Friendly Fire: GOP Attacking Wrong Target
The GOP presidential field is much like a warzone these days, with candidates hell-bent on annihilating the enemy, but with one difference: our candidates are intent upon destroying each other.
Many — though not all — of the Republican presidential contenders have lost sight of the big picture: President Obama is the adversary, removing him from the White House the endgame. The GOP presidential candidates have a much more shortsighted endgame defined: win the nomination at any cost, even if it means ruthlessly attacking their colleagues.
Look no further than a Republican primary debate to see the candidates pummeling one another. Remember when Rick Perry continually harped on Mitt Romney’s hiring of illegal immigrants to work in his yard, which was a simplification of the true story? Or when Perry accused Romney of “not having a heart”? Recall Michele Bachmann taking it a step too far by calling Herman Cain’s well-thought out 9-9-9 plan the “666” plan?
Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul have adopted a strategy of targeting fellow GOP candidates with attack ads. Bachmann’s latest ad is a montage of the GOP field’s worst moments, using Perry’s embarrassing “oops” moment as the finale. A Ron Paul ad suggests some of his competitors support socialist policies. He uses statements from Cain, Romney, and Perry in support of bailouts and stimulus, and then airs a quote from Glenn Beck: “Where are the people who say all of this stuff is socialism?”
News flash, Rep. Paul: Obama is the socialist. Dubbing any GOP candidates as such is disingenuous.
The candidates in GOP attack mode should use history as their guide. In the 2000 Republican presidential primary, then-Governor George W. Bush released an ad in October of 1999 stating:
I believe often times campaigns resort to mud throwing and name-calling. And Americans are sick of that kind of campaigning. … I’m going to run a campaign that is hopeful and optimistic and very positive.
Overall, President Bush avoided scathing personal attacks, a strategy that clearly served him well.
I would hope the current GOP field understands they have a greater mission than just seeing themselves assume the highest office in the land. I’d like to think that anyone wanting to be elected president next year is guided by a desire to amend the mistakes of the Obama administration and to set our country on the path to economic prosperity.
Newt Gingrich seems to have made it his mission to stay above the fray, and he has soared in the polls. He has not thrown caustic barbs at his colleagues, and has only attacked to defend himself when provoked. Gingrich has kept his sights on the big picture — beating Obama. Does he want the nomination as much as the others? Of course, but he understands what the GOP primary must be about.
Newt Gingrich seems to have made it his mission to stay above the fray, and he has soared in the polls. He has not thrown caustic barbs at his colleagues, and has only attacked to defend himself when provoked. Gingrich has kept his sights on the big picture — beating Obama. Does he want the nomination as much as the others? Of course. but he understands what the GOP primary must be about.
If I wanted to read a never ending series of articles trashing Republicans, all I have to do is go to other outlets such as the Huffington Post, Politico or any of the MSM websites. Unfortunately, lately it has been just about as bad here at the PJM websites, Michelle Malkin and many other nominally conservate outlets.
The political enemy here is Obama and the Democrats. All we’re doing with this circular firing squad is weakening ourselves. We should be concentrating on defeating Obama and the Democrats. I know a lot of the PJM writers have their favorite Republican candidates and they hope to give their guy a boost by tearing down the others but I don’t believe it’s helping at all.
but but but but, Newt did stuff people don’t like and he at least 5% of the millions of words he has spoken and written don’t agree with current conservative orthodosy…so he must be lying about agreeing 99% with it right now.
He even had the unforgiveable audacity to try to work with Nancy Pelosi on AGW. Because, in April 2008 everybody knew for a fact that Nancy would be the worst, most rigidly ideological Speaker in history even though she had no power at the time, and that 19 months later a document cache would be diclosed that would prove climate “scientists” were manipulating the data. Can we tolerate a candidate who can’t foresee the future?
Reagan’s 11th Commandment: “thou shalt not speak ill of any other Republican……” With all the blasting of so-called RINOs here on PJ Media, it’s clear that some posters pay little attention to Reagan.
All these RINO Republicans are like flashers, exposing themselves on a street corner. Now we know who they are and it ain’t pretty.
These are not RINOS just weak people who can’t stans up and say We are going to lose because we can’t prove as good as other people who will stand up to the newsmen and the others who want America to go over a cliff.
