This fall, Newt Gingrich would make the same closing argument at every debate: “everybody on this stage,” he liked to say, would be better than Barack Obama. Slowly, however, that narrative has been replaced with a desire to take down every one of his opponents, even if it damages Republican chances next November.
When Newt rocketed to the top of the polls in December, he had little money or organization to sustain his momentum against a barrage of negative ads from pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future and Newt placed fourth in Iowa. Newt preached a positive message through the caucuses, but now that his own Super PAC is planning to attack Romney, he’s going negative, slamming the former governor on raising taxes in Massachusetts while his Super PAC backers go after Mitt’s record at Bain Capital.
But Mitt isn’t the only target. For weeks, Newt has used every chance he can get on the trail to call Ron Paul “dangerous.” Paul of course, beat him in Iowa and out-polls him in New Hampshire.
Now you can add Santorum to Newt’s hit list as well. Last week, Newt floated the idea that he and Rick Santorum could form an alliance to try and stop Romney. But not this week. Now Santorum is fair game too.
On Monday, Newt’s campaign sent out an article from the Washington Times pillorying Santorum on his support for a sales-tax hike in Southwestern Pennsylvania counties to pay for new stadiums for both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates in 1997 year. When the tax hike failed to pass at the polls, Santorum backed a legislative plan to loan the teams the money with an implicit agreement that they never pay the money back — which they haven’t. The article saw this as a count against his “fiscal integrity.”
The theme here is that Newt Gingrich has decided to hit his opponents where it hurts, even if with the same attacks liberals would make. Giveaways like the Pittsburgh stadiums are not exactly a liberal policy. In fact, the business the stadiums generate (or that their owners say they do) is an excuse team owners use to get taxpayers to pay the bill in the same way that corporations get better treatment from Republicans when they ask for lower tax rates in order to create a business-friendly environment. Similarly, the attacks on Romney’s record in private equity is identical to the liberal attack on what conservatives often see as a sacrosanct industry.
But Newt is not the candidate he was this fall. Now he says he would vote for Obama over Ron Paul, and is helping Democrats by lobbing liberal critiques at both Romney and Santorum.
