like never before. In five days, the Gallup poll could easily have Newt in single digits.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
18.
>>You better up that number of 3 just a bit….Newt employed over 30 at his consultanting company.
And then he fired them and took all the profits!!1!1!!
Newt is a heartless vulture consultant!
Hey, its fun being anti-capialist.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
#22 Amen, Jax. He just needs to calm down, not stutter and make his case as the best person for president, which he is.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Boomer:
Keep up the good work and keep being curious.
Tele don’t cheat and I hope you took the wife out for lunch today.
Give em hell Mitt!
January 19th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Newt wouldn’t get my vote…I’ll sit at home and watch my Red Wings on election night if it comes to it.
The thing is – NONE of the candidates are having a good week. Romney just got the rug pulled from under him in Iowa, and the polls are showing Newt closing in, to say nothing of Perry’s endorsement. Newt, despite the bump he’s gotten, is about to get skewered on ABC and will be target #1 from all sides in the debate. And Santorum is fading into the background – his ability to play the IA card is probably minimal…people are influenced by headlines, but a candidate coming and saying “I won in another state, so you should vote for me” isn’t a particularly good argument.
The only question is whether Gingrich will fall enough from tonight’s debate to outpace Romney’s drop from the bad headlines. Any hope of Romney winning another landside (10%+) is long gone, sadly.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:47 pm
18 – Oooh 30. Listen to Rush. Tell me where it’s okay for conservatives to circle the wagons by saying that it’s okay to do what Newt’s done to his wives. What is the message? It’s a message no different than the message Clinton gave to future generations. We’re no better than liberals if this is the route you and others want to go. The moral equivalency that Rush spouts on his show is how he and others are taking down conservatism and they don’t even see it. They don’t see it because they don’t do – they only preach. You have to do in order to appreciate it for what it is. Conservatism is all about character and it’s about our personal moral superiority overtaking our natural selves. If we can’t govern ourselves, what gives us the right to govern others? That is the first law of conservatism and what holds the constitution together. Without morality America is nothing. Just trying to help you out.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Boomer,
You still have this belief that I consider Newt a True Conservative…..I don’t
Newt is a Movement Conservative, who has flipped and flopped…but at times he has fought for some Conservative Causes, and has won some of them.
As for Marianne, I have no idea if what she is saying is 100% true…false..or somewhere in between. I know the daughters are supporting Newt, and I know what has been said in this interview was said by Marianne over 16 years ago.
It will come down to whether or not the GOP voter believes Newt has changed his ways on the homefront……if no….Newt will suffer politically.
If yes, Newt survives until FL.
But FL looks great for Mitt.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:50 pm
23 Florida voters aren’t being deluged with attacks on Mitt Romneys character day and night like they are enduring in SC. Then when Romney or his PAC call them out on his record, they counter that Romney is dishonest. ’08 wasn’t nearly this bad. I am truly disappointed for our process. I was sure Mitt would be in the 40s by now by virtue of adding McCain and Romney’s ’08 vote %s, but apparently, many of McCain’s people are supporting Newt. I think with enough negative advertising and support from surrogates like McCain and Haley, some of those people could be brought back to Romney’s camp but I think its too late. This race looks to be a nailbiter. Gingrich appears to have momentum. I really can’t figure out Santorum’s strategy. Attacking Mitt and kissing up to Newt is getting him a 3rd place finish. Unless he is preparing to go nuclear on Newt after Romney’s momentum has been stalled, I just don’t see what good its doing him.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:51 pm
“But FL looks great for Mitt.”
Unfortunately, there’s a nine-day gap.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
Boomer,
Oh..and one more thing.
I have never attacked Mitt for Bain..not once. In fact I supported Mitt against the attacks here at RACE42012.
I do stand by my stance that Mitt should commit to releasing his Tax Returns once he becomes the GOP nominee.
