Moderately P*ssed: Romney Attacks Gingrich

Looks like the Romney camp is not prepared to wait for Newt Gingrich to self-destruct, but is attacking him  in the media: 

The Republican presidential campaign took a sharply negative turn on Thursday, a result of increasing signs that Mitt Romney's main argument to GOP voters—that he alone can beat President Barack Obama in November—is coming under pressure from a surging Newt Gingrich. 

In a change of tone, Mr. Romney's campaign lit into Mr. Gingrich, calling him an inconstant conservative and loose cannon who would sink the GOP's shot at the White House. 

The attacks on Mr. Gingrich came as new surveys showed him either leading or threatening Mr. Obama in the critical states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, though by slimmer margins in two states than Mr. Romney. 

Prior polls have shown Mr. Gingrich surging well ahead of Mr. Romney among GOP voters nationally and in many states that vote early in the nominating process. The new surveys suggest Mr. Gingrich is now gaining a foothold among the broader electorate that will go to the polls in November's election.

All well and good, but check out some of the surrogates they sent out:

In a conference call with reporters, former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent and former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, both Romney advisers, said that if their candidate is the nominee, the presidential election will be about Mr. Obama and his record. If Mr. Gingrich prevails, then the election will be about Mr. Gingrich—and "then the president is going to win," Mr. Talent said. 

Mr. Talent, who also served in the House under Mr. Gingrich, said the former speaker "is not a reliable and trusted leader." 

Mr. Sununu went further. A former White House chief of staff for President George H.W. Bush, Mr. Sununu described Mr. Gingrich as having a penchant for "self-aggrandizement" and "off-the-cuff thinking" that "is not what you want in a commander-in-chief."

John Sununu?! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Is that a joke? The man responsible for two of the penultimate RINO-betraying-conservatives moments of the modern era - those would be agreeing to raise taxes as part of the 1990 budget deal, and bringing David Souter to the attention of his hapless boss Bush  41 - is questioning the conservative bona fides of Newt Gingrich??


I'm beginning to think Mitt Romney might not be reliable enough to do all of the things he is promising to do!


Newt Gingrich is no paragon, either of morality or of conservatism; but, unlike Mitt, he has accomplished conservative things. What's Mitt ever done for conservatives, or even for Republicans?


Mitt's fighting to win the nomination, so this stuff is to be expected. Still, he seems congenitally incapable of actually campaigning in a way that would break him out of the 20-25% ceiling he reached months ago. Newt Gingrich is a problematic vessel for conservative hopes in 2012, but he has been doing one thing very well the last few months: he has been speaking bluntly about the failures of the Obama administration, and challenging the leftist assumptions of the media, something moderates like Mitt Romney never do. Which is why they lose over and over and over again. 


Newt (along with Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Donald Trump) has shown us that he will fight - for the Right and against the Left. Mitt's crew, on the other hand, have shown that they are only comfortable attacking conservatives. Not exactly a flag I'm ready to rally around.