Bryan Fischer
Newt about to experience Armageddon
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
The long knives are out for Newt Gingrich, and his sturdiness as a candidate is about to be tested in ways that perhaps no candidate has been tested before.
Indications are that Newt is about to be blasted on all fronts, besieged from the left, the right and the center.
From the left, David Axelrod is already strategizing how to Newt-ralize the former speaker. They're late in the game on this one, having wrongly assumed for some time now that the GOP race was all but over and that Romney was going to be the guy. (This is the fatal weakness of the left: they are so insulated from reality and from middle America that they can't imagine anyone supporting a candidate other than an establishment-type like Mitt.)
So the left is tooling up to go after Newt the way they have already trained their guns on Romney. Unfortunately for Newt, he is a target-rich environment. Rep. Peter King and Sen. Tom Coburn both went public this week with their grave reservations about Newt, saying that as Newt's congressional colleagues in the '90s, they found his leadership severely lacking. Axelrod is already emphasizing the fact that not one of Newt's former colleagues from those heady and halcyon days has come out in support of their former leader, whom they were forced to sack after less than four years in the speaker's chair.
Romney is about to go nuclear on Newt from the center, already running an ad which emphasizes his fidelity over 42 years of marriage, a not-so-subtle contrast to Newt's record of serial adultery. (Newt's got another bimbo eruption today to deal with, from a woman who claims to have serviced Newt Lewinski-style back in the late 70s.)
Ron Paul has already launched two warheads from Newt's right, in the form of withering web ads that expose Newt's "serial hypocrisy." He's got more trouble on the global warming front, as it emerged yesterday that he once sincerely supported the use of giant mirrors to cope with climate change.
Newt's troubled marital past is going to make it difficult if not impossible for pro-family groups to support his candidacy; they may not attack him, but may not be able to lend anything but tepid support until the campaign season is over.
Plus, it has now come to light that Newt himself led the charge in the mid-90s to change the name of the congressional "Christmas Tree" to the politically correct "Holiday Tree." You can ask Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chaffee just how smart that move is going to turn out to be.
Newt is underfunded, understaffed and underorganized, and has already missed deadlines to get on the ballots in Missouri and Ohio. He couldn't fill up his delegate sheet for New Hampshire either. In other words, he is not ammo-ed up for the onslaught that is about to descend on him. He has only his personal charm as defense, and that charm will be severely tested as ample opportunities will present themselves for the nasty Newt to emerge.
If he is still standing by the Iowa caucus date, and still a viable candidate, it may be a modern day political miracle. With 67% of Iowa caucus voters still willing to switch horses, including 75% of those leaning Gingrich's way, I wouldn't bet the house on it.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
December 9, 2011
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
The long knives are out for Newt Gingrich, and his sturdiness as a candidate is about to be tested in ways that perhaps no candidate has been tested before.
Indications are that Newt is about to be blasted on all fronts, besieged from the left, the right and the center.
From the left, David Axelrod is already strategizing how to Newt-ralize the former speaker. They're late in the game on this one, having wrongly assumed for some time now that the GOP race was all but over and that Romney was going to be the guy. (This is the fatal weakness of the left: they are so insulated from reality and from middle America that they can't imagine anyone supporting a candidate other than an establishment-type like Mitt.)
So the left is tooling up to go after Newt the way they have already trained their guns on Romney. Unfortunately for Newt, he is a target-rich environment. Rep. Peter King and Sen. Tom Coburn both went public this week with their grave reservations about Newt, saying that as Newt's congressional colleagues in the '90s, they found his leadership severely lacking. Axelrod is already emphasizing the fact that not one of Newt's former colleagues from those heady and halcyon days has come out in support of their former leader, whom they were forced to sack after less than four years in the speaker's chair.
Romney is about to go nuclear on Newt from the center, already running an ad which emphasizes his fidelity over 42 years of marriage, a not-so-subtle contrast to Newt's record of serial adultery. (Newt's got another bimbo eruption today to deal with, from a woman who claims to have serviced Newt Lewinski-style back in the late 70s.)
Ron Paul has already launched two warheads from Newt's right, in the form of withering web ads that expose Newt's "serial hypocrisy." He's got more trouble on the global warming front, as it emerged yesterday that he once sincerely supported the use of giant mirrors to cope with climate change.
Newt's troubled marital past is going to make it difficult if not impossible for pro-family groups to support his candidacy; they may not attack him, but may not be able to lend anything but tepid support until the campaign season is over.
Plus, it has now come to light that Newt himself led the charge in the mid-90s to change the name of the congressional "Christmas Tree" to the politically correct "Holiday Tree." You can ask Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chaffee just how smart that move is going to turn out to be.
Newt is underfunded, understaffed and underorganized, and has already missed deadlines to get on the ballots in Missouri and Ohio. He couldn't fill up his delegate sheet for New Hampshire either. In other words, he is not ammo-ed up for the onslaught that is about to descend on him. He has only his personal charm as defense, and that charm will be severely tested as ample opportunities will present themselves for the nasty Newt to emerge.
If he is still standing by the Iowa caucus date, and still a viable candidate, it may be a modern day political miracle. With 67% of Iowa caucus voters still willing to switch horses, including 75% of those leaning Gingrich's way, I wouldn't bet the house on it.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