Mitt should publically make that commitment, because it is hurting him politically not to do so as we speak.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
23 – Nope, its Jax telling the truth about you. And yet you still can’t defend yourself.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
If I were Romney tonight, I would ask the very poignant question that is being muddled, and that is what constitutes a conservative? Then he should go through his record and contrast it with the career politicians and what they’ve done and said while in and out of office. Put them on trial with their claims of being conservative.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
33 – And yet your patron saint was the one behind the despicable, dishonest attacks on Bain. You don’t have any problem with that?
January 19th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
32 Will Newt and Santorum have money to keep going? They have no organization in Florida. Ron Paul isn’t even contesting the state. It is very expensive. Newt and Santorum would be wise to abandon the state, lessening its influence in the process and work on raising money and improving their organization for the remaining contests.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
33 – He already made that commitment. Old news.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Jax,
#34
Another personal attack by Jax.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
30.
Movement Conservative …True Conservative. Just words.
Newt is a Movement Newtist. All he does is what is good for him at any given moment. He flips and flops all over the map, he has had at least as many herasies from conservative orthodoxy as Romney and unlike Romney he came from a safe, conservative district in GA where he could say and do whatever he wanted.
Of course Newt’s daughters are coming out for him instead of their step-mother who broke up the marriage to their mother. Newt has been employing them for years and I’m sure they are over the days when Newt was a deadbeat dad. And yes, that is also well documented.
FL was always Romney’s target. He is going to romp there by a margin at least as big as NH. But the msm and the anybody but Romney crowd will still insist that any win in SC by Newt, even if its by 1 vote, will be more significant just as they were pretending Santorum’s “win” in Iowa was a game changer.
Its getting tiring. Romney supporters are supposed to be gracious while the not Romney crowd cheers on whatever slimy tactics the current not Romney candidate employs, even bogus movies that the likes of Michael Moore cheer over.
I hope the Romney campaign finally decided to unload on Newt once and for all.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
“Will Newt and Santorum have money to keep going?”
If Newt wins SC (which….I don’t know if he will or if Romney will), he’ll get more money.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Jax,
36#
I called Newt out on it.
I criticize my own candidates from time to time when I feel they are doing something wrong.
I do it all the time in the “debate threads”.
Go ahead and read the old threads on Bain..I was against the attacks and disagreed with tele….but that didn’t stop you from lumping my name in with others who did think it was right to attack Mitt about Bain.
I saw you posts.
But I forgive you Jax.
No need to apologize.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
PPP has Newt up in there first night of tracking.
“Newt Gingrich led Mitt Romney 34-28 in PPP’s South Carolina polling last nigh”
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/01/gingrich-leads-romney-on-1st-night-of-tracking.html
January 19th, 2012 at 1:03 pm
does anyone else think that “I’m a 68 year old grandfather” is code for “hey I can’t get it up anymore”
January 19th, 2012 at 1:03 pm
42 – And yet you continue to support him. How do you justify that?
January 19th, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Boomer,
Hang in there.
I felt the same way after SC in 2008 (McCain supporter)
The Frontrunner and his team have the added burden in thinking about winning, while at the same time, trying to keep the party intact. The other candidates can let it fly at this point.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Jax,
Comment 44#,
Jesus is not on the ballot.
…and neither is Reagan……neither is TPAW!!!
…nope..it’s really…
January 19th, 2012 at 1:12 pm
46 – More obfuscation. You just know you can’t justify it without revealing your hate for Mitt.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
He committed to releasing them in April (tax time) because that is what other nominee’s have done.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Perry’s endorsement of Newt is very revealing about Perry. Especially after Mitt invested a lot of time and money in helping Perry get reelected in Texas. What a dirt bag!
January 19th, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Poynter: Brian Ross says Gingrich ex-wife interview isn’t ‘as much of a bombshell as some think it’s going to be’: http://t.co/IoevDn5D Retweet
That’s what I figured.
Unless Marianne Gingrich has something of interest to say about Newt in the last 10 years…or if she has some corruption info on Newt, this is going to be a thud. And it’s happening at the time in which Newt could survive it,and sweep it, all in a couple of days.