I wince every time I hear conservative candidates belittling and attacking one another. We’re throwing bullets over to the other side, providing our critics with free script material, and deeply weakening our position every time we do it. So thanks for saying what desperately needs to be said. I wish the media were saturated with articles like this.
On a less pragmatic note, what I’ve always thought of as class and civility have absolutely nothing to do with background, money, or position in life. They’re all about basic human dough. (And in the political arena particularly, the self-discipline not to rise to the bait of what has to be almost overwhelming provocation at times.) Popular culture notwithstanding, I wish it were regarded as the sine qua non for any American President—which would have immediately disqualified the current incumbent—and I also dearly wish Republicans would adopt it wholesale as the distinguishing hallmark of the brand. Meanwhile back in the USA, although I will vote for the devil incarnate to unseat Obama, it would be a very special pleasure to pull the lever for Gingrich, the only one among the announced candidates who has unfailingly maintained this standard.
Isn’t it funny how the author forgot all about Romney’s hypocritical and misleading attacks on Rick Perry that led to that dust-up about Romney having illegals on his payroll? How Rick Perry supports “amnesty” when he never said anything of the sort? Or how Rick Perry wants to destroy Social Security?
Romney has not only been one of the most snivelling, disingenuous attack dogs out there, but he also uses talking points and political tactics straight from the Democrat playbook.
Using the Democrat playbook might just be the best way to beat the communist in the white house.
Hallelujah !
Thank you for your column.
The Country is not simply “in danger”, the Republic is in the hands of a communist administration that aims at destroying America’s might and America’s economy.
We must add that the pseudo-conservatives who come here to write thousands upon thousands of comments attacking the GOP candidates are the “useful idiots” of the commie war-machine. We are in the trenches and they want to discuss if they will go to fight (=vote for Freedom against totalitarianism) or not. Strange kind of “conservatives” !!!
I think I’ll just vote for Santorum. Seems to me he’s only doing so poorly because the media tells us he has no chance. All the rest of them have huge negatives. I’m especially leery of Newt. Unstable seems to me the best word to describe him. Romney is an obvious liberal. Bachman is simply one dimensional and not all that intelligent. Paul …? Brilliant and crazy. Not fit for public office actually. Too bad Rubio didn’t run. The nation probably won’t survive long enough for him to come around for ’16 or ’20.
Newt will give us Obama in 2012. Barney and Nancy can’t even suppress their guffaws until after he clinches the nomination. Newt is a smart guy but conservatives? Not so much.
Yes, thank you for this article. I have pretty much been supporting Perry but that is beside the point. As Newt said, any one of the Republican candidates are better than what is in office now. I will vote for whoever gets the nomination.
In another column someone said we did not elect Obama. In a way though, some of us did. By not supporting the candidate that got the nomination either by voting third party or not voting at all, they might as well have pulled the lever for the big mistake. By arguing among ourselves, we are doing it again. We have to quit trying to tear down the candidates we don’t like but instead, talk up the points we like about the ones we support. We need to discuss the differences in their plans and find which one is the best not resort to name calling. This could be the most important vote we’ve ever cast, let’s make sure we have our best out there to win.
While there are some of the Republican candidates I like better than others, when election day comes, I’d gladly crawl on my hands and knees over broken glass to vote for any Republican over Obama and the rest of the Democrats. Hell, I’d vote for a mangy, flea-bitten, run over dog over Obama.
Remember, “the perfect is the enemy of the good.” None of the Republican candidates is perfect* and it’s highly unlikely a perfect being will be drafted at next year’s convention, either. When all is said and done, what matters most is voting Obama and as many Democrats as possible out of office at every level of government.
*Human perfection is actually quite rare with the last credible claimant having died on the cross some 2000 years ago.
The Democrat*s discipline and marching band coordination are to be admired. How they must be patting each other on the back as the country watches these necessary playoffs (and nobama pick pockets the audience). To the Democrats this is a team sport and that*s our fault.What we have going for us is that normal Americans,not on the take can see this for what it is; the genius of our transference of power!
Larry and others are correct: I keep wondering when the bitter of us will just get it over with and declare Obama reelected. I keep reading, “Well, they’re all we have”, or “He’s the lesser of the two evils”, or “I’ll vote for him, but I’ll hold my nose”. That attitude is blood in the water and the other side will smell it for the weakness that it is. The non-negotiable goal here is evicting this squatter from Our House and from behind that hallowed desk he keeps putting his feet on and restoring the integrity of the Office of the United States. Many, many of our candidates have the ability and sincere desire to do so.
