Newt: The master of disguise
By: Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen
Politico.com
January 23, 2012 04:30 AM EST
The surging Newt Gingrich has mastered debates - and disguise.
The debate part is clear: the former speaker of the House comes to play and owns the stage, with an uncanny capacity to connect with the grievances of conservative voters.
The disguise part is, too. Gingrich has used his debate skills - and this instinct to hit the raw nerves of conservatives - to camouflage considerable weaknesses as a candidate. The three wives, cheating on and leaving the first two; inconsistency on the most consequential conservative causes of the past decade; episodic bouts of self-importance severe even by politicians’ standards, and countless tales of erratic leadership in crisis.
“You lead with your strengths,” a top Gingrich adviser told POLITICO, “to minimize his weaknesses.” When Gingrich does this, “people are willing to overlook Newt’s past.”
Mitt Romney’s top priority for the next week before Florida, one of his advisers said, is to rip that disguise off Gingrich, and expose what the campaign and many Republicans outside of it consider disqualifying flaws. Success or failure on this score might very well determine who wins the Republican nomination in the months ahead.
(More here.)
Politico.com
January 23, 2012 04:30 AM EST
The surging Newt Gingrich has mastered debates - and disguise.
The debate part is clear: the former speaker of the House comes to play and owns the stage, with an uncanny capacity to connect with the grievances of conservative voters.
The disguise part is, too. Gingrich has used his debate skills - and this instinct to hit the raw nerves of conservatives - to camouflage considerable weaknesses as a candidate. The three wives, cheating on and leaving the first two; inconsistency on the most consequential conservative causes of the past decade; episodic bouts of self-importance severe even by politicians’ standards, and countless tales of erratic leadership in crisis.
“You lead with your strengths,” a top Gingrich adviser told POLITICO, “to minimize his weaknesses.” When Gingrich does this, “people are willing to overlook Newt’s past.”
Mitt Romney’s top priority for the next week before Florida, one of his advisers said, is to rip that disguise off Gingrich, and expose what the campaign and many Republicans outside of it consider disqualifying flaws. Success or failure on this score might very well determine who wins the Republican nomination in the months ahead.
(More here.)
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