If…big if…..if Newt wins SC.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I said a few months back, when we were on our third or so FOTM, that it would be very hard to gain satisfaction from this primary cycle, even if Romney went on to win the nomination and serve as a very successful President for eight years…after we thought Mitt won Iowa, and was going on towards a 50-state sweep, I started to rethink that.
But now we’re right back where we’re started. Obviously, I still want Romney to win the nomination, and I’ll be happy if he does. But if Gingrich wins SC, and this race drags out long past valentines day, its going to be VERY hard to feel any real enjoyment or satisfaction from the result.
We’re going to have to see what happens 48 hours from now.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:18 pm
Even if nothing else came out in that interview, and all we knew was that he wanted an open marriage and filed for divorce two months after she got MS, that should be enough to disqualify him.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
50. Yeah, as I’ve said in other threads, if this is just rehashed airing of a marriage gone bad, I decry it. No reason to air it. Ever.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Jax,
I don’t hate Mitt.
I will be voting for Mitt for President.
Just because I don’t see him in the same way you do does not mean I hate the guy.
It’s great that you have passion for your candidate, but your contant insults to other posters are completly out of line.
Insult Newt all day, every day.
Take a shot at his supporters once in awhile….but not on every thread that I post in…ok buddy?
Relax.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
54 – I just want to know what you see in Newt, and how you justify schilling for him.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
50 – Wanting an open marriage isn’t a bombshell?
January 19th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
How much support will Herman Cain/Stephen Colbert receive on Saturday?
January 19th, 2012 at 1:27 pm
“I will be voting for Mitt for President.”
He has to win the nomination first, and the fact that Romney seems to have taken about 20 steps backwards in that regard over the last 24 hours probably has a lot to do with the very irritable attitude of Romney supporters today – it certainly does for me.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:27 pm
54 – You have yet to explain how Newt is better than Romney
January 19th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
54 – I’m sorry that I find it curious that your own reason for backing Newt is that Romney supporters annoy you.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
54 – You might see how that might lead someone to believe you are motivated by dislike of Mitt rather than a genuine like for Newt.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
53.
I view it a little differently. Newt has been making he case that only he has the personal gravitas to take on and defeat Obama. He has made his personal character an issue in this campaign and certainly tried to take out Romney over his character as it pertains to Bain. He has called him unethical numerous times.
Everyone knows that Newt has been divorced and remarried a couple times. But these weren’t just marriages that didn’t work out. Newt has acted incredibly badly, not paying child support after his first marriage, asking his second wife for an open marriage, these are things that speak to Newt’s character and they definitely need to be examined and considered.
I wish Marianne had come out sooner so this could have been examined more fully before the SC primary but when you run a campaign based on attacking your opponents character you don’t get to hide and say things that reflect on your character are out of bounds.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
I need some good news. I’m getting burned out with so much piling on Romney. I thought he’d get a little dinged in SC, but this is horrible.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
If someone wants an open marriage, that displays either a completely inability, or unwillingness, to make a serious commitment and hold to it. It displays a complete lack of self control, moderation, dedication, and about every other admirable personal quality.
Someone who wants an open marriage clearly has an erratic, glutenous, lustful personality.
If you can make a solid defense of why we should put a person like that in the White House, by all means, fell free.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Jax,
Top 10 reasons why I support Newt.
1. TPAW is not in the race
2. Mitch Daniels is not in the race
3. Jeb Bush is not in the race
4. Paul Ryan is not in the race.
5. Christie is not in the race
6. Jindal is not in the race.
7. Romneycare….Mitt still defends it.
8. VAT is still a possibilty under Mitt
9. “I don’t want to go back to Reagan/Bush”
10. Newt’s 1# Conservative achivement = welfare Reform >>>>>>>>>>>>>Romneycare.
None of the reasons are because I hate Mitt.
Mitt is smart, loyal and loving to his Wife and kids.