Melissa,
As a matter of record, W put his feet on the same desk. What you propose continuing is exactly what has gotten us the current POSITOO. Every election cycle the political landscape slides the left, shaped by the communist media and perpetrated by the folks who are always willing to compromise so their team wins.
What puts “blood in the water” is posting in these forums that everyone will vote for whatever closet statist the GOP elites hoist onto the stage. Slowing our slide into communism is too damned little, too damned late, we need a serious about face, and frankly nobody in the GOP race right now represents that.
So, go ahead, keep rewarding the GOP with your vote no matter how little to the right their candidate is of the POSITOO, keep rewarding their failure and arrogant presumption. It wasn’t those of us who voted for Perot that got Clinton elected, it was those of you who gave us an inferior candidate from the GOP.
It’s up to the candidates to get voters to the polling/caucus places starting next month. If they can’t do that, then they won’t get the nomination. It appears obvious that the RNC is pushing Romney as the establishment candidate but ultimately, it’s the caucus participants and primary voters who’ll make the choices. You can contribute money directly to the candidate of your choice, completely bypassing the RNC. Romney is only polling about 30%, so even if the RNC is pushing him, he may well not win the nomination.
Regardless, someone will get the nomination. It may be Newt. It may be Romney. It might be someone else. If you candidate doesn’t get the nomination, what then? Will you stay home or vote for a 3rd party, helping Obama return for another 4 years of chaos and destruction? Or will you suck it up and vote – however reluctantly – for the Republican candidate? The choice is yours.
But there is little difference between Obama and Newt.
Both are in favor of Obamacare. Both are in favor of Cap & Trade. Both are in favor of big government. Both hate guns. Both never did a lick of work in their life outside government or academia. Both love crony capitalism, the government giving money to companies who give a kickback to them.
There is more being a Republican than just having an R next to their names. Unfortunately politics in this country is like team sports, all that matters is your side wins, not his beliefs or how he will run the country.
There is so much character assassination going on in the comments to these articles that I’m beginning to wonder of most of it is not coming from Obama’s Office of The Director of Progressive Media and Online Response.
If the Republican field can’t take a few shots from people on the same side, how are they ever going to take the tons of dirt the Dems are preparing to bury them under?
Can’t conservatives find someone worth the fight? What do we have to offer?
Romney…Not Obama lite..Obama white…voters are gonna say why vote for him when we have the non-racist choice?
Newt…he has more baggage than my ex-girlfriend and she was a narcissistic Brit/Swiss dual citizen with a penchant for getting drunk and sleeping with her latest chat room conquest.
Bachmann…a little more experience than Obama but ain’t gonna beat Obama
Santorum…could do the job but doesn’t have the blessing of the uber-Republicans
Paul…the party wrote him off as a nut a long time ago
Perry…W from under a different rock(that’s been repainted since it became known)
Huntsman…Who the hell is Huntsman?
So where does that leave us conservatives? Bitching about another 4 years of Obama. I hope I’m wrong and things may change…hehe…nope.
Absolutely! We should all hold hands and sing Cum Bay Ya while the usual backroom elites who gave us W, McC, and Dole tell us who to vote for as the bonafide “lessor of two evils”. That model has served us so damned well that, frankly, the GOP hasn’t managed to field a single candidate this time who is clearly what we need to turn the country around.
If the candidates can’t stand the heat in the primary what good are they later?
Party above country, it ain’t just for dems.
Thank you! We need to get our priorities straight and priority number one is defeating Obama. No way you can skip over that or move onto any other issue without making sure he is not elected to a second term. It ain’t rocket science. We need to focus!!!
The same can be said of the conservative media. First there was the prissy George Will and now “The Editors” of Ntl Review. Shallow hysteria at the specter of “charlatan entrepreneurs” , a “Marxist” Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump hosting Republican candidates, as opposed to the usual fare of Obama media who want nothing more than for the entire field to fail. Increasingly the voting public is beginning to realize they are better off listening to the candidates and trusting their own instincts and fighting to save their country without “benefit” of Washington Insider insight.
