Florida’s U.S. Senator Marco Rubio chimed in big time for Governor Romney yesterday: This is what we call “goodwill” having been earned after a lot of hard work for another candidate:
“Mitt Romney is no Charlie Crist. Romney is a conservative, and he was one of the first national Republican leaders to endorse me. He came to Florida, campaigned hard for me, and made a real difference in my race.”
Guess who did this kind of work for candidates after his first presidential campaign and loss? Ronald Reagan. This has rarely been discussed this cycle, but there is a reason Reagan’s coat tails brought in so many conservatives with him. After he lost the 1976 nomination to Ford, Reagan campaigned hard for many U.S. senators, congressmen, and governors. That goodwill mattered, big time.
PROOF that Newt Gingrich, the entertainer, demands an audience for validation:
This New York Times article contains a video in which he calls Governor Romney “dishonest” and calls him a liar.
In an interview with the morning show “Fox and Friends,” Mr. Gingrich said NBC’s rules amounted to stifling free speech. In what has become a standard line of attack for his anti-establishment campaign, Mr. Gingrich blamed the media for trying to silence a dissenting point of view.
“I wish in retrospect I’d protested when Brian Williams took them out of it because I think it’s wrong,” Mr. Gingrich said. “And I think he took them out of it because the media is terrified that the audience is going to side with the candidates against the media, which is what they’ve done in every debate.”
[...]
Mr. Gingrich’s performance in the debate in Tampa on Monday night was far more muted. Critics noted that he seemed to be off his game. The National Journal, which co-hosted the NBC debate, compared Gingrich to “a stand-up comedian whose routine suffers without echoes of laughter egging him on.”Mr. Gingrich clearly noticed something was off, too. “We’re going to serve notice on future debates,” he told Fox. “We’re just not going to allow that to happen. That’s wrong. The media doesn’t control free speech. People ought to be allowed to applaud if they want to.”
[...]
At debates during the general election, which are governed by rules set by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the audience is told to remain silent. “No cheers, no applause, no noise of any kind,” as Jim Lehrer reminded them in 2008.
Gingrich’s Use of Saul Alinsky:
The Dough Boy of GOP reaction has apparently decided he can win it all by making Alinsky the central figure of the 2012 campaign. Every time Gingrich opens his mouth, out comes pronunciamenti like “the centerpiece of this campaign…is American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky.” (Fox Nation 1/21/12) or “Saul Alinsky radicalism is at the heart of Obama.” (CNN 1/22/12)
If this were not silly enough, harken to Rudy Giuliani on the TV upbraiding Gingrich for acting like Alinsky: “What the hell are you doing, Newt? I expect this from Saul Alinsky. This is what Saul Alinsky taught Barack Obama.”
[...]
In Congress, Gingrich made a name of sorts for himself the time he groused about being asked to deplane from Air Force One’s rear door. He wanted to come down the front steps, where the Marine guard throws you a salute and people on the wrong side of the velvet rope strain for so much as a smile. Gingrich likes to run with the overdogs, with the megas — the mega rich, the mega powerful, the mega glorious.Alinsky spent his life with the have-nots and the have-not-enoughs. He hated to see people kicked around, but he didn’t entertain Captain America fantasies. He didn’t want to wear a cape. Instead, by organizing people, he wanted to insure that every man and woman could have their own cape.
WHAT ABOUT CHARITABLE GIVING COMPARISONS? Why the fuss over Romney’s wealth?
Make no mistake; Newt Gingrich is a very wealthy man. I have seen estimates of net worth exceeding $70 million. Here is how they stack up in charitable giving:
Romney (2 yrs)…..$7 million / 16.7%
Gingrich……………….$81,133 / 2.6%
Obama (’07)………$240,000 / 5.7%
Biden (10 yrs)…….$369.00 / 0.3%
Biden (2010)………$5,350 / 1.4%
Gore (1997)……….$353.00 / 0.000002% (guesstimate)
~Addendum from Ross
Check out a short video about Mitt from Celeb Life below the fold.
Victor is a businessman working in the healthcare industry. He and his wife of 33 years have five children and four grandchildren. Vic has been blogging for Mitt Romney since 2007.
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Hey Vic, how about a comparison between what Gingrich spends on charity versus what he spends on mistresses? OR how a pastor in Georgia had to collect food for Jackie and the girls after Newt left them for Marianne??
Gov Romney is very generous men. The record shows he has been serving his community in a wide range of causes unlike the other talkers. Glad Rubio is speaking out b/s the media is reporting his T-party supporters are with the sitcom actor Gingrich.
Gingrich should be VERY afraid of Queen Pelosi. Queen Pelosi warned Gingrich from the day his announcement for Prez.
Newt appears to be so overcome with his own arrogance and ego that he can’t connect with reality on what WILL happen if he is the nominee. He cares NOT about our country, only himself and his grandiose rhetoric…….oh, and loves the applause and attention.
It is beyond mind boggling to think HOW intelligent people of FL could support a man that will be ripped apart in a general……..NO applause in THOSE ONE or TWO TOTAL debates, nor softball questions! Floridians………please, don’t vote Gingrich!! It is sheer idiocy.
I’d be interested to know what charities received Newt’s $$? I had heard one/some were linked to his OWN charity. Is there any truth in that?
Apropos Rubio, I’d feel much better about MItt’s chances in FL if the senator would simply return the favor of Mitt’s support–without which Rubio would not have been able to beat a sitting governor for his own nomination.
Given Mitt’s generosity, moreover, I think it’s bad form for Rubio to sit on the sidelines, remaining obtuse and impotently neutral, when so much is at stake here.
Folks, here’s a “message” from Rubio that ought to be the centerpiece of a positive ad that implicitly counters Newt’s agitprop: “Mitt Romney is no Charlie Crist. Romney is a conservative. and he was one of the first national Republican leaders to endorse me. He came to Florida, campaigned hard for me, and made a real difference in my race.”