Mitt Romney is making the homestretch of the Florida primary race in part a battle over Newt Gingrich’s mental state.
Greg Sargent snagged a copy of a Romney mailing going out in Florida that paints this in stark terms: Gingrich is “Unethical. Erratic. Reckless.” the mailer reads.
But this is just the latest in a string of less-than-veiled hits on Gingrich’s mental condition coming from Romney surrogates and Romney himself.
At a press conference in Tampa, FL Monday before the NBC News debate, Romney described Gingrich this way:
“I think as you look at the speaker’s record over time, it’s been highly erratic…You know, he voted in favor of establishing the Department of Education, and yet he gets in a debate and says we should get rid of the Department of Education and send all the education issues back to the states. He’s opposed vehemently to the Massachusetts health care system, and yet just a couple years ago wrote about what a superb system it was.He’s gone from pillar to post almost like a pinball machine, from item to item in a way which is highly erratic…It does not suggest a stable, thoughtful course, which is normally associated with leadership.”
So that’s Romney calling Gingrich unstable and “erratic,” but couching it just a little in the guise of a conversation about his policy stances.
Romney’s surrogates have been more direct. In a series of conference calls since Gingrich first surged in Iowa polling, Team Romney has rolled out a number of Republican politicians who served under Gingrich as Speaker to tell horror stories of working with Gingrich in the 1990s.
The Romney campaign is not shy when it comes to getting the message of these calls across. A transcript of one of them with Rep. Peter King (R-NY) on Jan. 19 carried the subject line: REP. PETER KING: “IT’S ALL THE ERRATIC, SELF-SERVING NARCISSISM OF NEWT”.
Here’s the quote from the Romney campaign transcript:
“We had over—well over—200 others—well over 218—Republicans in the Congress when Newt was the Speaker, and you can’t find more than a handful who will come to his defense. And it has nothing to do with ideology, nothing to do with philosophy, it’s all the erratic, self-serving narcissism of Newt.”
It’s worth noting here that the “Newt’s an unstable political maniac” line has been a part of the coverage of his campaign for weeks. Politico published a widely-read in early December titled “The Return of Bad Newt” that was essentially a list of political observers weighing on on Gingrich’s mental state when it comes to politics.
In the mailer Sargent obtained, team Romney has clearly decided to jump past the reporters with this kind of talk and take the message straight to the voters.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
HarryBowman Damn! That was a good find! And I thought *I* was the one posting all the Scott-Heron links (and Monty Python... and Mel Brooks)
HarryBowman Thanks for the post. Good to hear Gil Scott-Heron again.
The GOP candidates are starting to make 'Alice in Wonderland' look rational.
Of course Gingrich is nuts, ALL Republicans are nuts; Mittens is no better, just a little quieter. I gotta say, tho, watching this is a lot of fun for this life long Democrat. President Obama couldn't have done better if he'd chosen his opponent himself.
Powkat "ALL Republicans are nuts"
Well, they're are different degrees of insanity. Mitt may take avarice to near obsessive extremes, but if he (God forbid) were elected I wouldn't worry about the White House Staff finding him wamdering around at night talking to portraits of dead presidents, or chewing on the Oval Office carpet. (And no, I'm NOT talking about THAT kind of carpet munching).
But I definitely can't say the same thing about Newt.
Powkat I keep wondering what happened to the party of Gen. Eisenhower. I can't think of an emotionally healthy Republican presidential candidate post-Ike. Well, maybe Ford, but he was an accident.
MerryMirthPowkat And how, he was.
Let's see, Romney establishes that the fact Gingrich first supported the Massachusetts Health Plan before opposing as being the kind of erratic flip flop that disqualifies a person from being the Republican nominee for President. I do not disagree and think this criteria applies to all.
“We had over—well over—200 others—well over 218—Republicans in the Congress when Newt was the Speaker, and you can’t find more than a handful who will come to his defense. And it has nothing to do with ideology, nothing to do with philosophy, it’s all the erratic, self-serving narcissism of Newt.” -- Rep. Peter King
Peter King?
Really?
Who are you calling a self-serving narcissist, Mr. McCarthy 2.0?
closetcommie
Broken clock and all that.
Richard Nixon...Ronald Reagan....George W. Bush... Erratic and unstable isn't a liability, its practically a requirement.
Shorter Mitt: "Newt flip flops because he's batshit crazy; I flip flop out of a logical, rational desire to please the last person I talked to."
litigatormom You put that very well. And much shorter than the 3000 word essay I want to write about Willard and Newt's personality disorders. Very well done.
Newt has tapped into something deeper than the 'bagger vote..... it's the 'F your northern book learnin' vote...
Bob Dole says that if Newt Gingrich is the nominee, he will drag the party down with him... just like Bob Dole did in 1996 (and 1976 for that matter).
Of course Bob Dole is right that Newt Gingrich is a loose cannon in love with the sound of his own voice, but it's a funny sort of charge coming from the guy they used to call "Hatchet Man". Or maybe not. Maybe he's still doing his old job.