I believe it was none other than James Madison who warned that factions are the major destroyers of republics. The “party first” mentality has sure wrecked a lot of havoc on ours over the years. The issue should be constitution first, but then, that would require an electorate who had actually read and agreed with the document. It would require us to be willing to hold our representatives accountable when they deviate from it. Even if we benefit from the transgressions. Pardon me if I remain skeptical of that ever happening. We are too easily led astray by political hobgoblins that are intended to deceive us into selling our liberty for government cheese.
It’s Gingrich Time!
All things come to those who wait and now it’s Gingrich’s turn. With the race for the Republican nomination for president seemingly narrowed to a pack of two, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, it was time for the Obama attack team to zero in on Newt since he has been waxing of late and Mitt has been stagnating.
Adhering to the military strategy of focusing on offing the leader, the Obamians have been dismantling the front runner until he is beaten to a pulp then deal with the remnants of the field. It worked with Bachmann, Perry, and Cain so why not go with whatever works?
Of course, even when he was bringing up the rear, Gingrich received his allotted share of undercutting but it’s a whole new ballgame now that he’s in the lead. The Big Guns are being trotted out to reduce him to size, if not to a quivering shadow of his former self.
However, with all his faults and baggage, Newt represents a lot of candidate to cut down and he’s not known to quiver much.
And, to utilize a tempting pun, his quiver is chock-full of arrows with which to bring down Obama, chiefly his knowledge, experience, intelligence, and debating expertise, all of which constitute fearsome forces to reckon with and the re-elect Obama team has evidently been doing a great deal of reckoning.
The latest Democrat stalwart to join the Democrat attack machine isn’t known for her intelligence or expertise in anything other than winning her own re-election in a super-safe congressional district and just launched her initial salvo of innuendo intended to inflict damage on her former House colleague.
House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi didn’t really say anything of substance to Talking Points Memo but rather, in her sly fashion, tried to smear and intimidate Gingrich with a threat.
As she inelegantly put it without elaboration, “When the time is right. . . I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.”
Just think about it. An investigative committee of four so far un-identified individuals investigating an arch political enemy for twelve months behind non-transparent doors and compiling “a thousand pages of his stuff.” It’s a wonder they didn’t find Newt guilty of pulling grandma’s plug and tossing babies into wood chippers!
Imagine any committee secretly investigating Barack Hussein Obama for a year! They could determine he was born in Nairobi, his father was a confirmed Marxist drunk, and his mother had this peculiar thing for Muslim men. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=9629.)
The conservatives aren’t getting thru in the “payroll taxes vs. millionaire taxes” arguments. The liberals have found a way to corner them on taxes–just wreck Social Security!
Explaining supply-side econ in our idiotic TV campaigns is a thankless task at best. “Tax on job creators” has the advantage of being true, but it’s not vivid enough.
They need better talking points:
“Tax hikes don’t hurt the rich, just their employees. The rich can just fire their gardener.”
“What about when you (middle class liberal) get a tax hike? You call Fred the carpenter and say ‘Let’s forget about adding that deck till next year.’”
“The top rate may only affect 2% of small businesses, but that’s 25% of the work force.”
“What does [insert name of beloved local small businessman] do with $10,000? He buys another machine, hires a guy to run it, and makes some more money. Rinse and repeat. Can the government do better with that $10,000?”
The conservatives aren’t getting thru in the “payroll taxes vs. millionaire taxes” arguments.
A perfect example of the problem. There is no payroll tax cut. It’s a payroll withholding cut that still has you liable for the tax come April 15th. If we can’t even get that point across to people how do you expect to get anything more complex to sink in?
It is the Social Security tax. It is called a withholding as if it is being placed in a separate place for you to use later in your life. The truth is that it is almost the only federal tax that half of the country is required to actually pay. So it goes, if you won’t let us tax the richest American more, we will force you to tax the poorest American less. Same difference either way, Republicans lose again and the social democrats win again. Does anyone even remember that the Bush tax cuts actually favored the poor more than they did the wealthy? Look at how this redistribution of wealth is turning out for us so far. No worry, the socialist ideal will eventually fail because it has flaws that will keep it from ever succeeding. Of course, we will have to go through a long and bloody period of tyranny before the socialist fantasy is finally destroyed.
To paraphrase Berthold Brecht, “The people have proven themselves unworthy of the Constitution. It is therefore necessary for the State to get a new people.” Much more likely is it the “The people are unworthy; let us create a Constitution that suits them.”