But I find Mitt’s Governorship to be horrific. I do know what the Health Premiums are doing to small businesses in MA because of Romneycare and Mitt has not admitted that once in any debates.
I will support Mitt against Obama….but I have my reasons to be against Mitt.
And no…it does not make me a hateful person when I cast my vote for Newt on Feb 7th at the MN Caucus.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
59. Not really. He can ignore you, and you have the option of being more gracious and letting up.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:39 pm
YES. AND SO DO I. AND SO SHOULD ANYONE WITH A BRAIN.
If you oppose Romneycare, then you need to tell us, which alternative you prefer:
1) Allow hospitals to deny service to sick people who can’t afford health insurance
2) Allow continued freeloading
THOSE ARE THE ONLY TWO ALTERNATIVES! PICK ONE.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:39 pm
An open marriage is one horrible idea.
But because Marianne says Newt said this, does not make it so.
Marianne could be telling the truth…but I don’t know.
You won’t find many Newt supporters supporting the idea of an open marriage…..but we don’t know what Newt said to Marianne.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:40 pm
66. I’m too slow.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:40 pm
“Not really.”
Not really……what?
January 19th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
Allow continued freeloading……..which BTW still happens in MA.
Underpayment is still a problem for MA hospitals.
We have to agree to disagree…but I was aksed why I do not support Mitt at this time.
It’s not because I hate the man.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:43 pm
#69 Smack
Yes, you do know. The sum total of Newt’s entire life just screams: This is not a good man; this is not a sane man; this is not a trustworthy man. There is absolutely NO reason to believe Newt. None.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
“Allow continued freeloading……..which BTW still happens in MA.
Underpayment is still a problem for MA hospitals.”
I’m sure it is, but Romneycare made major steps to tackle the program, and despite the defense of it, nobody has argued the program is perfect.
But how do you call yourself conservative, and go out there and say that people WHO CAN AFFORD THEIR OWN CARE should be able to leech off the wallets of other, hard-working people who have their own lives and families to support?
January 19th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
I’m still hopeful about the debate tonight. I continue to think Romney can beat Newt in a debate. On Monday he was too busy playing a protect defense. It’s not a natural posture for him and he flitted from smugness to seeming nervousness before settling down. Even if the ABC interview doesn’t contain any additional bombshells Romney has the opportunity to recover some ground on the debate stage tonight. Plus, now all eyes are going to be on Newt. Santorum’s either going to start laying into Newt tonight or he’s going to crawl on home on Saturday. There are no other options.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:46 pm
K.G.
No, I don’t know.
I’m not saying Mariann is lying in any part of her interview…..or what she has been saying the past 16 years about her marriage.
But I have no idea if what she is saying is the total truth about what went on in the marriage.
I have no idea.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
68.
>>1) Allow hospitals to deny service to sick people who can’t afford health insurance
2) Allow continued freeloading
Actually, there is a 3rd which rarely gets discussed by the people who decry the healthcare plan Mitt helped install in MA (which by the way has been severely modified since by the liberal legislature and Deval Patrick).
In 2000, there was a single payer initiative ballot in MA. It lost by a very slim 48-52% margin despite polling very well in MA. The forces against it outspend those in favor by $5 million dollars to $100K in advertising. The liberals in the legislature vowed to keep pushing it until they got it.
Romney’s plan was a compromise between the status quo which was bankrupting the state and single payer.
So if you don’t like Romney’s plan you have to suggest a better alternative. And actually, the first suggestion was never going to happen because it is federal law that was enacted by Ronald Reagan, True Conservative.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
People should not get too excited about Newt debating Obama. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “Obama may choose not to debate Gingrich.” He will simply say,”No” and that will be the end of that.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
“WHO CAN AFFORD THEIR OWN CARE should be able to leech off the wallets of other, hard-working people who have their own lives and families to support?”
They should be held accountable for their non-payments.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
79.
>>They should be held accountable for their non-payments.