Because when you want commentary on changing positions, you want to get it from someone who makes changing positions his modus operandi. For that, Mitt is your man.
WELL finally, Romney tells the truth!
Newt is erratic. Mitt, on the other hand, has a consistent record of steady flipfloping.
Pretty soon, somebody's going to have to bring up the nose. It's hard to get that many broken veins in your nose without drinking heavily. Just sayin'.
MatthewHubbard He'll claim its rosatia... something all good white skinned amurikins get.
Remember what Stewart said: G'grich is the jujitsu mastah of dickheadism. He launches insults like a marshal artist, but deftly sidesteps insults and tosses them back on to the person who first heaved them.
Tim rosacea
Tim martial
Mr. Toad (aka the Newster) is a sociopath, clear and simple. His absolute mockery of blacks and poor people alike, his out-of-bounds accusations of Obama, and his beady little rat eyes give him away.
I think Newt is the perfect Tea Party candidate:
mean-spirited,
cruel,
loose with the truth,
has a clear racial bias, hidden under 'dog whistle' catch phrases.
Example "Saul Alinsky radical" , Translation: "Russian Jewish Commie Radical".
When Newt says these things, they are not a slip of the tongue, but clearly calculated.
a_disbeliever
****************************
Hoping you saw the Saul Alinsky Tweet reported:
"Newt Gingrich can blow me."
jw1
Since when has erratic, self-serving narcissism been an impediment to success in the conservative movement? A lack of these qualities is likely to get you pegged as a RINO, just ask Jon Hunstman.
Don't believe the Primary Polls. They were very wrong in SC. Newts' crowds are enormous for three days in a row in FL. Here is a comment from ABC reporter Jonathan Karl
.......a quick note about Gingrich’s crowds in Florida: They are enormous and they are enthusiastic. In fact, Gingrich is attracting bigger, more energetic crowds here in Florida than I have seen gathered for any of the candidates in any of the other states so far.
Ok. Back to space. Speaking to a yet another massive crowd in Cocoa Beach, on Florida’s space coast, Gingrich ditched his stump speech and offered his vision of an ambitious new space program. ”By the end of my second term,” Gingrich said, prompting the crowd to erupt in applause, “we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/newt-...
He is touching the raw nerves of the electorate. It could catch fire just-like tea-party.
natsiva Newt's from Georgia, therefore he is "family" to Southerners like Floridians, therefore they love him. This has nothing to do with the quality of his thinking and everything to do with, "I don't know any of these clowns so I might as well get behind my 'family' member. after all, none of these other idiots understand my local issues like Newt does."
Stupidscriptnatsiva
*********************
Maybe North Floridians love him.
To South Floridians-- running a latitudinal line coast-to-coast through Orlando-- what resides north of it is considered South Georgia.
jw1
Stupidscriptnatsiva Well, technically, he's from Pennsylvania, but now he's saying his home state is Virginia. Speaking as a Virginian, we don't claim him, either.
natsiva and from our American moon base, we will establish our new surveillance center to track all those un-American terrorist judges.
natsiva Talking up a lunar base in front of the looney base... Yeah, that's the ticket!
Does this mean the mittens are coming off?
DF2691 Willard the mittens come off?
That's right, blame the mucus.
Kaneblues I've been slimed!
"He’s gone from pillar to post almost like a pinball machine, from item to item in a way which is highly erratic…It does not suggest a stable, thoughtful course, which is normally associated with leadership.”
Project much, Mittens?
So it's a sign of mental stability to flip flop on virtually every single position you ever took?
Rich in NJ
Mit EVER had a position on anything, that lasted longer than a day?
juergen_hartlRich in NJ Corporations are people, my friend.
Cyberduckie juergen_hartl Rich in NJ And banks feel as bad as you do.
Cyberduckie juergen_hartl Rich in NJ
"Corporations are people, my friend."
Multinational ones, in his case.
juergen_hartlRich in NJ Tithing
Rich in NJ Of course! After all, his flip-flopping is the one stable, consistent thing about him!
Other, you know, than avarice and a lust for power.
Republicans are basically uselsss but this is EXACTLY how you go after the Attack Muffim. Because when you say stuff like 'erratic' and narcisssism,' people are thinking "Whataboutallthewives whataboutallthewives, whataboutallthewives"
fargo116
Lords of the Wink Wink Words. Har har har.
Ugg the Repug Newt just insprires so many nicknames. Just when I thought he's gotten tagged wit the best one (i.e. 'Mr. Newtron,' or 'The Attack Muffin,' ) someone comes up with 'Lord of the Rings,' well, sort of.
Conversation from Twitter
artless if only Mitt was in my family (which I'm sure he is thx to all that Mormon research)... your linky is b0rken tho
Whitey's on the moon!
"I think I'll sen' these doctor bills, Airmail special (to Whitey on the moon)..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtBy_ppG4hY
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