Calls Romney Massachusetts Moderate; Says Paul Foreign Policy is Dangerous
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich took the stage after it was confirmed he’d finished fourth in Tuesday’s Iowa Caucus to address his supporters and send a message to the rest of the GOP that the gloves were coming off as the race moves toward New Hampshire and South Carolina, well sort. Actually, not really; but maybe?
Either way, he was clear that this was the beginning rather than the end of his campaign saying “I think that we are at the beginning of an extraordinarily important campaign… to replace Barack Obama and get this country back on the right track.”
Wait. The crowd cheered, but was he talking about his campaign or the campaign for the Republican Party to defeat Barack Obama? Oh who cares? If he shows up in New Hampshire, he’s still in the race.
After offering words of praise for Senator Rick Santorum on his successful Iowa finish and for his running a “positive campaign”, Gingrich muscled up to the podium to address Congressman Paul and Governor Romney. Praise was not as free-flowing. Instead, Gingrich laid down a gauntlet, of sorts saying, he would not run 30-second spots and gotcha ads, but would “reserve the right to tell the truth.” He said if speaking that truth was perceived as negative, it should be directly attributed to the fact that the truth reflects poorly on their track records.
Gingrich once again called Romney a “Massachusetts Moderate” and insinuated that the Former Governor would merely “manage the decay.” But that was praiseworthy in comparison to the words he had for Congressman Paul calling his views on foreign policy “stunningly dangerous.”
A few thoughts here. I had Gingrich finishing fourth, but had him 4 percentage points higher. I think Paul and Romney successful wounded the Former Speaker in Iowa and am deeply curious to see if they can repeat the effort in New Hampshire and South Carolina. As to Newt saying he won’t run gotcha spots on television… No brainer. A fourth place finish all but assures he won’t have to cash to run those spots even if he wanted to. ”Reserving the right to tell the truth” is going to mean begging for face time on the networks and with his buddies like Hannity at Fox News and in the conservative talkosphere. I’ll leave to your better judgment which and what counts as “going negative.”
And that doesn’t even begin to speak to how he plans to chip away at Santorum – who is now the Non-Romney alternative the rest of the field was hoping to be.
Only a fool would count Gingrich out; but he’s wounded. The only question is whether that makes him dangerous or desperate?
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