That would be a mandate.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
MEM,
I just can’t see Santorum going home on Sunday.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Smacks,
You could also join me in the Habsburg Party.
Out motto is “Irrelevant Dignity”.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
…Our motto….
January 19th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
#76: OK, but LOOK at the Newt’s entire life, not just this one thing, which is only one tiny piece of the puzzle. Newt’s entire life is a train wreck. Even when he does some good things, they are negated by his subsequent implosion.
One that hasn’t been mentioned lately: Look what Newt did in NY 23, supporting Dede Scuzzafava, a RINO who won the Margaret Sanger Award and causing the Dem to win over a really good social and fiscal conservative who was ahead until Newt stuck his big fat stupid nose in the race.
Look at Newt bragging about his 13-year old daughter working as the church janitor. Such a cute story until you realize that this is EXACT time that Newt abandoned his wife and daughters, leaving them penniless and forcing them to go to the church for food and money to pay the electricity bill!!!!!
I wonder if Marianne will also mention the 2-year FBI investigation that was conducted against Newt and Marianne for $10 million bribery beef.
Smack, I love ya, but I want to smack you in the head and smack some sense into you.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Man Smack, I have missed your clear headed logic on this site.
Please don’t let the childish behavior of some of these knuckleheads drive you away.
Besides…you made a great drinking partner!
if you know what I mean
January 19th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
#85
This explains a lot.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Boomer,
80#
Not a government mandate.
There are currently 5 restuarants that owe my company money. I have a couple of options, and I have used all of them in the past. Depending on what they owe me is the biggest variable, but there are also others ones as well.
Regardless, the businesses that don’t pay up in time see their credit go to zero. Hard to keep going with no credit cash flow. Not quite the same with people, but if you don’t pay up you do get a hit at some point.
I was asked by Jax, my reasons why I do not support Mitt at this time…none of the reasons stated was because of hatred.
There are many Mitt supporters who do not agree with Mitt on Romneycare, but they still find him the best candidate in this sorry lot.
I’m just not one of them at this time.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
I’m quite shocked with what’s going on with the Romney/Gingrich numbers here. What’s going on in SC? Is it the debate? Taxes? Social issues that is hurting Romney?
January 19th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
87.
Smack-
Your analysis has a glaring hole. In 1986, Ronald Reagan signed EMTALA. This law said that no hospital which received any type of government funding had to take any person who showed up at their doors. What they didn’t provide was any form of funding. It was left to the taxpayers to pick up the slack to pay for those who couldn’t or wouldn’t pay. This is the very definition of an unfunded mandate. Conservatives often ignore this because it was Reagan who did it. But its true nevertheless.
This isn’t a private company. If the restaurants don’t pay you the taxpayers don’t have to pick up the bill. That’s the free market at work.
The simple fact is we already had a mandate to pay for healthcare thanks to Reagan. All Romney did was move the onus on who would pay the mandate from all citizens to the ones who were riding on the system for free.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
60
Good grief, Jax. Just let it GO. You’re like a little Yorkie-Pit Bull mixed breed. Why do you have to poke, poke, poke at Smack?
January 19th, 2012 at 2:08 pm
This law said that no hospital which received any type of government funding had to take any person who showed up at their doors.
Should read
This law said that no hospital which received any type of government funding could refuse to take any person who showed up at their doors.
Work is getting in the way of typing.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
What are the odds Romney goes hard after Gingrich tonight over his house ethics violations? This is a perfect time.
Another thought for Santorum supporters…doesn’t Rick have to go after Gingrich tonight? If he really wants a shot he needs to make distinctions between he and Newt not he and Romney.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Telly,
Speaking of clear logic, can you lay out a path to victory for Newt?
I’m not suggesting you should support Romney, but I really think you should emerge from the Fuhrerbunker and get some daylight.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Matt “MWS”
“Out motto is “Irrelevant Dignity”.
hhuuummmm…
In some strange way SMACKDADDY and Irrelevat don’t go together..and Dignity isn’t much closer either.