We pretty much have already. Instead of rewriting the document, we have just twisted it beyond recognition. No need for the amendment process. We can ignore the ones we have already, like the 10th. The “general welfare” clause is support enough for our “socialism”.
This has to happen. The GOP primaries are, in all likelihood, the presidential election. The candidates are not the same in their beliefs nor in any trust I might lend them individually to do what they promise. I have not noted that this kind of thing harms general election prospects. Rather, too much niceness and polite debate tends to throw nominations to “Moderates” and RINOs, it allows them to more-easily separate their records from their promises.
People are too frightened of Obama winning again. Everything about his numbers and performance says he is a loser. Virtually any Conservative would beat him. Even Bachmann would beat him. Crossovers gave him a chance and he blew it with them. He has learned nothing by that, and is pulling back from whites altogether. He’s finished.
I thank you for this true piece of media. I am so disgusted with Romney and Texas Perry glaring at each other and spewing their small minded rot toward each other….In fact i will not watch one of the debates, because of this sickening form of child speak..I really thank Newt for being the only one of the lot to be a real serious candidate….I know Newt will probably be the nominee, but he will have to wade thur hell created by this EVIL b—h, Piglosi, and the trash that calls themselves the MSM..Heaven help us….as i do not see 0b0 turning loose the reins of his power….the socialist way is to stomp all that would disagree into mush, and he will have the entire powers of darkness at his beck and call…..and people he, 0b0 will use any and all low handed ways to stay in power….When i go to vote, and a BP is standing there to harm or hinder me…know this, I will not be pushed away…I may go to jaol, but he will go somewhere else….
As others have said, this is one reason Newt has risen in the polls. I realize there are some of you so in love with your first choice that you are disparaging Newt in an attempt to hurt his candidacy and I’m sure a few liberal trolls just having fun, and some conservative purists who ulitmately will think that they’re all RINOs, but Newt’s strategy here in how he is relating to the others is brilliant, and I think honest.
Psychologically, by Newt continually heaping praise on his opponents Newt is chipping away at those who don’t like him. Its hard to keep hating a guy who is complementing your current choice. Then Newt’s brilliance and breadth of knowledge keeps taking its toll on your resistance until finally you say, “you know what, I kinda like the guy, he now has my vote”.
I like the vetting process because it partially inoculates the surviving candidate in the general election. I have already learned a lot about Gingrich and assume this information will be available to all citizens in the general, if he gets that far.
I’m sorry, but I’d rather have Obama in office than Newt. If we’re going to have a big government corrupt narcissist, might as well be a Democrat.
Gingrich is no different than Obama on guns, cap & trade, and healthcare, etc,. He has been in the past. His favorite president is FDR.
Good job Jeremy! Now go back to your masters and tell them that you really socked it to those bastard Republicans this time. If it was Democrats in the white house, I could stand to read your drivel, but it is not. It is communists that we are facing.
I’m sorry, but this “infighting” is a necessity and I welcome it.
The ugly truth about each and every candidate needs to be exposed in the primaries before they’re put up against the opposition, who will also do their best to expose the ugly truth. Don’t care what political affiliation you have. Would you rather all this information come out in September 2012 when it’s too late to back someone else?
The “lesser of two evils” argument is piss poor because you’re still voting for evil. Gingrich, Romney, Perry… do you think any of them will ACTUALLY move towards a smaller government? Before someone has a knee jerk reaction, pause and THINK. What about any of their previous actions tells you they’re going to do this? “They realized the error of their ways.” Yeah, and I have some great real estate in south Florida for you.
I was shocked that in 2004 the best the Democrats could come up with was John Kerry. How many people were pounding the desk about how horrible GWB was and he’s the best the Dem’s have? I’m equally shocked that with the atrociousness of the last 3 years, the best the Republicans have to offer are Newt, Mitt, and Rick P. Ron, Michelle, and Rick S may all be bats**t crazy in their own ways, but they’re at least not Progressives.
I keep hearing the analogy “Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic” and it’s wrong. We’re rearranging deck chairs on the Lusitania. We KNOW the dangers ahead of us and the disaster it could lead to, but we’re saying “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” instead of turning around and returning to a Constitutionally based government.
Obama is going to get reelected in 2012 because the best we (I’m a registered Republican) can put forth is another statist. Grab a life vest folks, because when we drive forward into occupied waters, that torpedo is gonna hurt.