The New York Post : John Podhoretz : "The Newt surge isn’t about Newt Gingrich. It’s about Mitt Romney" - The problem that only Newt Gingrich can solve : "the problem of Mitt Romney"

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"The debates have allowed Gingrich to transform his presidential bid from a comic embarrassment, featuring a senior staff mass resignation, in the spring into something more formidable than anyone could have anticipated, including him".

The New York Post
Romney’s flatline - Behind the Gingrich surge
By John Podhoretz
December 1, 2011


Romney’s flatline - Behind the Gingrich surge



Some excerpts :

A Rasmussen poll puts Gingrich 20 points ahead of Mitt Romney nationally; if other polling supports that finding in the next few days, it will constitute a staggering reversal of fortune for both men.

Perhaps even more telling is that in two concurrent polls in the key state of Florida, Gingrich is garnering support from anywhere from 41 to 50 percent of likely Republican primary voters, with Romney in the teens.

If these numbers are halfway real, Gingrich is doing twice as well as any of the other “not-Romneys” — Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain — ever did.

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Under normal conditions, Newt Gingrich could not be a serious candidate for the Republican nomination. But he has a secret weapon — Mitt Romney.

Romney’s solid 20 to 25 percent in the polls all year hasn’t grown, no matter what else has happened. That is, his lead is a flatline. What’s more, Romney knows it, and is entirely at a loss about what to do. How else can one explain his peculiar level of agitation with Fox News’ Bret Baier during a respectful and sober interview on Wednesday?

Baier asked a series of fair and judicious questions relating to his health-care plan in Massachusetts and his shifting stance on immigration. Romney acted as though Baier were Dan Rather calling him a wimp.

He didn’t yell; yelling is not in his wheelhouse. But he had a furious smile painted on his lips as he grew flustered and annoyed.

Watching this very polished pol try to figure out how to talk about the fact that his health-care plan forced everyone in Massachusetts to buy an insurance policy, just as Obama’s health-care plan will force everyone in America to do so, makes it clear what a relatively easy time he has had of it so far.

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