... and Newt's 'fallen man' mea culpa speeches have seemingly been very effective with them; or at least with the former Cain supporters"
POLITICO.COM
"The Arena" Forum
December 9, 2011
Mitt Romney Attacks Newt Gingrich on Three Wives and Conversion to Catholicism
Some excerpts :
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Leslie Marshall Radio Talk Show Host :
When I first saw Mitt Romney's ad attacking Newt Gingrich's three marriages and conversion to Catholicism, I thought it was a bit for Saturday Night Live.
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So many in the Republican Party want anyone but Romney as much as they want anyone but Obama. Perhaps Mr Romney should put his advertising dollars to better use and explain how he created a mandate with health care in Massachusetts and is against the exact same mandate on a federal level and just how someone was pro choice and now is pro life; now that's an ad I'd like to see; although I'm sure SNL would have quite the remake!
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David Mark Moderator :
In a new Iowa television ad Mitt Romney says from a debate podium, "I've been married to the same woman for 25 - excuse me, I'll get in trouble - for 42 years. I've been in the same church my entire life." The former Massachusetts governor also recounts his long tenure leading Bain Capital and experience running the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Is this a less-than-subtle jab at GOP presidential rival Newt Gingrich over his three marriages and his conversion to Roman Catholicism? Is this an effective tactic or sign of desperation?
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Craig Shirley Reagan biographer and president, Shirley and Banister Public Affairs :
In the Federalist Papers, Jay, Hamilton and Madison hammered over and over that the two principle qualifications for the presidency were experience and character.
Experience is objectively determined. Character should also be objectively determined. Attacking a man for converting to Catholicism or attacking a man’s wife in a political campaign tell much about the character of both the attacker and the subject of the attack.
Some would even say that attacking another man’s faith or wife are indications that the sponsor of the assault is of bad character and thus unqualified to be president of the United States. Others more bluntly would call the man doing the attacking despicable.
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Ex-Rep. Martin Frost Attorney, former Democratic congressman :
Romney has no choice but to go after Newt in any way possible.
The resistance to Romney among GOP faithful is so strong that he can only win by showing he is a fighter. Look for more attacks....Newt has lots of vulnerabilities but he probably can only be taken out by a candidate who has fire in the belly.
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Elayne Rapping Professor of American Studies, State University of New York at Buffalo :
Romney is too constrained for his own good. Of course it's a subtle jab, the problem is it's way too subtle to be effective since Republicans already know about Newt's personal foibles and apparently very few care.
If the roles were reversed Newt would have come out swinging, throwing much more explicitly nasty jabs in Romney's face and making them sound even nastier than they were. Newt is a pit bull and Romney a nervous little cocker spaniel who can't take even a softball hit and apparently can't throw one. That's one of many reasons his campaign is tanking while Newt's is taking off.
Republicans like a fighter this year, and they don't seem to care much what the fight is. Buckle your seat belt, President Obama, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
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Garry South Democratic consultant, The Garry South Group :
It's obviously a direct attack on Gingrich, but Romney isn't very likable even in positive mode.
Being in attack mode isn't likely to make him any more lovable. It's like that memorable line from the movie "Broadcast News": "Wouldn't this be a great world if desperation made us more attractive?" Also, Romney can't have it both ways with his Mormonism - alluding to it in his own ads, but then suggesting that anyone who questions the unorthodox tenets of the church is out of bounds.
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Ex-St. Sen. Jeff Smith Former Missouri state senator (D); New School professor :
Mitt is like the perfectly-behaved boy with straight As who's taken the cheerleader on dates every weekend for a year and can't close the deal, and now the roguish drop-out has swooped in and gained traction despite the urgings of the cheerleader's parents (i.e., the Republican establishment) to beware.
How can she not realize what a huge mistake she's making?? This guy is a total dead-ender! I just got admitted to Harvard, and this guy's got no future....It's plain as day! How can she not see it?
Mitt has spent the last few weeks trying unsuccessfully to conspire with her parents and it's backfired - because the more a 17-year-old girl's parents like a guy, the less she will. Just like tea partiers and the Republican establishment.
With the president's approval ratings in the low 40s, these voters are feeling their oats. They want to take a walk on the wild side!
So now young Mitt, usually so cool and collected, is getting desperate. This ad is his most direct attempt yet to show the cheerleader the error of her ways. And I suspect that Republican voters, like the cheerleader, aren't going to listen to reason. They're going to have to learn this lesson for themselves.
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Eileen Smith Editor, In the Pink Texas :
How could this possibly hurt Gingrich?
Romney apparently has no idea how long he's been married and, while he's been in the same church his entire life, it's the Mormon church. Why remind evangelical voters that you're not as Christian as they are?
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Steven G. Calabresi Professor of law, Northwestern University :
Romney is desperate and is flailing at Gingrich. Seventy-five percent of all GOP primary voters are in solid agreement that they do not want Romney as their nominee.
