And so in the end, it comes down to this: The only chance to prevent Newt Gingrich from going forward strengthened, with a chance of winning the GOP nomination, is to vote for the guy no one seems to actively like: Mitt Romney.
Staying home does no good. Voting for Ron Paul or Rick Santorum does no good, however much you may like them. They can’t deny this victory to Newt Gingrich, so a vote for them is a waste. (So is a vote for any of those who have dropped out, but are still on the ballot. I like Huntsman, too — but a vote for him doesn’t stop Newt Gingrich.)
Only Romney still has some slim chance of defeating Newt Gingrich today, so I’m urging everyone to get out and vote for him.
And don’t fool yourself into thinking it makes no difference. It makes a HUGE difference. Don’t fall for any of these rationalizations:
“It doesn’t matter; even if Newt wins South Carolina, Romney will win the nomination.” Don’t assume that. In fact, Gallup reported yesterday that what has happened in South Carolina over the past week-and-a-half has been happening, somewhat less dramatically, elsewhere in the country: Gingrich is catching Romney in national polls. The word Gallup used to describe what’s happening to Romney is “collapsing.”
“It doesn’t matter; Gingrich would never beat Obama, so the nation would be in no danger.” Don’t ever assume that — an infinite variety of things could happen to throw an election from the incumbent to the challenger. And by not voting to stop Gingrich today, you will have helped put him in the White House.
“OK, so maybe the Republican would win the election. In that case it still doesn’t matter, because I don’t like either Mitt or Newt.” This is the one on which you are most wrong.
Newt Gingrich would be a disaster for the United States of America. He would tear the country apart like nothing any of us have seen in our lifetimes. To say nothing of our relations with other countries.
Remember Bush Derangement Syndrome? (How could you forget? Republicans are suffering from a related disease today.) That was nothing. George W. Bush was just this guy, you know? Pretty average. A conservative guy, somewhat given to Texan swagger. That was about it. But Democrats hated him, practically spitting at the mention of his name.
But Gingrich would be all of the things that Democrats imagine Bush was, and on steroids.
None of us, in our lifetimes, have seen a president of the United States who would do what Newt Gingrich would do every single day in office: Try to infuriate and insult half the country, and most of the world. He delights in insulting, demeaning and belittling anyone who disagrees with him. And you know that right from the start, half the country would fit into that category. And that category would grow, as everything he says is magnified by the curvature of the presidential bubble.
All politicians occasionally say things that alienate a lot of people. But with rare exceptions, they don’t do it on purpose. The utter contempt and hostility with which Newt Gingrich regards most of the human race is a palpable thing, and it is intentional. When other politicians say something that alienates or demoralizes the country or inflames other nations, the try to do damage control. Newt Gingrich would instead strut about the stage, immensely pleased with himself.
He would be a complete disaster for this country. You may think that could be said with justice of other politicians you don’t like, but they are nothing to Newt.
Now, as for Mitt Romney — well, I can’t give you a ringing endorsement. About the only thing I can say I like about him is that he is not an ideologue. That’s what the most partisan Republicans — the one’s flocking to Gingrich — don’t like about him. They call him a flip-flopper. That’s because he is a manager, a turn-around artist. His goal would be to run the country well and efficiently, not to enact grand ideological schemes. That’s not enough to make anyone’s heart go pitter-pat, but it’s something. And it beats tearing the country apart.
Read The State‘s endorsement. It gives good reasons why Romney is the best — or at least the least bad — option, now that Huntsman is out of it. Read Cindi Scoppe’s accompanying column, as well. The headline on the endorsement is, “Romney has capacity to build bridges.” I think he does.
But at this point, Mitt Romney is more than the “least-bad” option. He’s the one guy who can stop Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich not only has the power to blow bridges up; he can’t wait to plant the charges.
And that’s why any South Carolinian who cares about the country needs to vote for Mitt Romney today.
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If Mitt loses tonight, Governess Nikki’s political capital diminishes. So I don’t care who wins as long a Mitt loses in SC.
You’re right! Newton Leroy is just not tall enough.
“One day before the South Carolina primary, actor and martial arts extraordinaire Chuck Norris endorsed Newt Gingrich for president, saying he believes that Gingrich can both “return America to her glory days” and “outwit” President Obama.” He been hit in the head one too many times!
First robo-calls and now Brad.
