Hewitt Blog:
CNN opened its post-debate coverage with the short clip of Rick Santorum saying "Grandiosity has never been a problem with Newt Gingrich," and just as they had when Santorum first said it in the debate, Team Romney must have cheered in their gathering room, and the Chicago gang must have sighed. That clip will play over and over again in SuperPac ads that aren't paid for by Santorum because it conveys in succinct fashion all the messages that all of Newt's critics have been sending from the moment the former Speaker denounced Paul Ryan's Medicare plan as "right wing social engineering" to Newt's more recent attacks on free enterprise.
"You're right," Newt replied. "I think grandiose thoughts."
And there you have it. Newt absolutely loves being the center of attention, and in this regard he does indeed resemble President Obama in self-regard. His ability to consistently thrash MSMers fuels Newt's confidence that he could crush the president in debates. (Debates, by the way, that I am beginning to doubt Obama will agree to with any of the GOP contenders given how well each of them does in these settings and how the president's at-best unproven skills --Senator McCain was simply terrible in the fall debates-- appear to have declined under the weight of his high self-regard for his own world-historicalness.)
Whatever voters in South Carolina decide it increasingly appears that Mitt Romney will be the nominee as all Republicans from center-right to very conservative seek for the nominee who can win, not debates with MSM moderators, but an election against Barack Obama. My Townhall.com column yesterday went through the specifics of the 13 state election ahead, and of the example of the polling data from crucial Ohio. A national election in deeply troubled times cannot be won by grandiosity, but by sober, specific, competent plans communicated by a confident, experienced leader of accomplishment and character. I think a Gingrich-Romney-Santorum set of debates about the world and how America ought to face it would be very good, but another two hours without mention Iran, Syria, Pakistan's nukes and the grave threats to Israel serves no purpose at all. The MSM simply cannot be trusted to be serious because to be serious is to quietly impeach the president for his gravest errors. Romney should announce that he will debate Gingrich and Santorum and yes, even Paul, but only if they each nominate one of the panelists and those panelists have a long involvement in the public debate. There are plenty of people, but the campaign needs to be serious going forward, not WWF-meets-CNN. ( More on this subject here.)
Not one question on Iran? No extended discussion of the president's 20,000 jobs-killing veto of the Keystone Pipeline? Not a single question about Obama's "strategic reassessment" of America's military that will cut it by a trillion dollars and greatly weaken America's defenses? In South Carolina? These debates, no matter the format and no matter the MSMer at the control, fail to deliver the opportunity for the opposition to present its plans for turning the country around, so they fail the country and the campaigns, and so should end except as organized by the candidates themselves.
The real campaign needs to begin, and soon, which is why even if South Carolina gives Newt a story to tell for the next few years, Florida and beyond will nominate Romney or Santorum and then the real debate will get underway: How best to repair the massive damage done by the worst president of modern times.
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