WHO WON THE PRIMARY? NEWT! NEWT! NEWT! WHO WON THE PRIMARY? NEWT! NEWT! NEWT! (To the tune of “Who Let the Dogs Out?”)
Well, I never did claim to be balanced and unbiased, friends, now did I? I am very pleased, because it shows what we do not have to just roll over and accept Mittens. It means that the Tea Party is alive and well. (After all, 7 out of 10 Gingrich supporters were Tea partiers). It means that conservatism has a shot. It means that Americans are still paying attention. It means that a genuinely good communicator can outdo the Leftwing Media and make it null and void.
Newt has shown what he really needs to do is be strong and not try to be nice. He lost in Iowa, I believe, because a) he stayed positive and didn’t respond to attacks and b) because Mittens spent a whole lot of dough on attack ads. Now Newt’s got the money to fight the fight back and a plethora of debates to continue to establish his strength and show why he is the true conservative option in this race.
Mittens isn’t guaranteed to be the nominee, friends, not by a long shot. Newt showed on Saturday that he can consolidate the conservative vote. He has demonstrated a point I have said so many times: Real conservatism wins every time it’s effectively communicated. On Saturday, real conservatism won.
Mittens came in second place. It’s absolutely a disappointing performance for Romney, because he was expected to run away with it a week ago. Mitt’s inability to properly answer questions about his tax returns and other issues are hurting him. Even if Mitt does become our nominee, he better use this time to learn how to answer these types of questions, because you can guarantee Obama will use far stronger class warfare.
Now we come to Rick Santorum. Santorum finished a distant third. It proves what I’ve been saying all along: Santorum won in Iowa on the strength of retail politics. The coming states won’t give you the time to go to multiple states and visit every county in those states. It’s time for Senator Santorum to step back and consider leaving the race. We can stop Mittens, but only if Santorum leaves the race and lets Newt consolidate the conservative vote. Newt can win this thing. I honestly don’t believe Santorum can win.
Finally, we come to Congressman Ron Paul. Congressman Paul picked up 2-3 delegates in his quest to push his policies into the Republican platform. I’ve said it all along, I want Ron Paul to push his conservative economic policies into the platform, so whatever influence he can gain is a good thing.
South Carolina has made one major thing clear: We have a race. Three primaries, three different winners. Mittens isn’t getting anointed just yet. Small government conservatives are still going to make a difference in this election. The Tea Party is going to make a difference. Congratulations to Newt Gingrich for making this win happen. Game on.