BTW – I voted for Gingrich, just because it was a vote against Romney.
I’m for Stephen and as he said “I want to introduce to you the Her-Man with a plan, the plan so fine they named it 9-9-9, the Mad Max of the flat tax, the Indiana Jones of opportunity zones. The Her-Man, the Her-Myth, my brother from another mother, Mr. Herman Cain.” The SC GOP primary is just too damn funny but really sad for our state & nation.
Last night some friends and I were gathered for happy hour and supper at one of our houses. One person asked that each of us state who we were going to vote for and why. It was fascinating to hear many of the answers. Some were Libertarians of course, but I don’t think anyone was interested in voting for Gingrich for reasons ranging from marital infidelity to impulsiveness. At any rate, I’ll be interested to see how the actual tallies rank as compared to ours. For us Romney and Ron Paul about tied. There was a vote or 2 for Santorum, and at least 1 for Cain/Colbert (very tempting to many of us).
@Michael – But I bet it’s okay in your mind for taxpayers to pay for Democratic primaries. Am I right?
Call Harpootlian and tell him to reverse his policy of actively discouraging Democrats from voting in this election that our tax dollars are paying for.
Romney remains such an unpalatable candidate. How to support him?
The flip argument may be let’s let these two battle it out through some more states of the union. South Carolina need not, and is not, the final arbitrator of Presidential elections.
It’s just as much an example of hubris to think That.
I agree with you. It would be a disaster. And if Europe fails & we are plunged into a 2nd recession America might just be crazy enough to vote Gingrich over Obama.
At one time I was 100% on board with Brad and his reasoning. But as the hours and days droned on it became increasingly obvious that I could not vote for Mitt Romney. I’ve come to simply dispise the man and his elitist attitude. He would be a total disaster for anyone making less than half a million/year. So although Brad is spot on with his analysis of Newt he gives Romney more credit than he deserves.
I voted for Ron Paul to be a disruptive figure in the proceedings. He won’t be the nominee but he can be divisive to party unity which is a good thing. The more the GOP can be weakened the better it is for Obama but more importantly the USA.
One more quick comment. I find the title of this post very offputting:
If you care about the country, it’s important that you vote for Mitt Romney today
Are you suggesting if we vote for someone else we DONT care about our country?
The Demos have a convention and they pay for the convention center or whatever.
Voting for Ron Paul or Rick Santorum does no good, however much you may like them. They can’t deny this victory to Newt Gingrich, so a vote for them is a waste.
There is no such thing as a wasted vote. If more people voted their convictions, maybe the country would be in better shape.
@Stephen,
Tripe.
I hope this isn’t deflection, too.
Does anyone else sense an underhanded (Nikki Haley-type) election of Newt Gingrich, President of the United.States.of.America in progress?
>>>Eerie<<<
I did it, but I don’t think it’ll change the outcome. Could Newt, God forbid, actually win the nomination?
I do care about the country, but it seems that the GOP are posturing themselves for 2016.
My assessment:
Mitt Romney is the Darth Vader of Corporate America and BAIN Capital is the Death Star.
Newt Gingrich is morally and ethically challenged. The only difference between Newt and polygamy is that Newt likes multiple wives, just not at the same time. Newt trades in his wife for a newer model once she comes up with a warranty problem, such as cancer, or MS. What is he going to do with Calista Flockhart once she gets a serious disease?
Ron Paul: He is a nutcase. He is every family’s crazy uncle.
Rick Santorum is simply for sale.
Rick Perry is Sarah Palin with an XY chromosone.
Yes, I agree that Newt would be a disaster for the country. But I cannot vote for Mitt.
Mitt has violated SC Code of Laws 16-17-446 three times; but he was endorsed by SC Governot Nikki Haley, so she probably gave him a free pass for robocalls.
Yes, the future of the country is at stake.
However, it seems that the GOP has conceded the race.
There are no strong candidates for president on the GOP side. It’s as if they’re preparing themselves for 2016.
Nothing is going to happen unless we change the House and Senate.
DC Gridlock Happens. The Democrats will do to the Repulicans what the Republicans did to the Democrats.
Is it any wonder why Congress’ approval rating is 0%?
Sorry, I’d rather take the advice of Rotarians Joe Edens, Gayle Averyt, John Rainey, and Bob McAlister and vote for Gingrich.
I did, but I really wanted to push the Huntsman button.