With this disapproval of Gingrich, however, came an approval for Santorum. As a result of his victories in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota, the National Review graced Rick Santorum with a positive criticism saying that he has potential, but still needs to prove to the Republican Party of his ability to beat or have a chance against Romney. The article on National Review noted how when Gingrich was above in the polls, he said that Santorum should have dropped out. Now since the roles are basically switched, should Gingrich drop out? Do you think Gingrich still has a chance since so many people are going against him? Does Santorum have the ability to be a rival to Mitt Romney?
Linked is the National Review editorial.
4 comments:
I do think that it is about time that Gingrich dropped out of the race to be the Republican Nominee. He hasn't won any state other than South Carolina, he really is only a sounded animal at this point trying to take someone else dow with him, and I just really, really do not want him to be even close to being the next President of the United States. Thinking about it scares me big time because all Gingrich is good at doing is throwing out insults, but he isn't even really all that good at it since no one is voting for him over the other candidates. The best way for him to save face at this point would be to, as Dustan said, to endorse Santorum, since endorsing Romney would be too embarrassing, and get the heck out so he can at least save some dignity (though if comedians have anything to say about it, he won't even get that).
While I do agree with Patrick that Gingrich's best bet for beating Romney would be to drop out and urge his supporters to back Santorum, I find it extremely unlikely that he will, as he has insisted numerous times that he will not exit the race, that the race will continue unless Romney ends his campaign.
Since so many Republicans have expressed their hopes that Gingrich will not become Republican nominee, it seems unlikely that if Gingrich does become the nominees, he will receive much support from Republicans. I think that many of these Republicans are fearful that if Gingrich does secure the nomination, he will fare worse than other candidates against Obama, reducing the chance that Republicans can gain more seats in Congress, and eliminating the possibility of the coattail effect getting them more representatives and senators.
Honestly, at this point, I think Republicans should stop worrying about the "Conservative Alternative" and start worrying about electability. Towards latter end of last year, many Democrats conceded that the 2012 election looked increasingly slated to be handed to the Republicans. By now, however, with so many doubts cast in the GOP institution, Obama seems to have a solid chance at winning renomination.
The continued animosity between Gingrich, Santorum, and Romeny isn't doing the GOP any favors. The negative turn the campaign trail has taken is only alienating moderates, who the GOP desperately need to win over for the presidential race. Gingrich has already once in the past alienated the American moderates. Santorum, with his social policy, will have no trouble scaring away social liberals. Honestly, if I ran the GOP, I would suggest that Santorum and Gingrich both drop out in order for Romney to focus his efforts on Obama. Considering the political egos in the race right now, however, that is unlikely to happen.
Just really to echo what has been said here already, it’s high-time Gingrich drops out. He and Santorum are really costing the GOP the unity they desperately need as Obama begins to rally. Romney is really the only candidate of the pack with any sort of electability; even if Santorum grabs the nomination, his aggressively conservative social views will effectively end his ticket. Moreover, should Gingrich take the nomination, his sheer unpopularity will mean a very weak voter response, even among those loyal to the GOP. As Andrew noted, the GOP is really going to need a cohesive backing of Romney to effectively contend the 2012 democratic ticket.
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