..ahem..
Teledude,
I was asked to come back and it looks like again I will spend most of my time trying to prove to people I’m not a hateful Monster because at this time I’m not wearing a Mitt button on my jacket.
But I will not be run off again………I know the personal attacks will come by a few posters and I will live with it.
There is 99% chance Mitt will be our nominee in short order, so maybe some here will settle down with the accusations once that happens.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
85
Well, Tele, YOU sure did nothing to fill the gap with clear headed logic.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Romneycare despite Democrats being able to put whatever they wanted in it thanks to their 85% legislative majority, it still reduced the rate of health care cost growth compared to the Massachusetts health care cost growth predictions without Romneycare.
He wasn’t going to do it in national level anyway.
Replacing something with a VAT tax was one of Paul Ryan’s ideas. VAT is the most competitive form of taxation, since VAT is lifted on products you export. VAT is one of reasons why Germany and it’s Western European neighbors and Northern European countries have trade surplus even when they don’t have any oil.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Smacks,
The personal attacks kind of get me going in the morning.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:25 pm
For a small business owner like myself, who takes raw materials (paper) and adds value to the raw material due to print/manufacturing, I’m very much against a VAT. This “competitve form of taxation” as you put it, puts me at a disadvantage vs. Big Businenss in absorbing costs to adminster the tax on all my goods and services. I’m a very small company in the promotional business, but I move alot of product which is all added value product.
I will pass on the VAT.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
98.
>>I will pass on the VAT.
Then why was Paul Ryan not getting into the race your number 4 bullet in reasons you are supporting Newt? It’s part of his plan and Romney was just commenting on it.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:40 pm
Boomer,
The VAT is just one reason.
Paul Ryan does not agree with Romneycare.
At the end of the day, as a voter, you make a judgement on the candidates currently in the race.
Mitt is not my 1# does not = Mitt Hater.
It just doesn’t.
January 19th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
100.
Smack – Despite your statements to the contrary, I never said you were a hater. I said a lot of your reasons for not supporting Romney don’t make a lot of sense.
And I’m still waiting for your solution to the healthcare mandate that Reagan gave us with EMTALA that said that all citizens would be responsible for other people’s healthcare throw rising taxes. You are already paying that mandate.
So if you don’t think we should make people responsible for their own healthcare what is your solution for the constantly increasing taxes?
January 19th, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Smack, do you really believe Newt can defeat Obama in the general when the Democratic machine plays up Newt’s immorality?
His GOP rivals may not bring up Newt’s “personal life,” but the far left will most assuredly make it an issue in the general.
January 19th, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Why are we talking about RomneyCare?
Are you guys kidding me?
This is like debating whether we should have gone into Iraq. Everyone has their opinion, and no one is going to change it, and it’s pointless to talk about.
January 19th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
A tiny percentage of healthcare costs is due to free riders. This is especially true as hospitals are able to send collection agencies to stiff arm anyone who’s not broke, homeless or here illegally.
So the mandate was hacking away a lot of personal freedom for a tiny cost savings.
I’d rather have higher taxes than be forced to buy a government regulated and government tailored product. What about all the people who are unable to buy their old policies anymore because Romneycare made those old (cheap) policies illegal?
I fundamentally don’t trust anyone who thinks the answer to free riders is to punish everyone and take away everyone’s personal freedom. Down that path lies the nanny state.
I doubt I can vote in the general for Romney because he refuses to renounce his attack on personal liberty with Romneycare in Massachusetts.
January 19th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
104. econ_grad_stud, the people of Massachusetts wanted Romney’s healthcare plan, and when you say that you will not vote for Romney in the general, you are saying you would prefer 4 more years of Obama and his economic policies.
January 19th, 2012 at 7:11 pm
[...] score for Romney is now 0-1, spoiling his chance of a hat-trick win in South Carolina. The Gallup daily tracking poll today shows the reversals in sentiment going into the South Carolina [...]