To: DMaA who wrote (464546 ) 1/11/2012 8:47:29 AM From: Paul Smith 2 Recommendations Read Replies (2) | Respond to Try as some might to deprecate it, there’s no denying that Mitt Romney ’s smashing victory in the New Hampshire primary has firmly established that him as the all-but inevitable Republican presidential nominee. The final tally raised Romney’s total of the vote to nearly 40 percent in a five-man race in the state and a 17-pont margin of victory the vicious attacks on Romney’s business career from Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry have done as much to discredit them as the former head of Bain Capital. The spectacle of conservatives trying to sound like Occupy Wall Street protesters in order to smear Romney hasn’t hurt him so much as it has made them look ridiculous especially when it is increasingly obvious that Romney is the only Republican running who can beat President Obama. In the coming weeks, conservatives must decide whether their unhappiness with Romney is enough to cause them to abandon their principles and to aid Democratic attacks on the man who will almost certainly be their party’s standard-bearer in November. While Romney has struggled at times to articulate a coherent defense of capitalism, he found his voice last night during his victory speech when he noted that President Obama and “desperate Republicans” were trying “to put free enterprise on trial.” His declaration that he has faith in the people, not government was exactly the sort of message that he needs to emphasize the rest of the campaign. Even more to the point, by making this election about defending the private sector against Obama’s belief in big government, he can reassure conservatives that despite his faults and his difficulty in connecting with ordinary voters, he is clearly on their side of the great issues facing the nation. last ditch effort to convince Tea Partiers and social conservatives that Romney can be stopped. But if they continue with their hypocritical trashing of his business record, all they will accomplish is to destroy what is left of their own tattered reputations. Rick Santorum has wisely stayed out of that scrum and is hoping to galvanize the support of social conservatives to stay in contention. But his disappointing fifth-place finish in New Hampshire may have dissipated the momentum he got from his strong performance in Iowa. Moreover, with well-funded conservative foes in Gingrich and Perry going all out in South Carolina, it’s hard to see how Santorum emerges from the pack to beat Romney. commentarymagazine.com I thought Romney's victory speech last night in NH was very well done - it was exactly the kind of message that he needs to stay on to beat Obama.