You cannot change your mind constantly about core issues like socialized medicine, cap and trade, immigration, abortion, and gay rights and expect people to believe what you say. There is a lot more consistency in Newt Gingrich's life story than there is in Romney's and if Gingrich slips up maybe Rick Perry will stage a comeback or Jon Huntsman will surge. Mitt Romney does not deserve to be the Republican nominee given Romneycare and his shameless demagoguery on the immigration issue both in the current campaign and in 2008.
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Jason Huff Democratic consultant :
Mitt, my man...you are running in the wrong time in history.
You are the great prototypical Northeast Republican: handsome, rich, educated, steady. You would absolutely run away with the primary nomination...60 years ago (wiping the convention floor with Thomas Dewey!). But you have to be careful on the religious conversion angle. Mormonism is based on conversion. In every corner of America there are young people riding their bikes around town spreading the gospel of John Smith. Remember, Mitt: you were a missionary once...in Paris. (How do you get that gig?! I guess God really does love us all differently).
Mitt is hitting Newt with known quantities: everyone knows about his multiple marriages and shady deals. It's like calling water wet. Mitt is coming off like the kid who says, "I'm going to tell Mom what you did."
Well, governor, Mom knows. And she apparently doesn't care about his indiscretions or is so repelled by your gleaming life that she will choose Newt as her more favored child. Yes, he avoided Vietnam. Yes, he made tons of money lobbying. Yes, he writes the worst fiction this side of a Fox News script. And yes, you are the best, steady choice for a marriage. But the primary ain't a marriage: it's spring break, and Newt is the rouge setting up shots in Daytona, baby! Outside of saying you started Fight Club in the basement of Bain Capital you just are not going to be the choice of a Newt voter.
Since we are focused on religion, maybe Mitt should look to the East for spiritual guidance, maybe a bit of Zen. A peach can only be a peach, no matter how badly it wants to be an apple. Be who you are, not a facsimile of what you think others want. You cannot be Newt: you have to be Mitt. And being Mitt is a pretty good gig from the looks of your television spot. Hitting Newt Gingrich on his flaws has never worked. No matter how sour his character, he emerges to get what he wants. Hell, if Machiavelli had lived through the Contract with America, he would have retitled The Prince The Speaker.
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Christine Pelosi Attorney, author and Democratic activist :
Iowa caucusgoers are famous for upending frontrunners and humbling political titans.
Iowans rejected Mitt Romney in 2008 knowing full well how long he was married and attending church - and won't be shy about doing so again. Romney's got to speak from his heart to their hearts - not from from his head to their hearts. Thus an ad marking his longevity without mentioning his passion doesn't give people a reason to embrace him.
Romney's awkward courtship comes off like the investment banker whose 1,600 word missive for a second date is an instant viral classic in social oblivion: you can't make a case for passion - it's there or it isn't. After all these years people still don't know Mitt Romney's passion, and until he tells it from the heart he cannot expect to beat Newt Gingrich or President Barack Obama.
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Brad Bannon
Brad Bannon President, Bannon Communications Research :
This is the classic political example of opening a can of worms.
Mitt Romney was right because he will get into trouble for bringing religion in the race. Because many Christian conservatives don't consider Mormons real Christians, Romney put his beliefs up for debate. As a Catholic, I resent that implication that there's something wrong with Newt Gingrich because he became a Catholic. There's a lot wrong with Gingrich but his religious affiliation is not one of them.
Romney's charges against the former speaker are also an indication of the difficulty, the eventual GOP nominee will have next fall. While Republicans trade charges about religion, Americans are focused on the economic problems facing the nation. It’s Republicans not Democrats who are out of touch with the concerns of the public. The GOP will pay the price next year for its indifference to working Americans.
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David Biespiel American poet, director, Attic Institute :
This is exactly where Mitt Romney didn't want to be in 2012. As with 2008, he's fighting harder than he should have in both Iowa and New Hampshire - a difficult two-front battle. Should he lose or not meet expectations in Iowa and N.H., he has little prospects of success in South Carolina and dimming prospects in Florida soon after.
With a weak field and a surging Newt Gingrich playing the happy warrior, Romney is facing the biggest test of his candidacy. Unfortunately, it's a candidacy in which the candidate remains unliked by the voters.
Really, that's too bad because, while I would not support Mitt Romney (as regular Arena readers probably know already), I will say that he is a serious person who has worked hard to prepare himself for the presidency, should he be elected - which he won't because American will support Barack Obama in the fall.
Sadder still is Romney's penchant for negative campaigning, a penchant he has shown since his first run for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts in the 1990s when he attacked Sen. Edward Kennedy and the Kennedy family for being in public service to make money. "We have paid too high a price" in public service, Kennedy responded, ending Romney's candidacy. But Romney has never learned the lesson - voters want to vote for someone, not against someone.
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