IN NASTY SOUTH CAROLINA ELECTIONS, SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

...A scene from South Carolina's checkered past

The Citizens-United decision has made big money the only important thing in up-coming American elections. Mitt Romney still has the money he needs to stay in the game, but will the “anybody but Mitt” voters eventually force him out?

When the polls closed in South Carolina on Saturday, the Washington Post columnist, Eugene Robinson, happened to be in a Charleston hotel lobby where elegantly dressed couples were on their way to a black-tie event. A woman stopped and asked whether Eugene had heard anything about the election results.

“Newt’s winning big,” he said.

The woman’s face immediately fell. “But if Newt wins,” she lamented, “then Obama wins.”

As Eugene’s article then commented, “It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that America has known Gingrich for three decades — and [America] really doesn’t like him.” To support this comment, in a recent CNN national poll, with statements from Republicans, Democrats and independents, they confirmed that comment about Newt with 58% disapproval and 28% approval.

OK, so up to now, I’ve stayed out of the “Newt” thing except to report on various changes in his polling over the past months. The main reason was that I had thought (and really had hoped) that Newt was going to go the way of the Michele Bachmann’s and the Rick Perry’s.

But today, regarding Newt and his previous mistress (now his 3rd wife), Callista, I’m going to have to quote a saying from the popular 1982 movie, Poltergeist:...”We’re baaaack...!”

Yes, Newt Gingrich shocked the political world with his big comeback in South Carolina. But when one looks at it clearly, it all makes perfect sense. Newt is just a crazy rightwing extremist candidate who won a crazy rightwing extremist southern state. There is absolutely no reason for anyone to be particularly shocked.

But as one popular radio talk show host said after Newt’s Saturday GOP primary win in South Carolina, “It looks like Newt Gingrich has come back from the dead! But then that’s how Newt Gingrich always looks! People are saying, ‘now, anything can happen!’ But let’s get real. Only two things can happen—Mitt Romney, or Newt Gingrich. So, it’s now obvious that nothing good is going to happen.”

South Carolina has always been full of lunatics who love to cause political trouble. This is a perfect match for Newt Gingrich.

Now, on the other hand, in going forward, the Floridians don’t have as much in common with Newt. And the Florida polls have confirmed that fact. In Florida, Newt Gingrich’s polling stats show radical up and down swings...kind of like Newt Gingrich’s personality. The frightening question is, could Florida possibly vote for a scary rightwing extremist with a history of terrible ethics problems? Well, yes they can as those Florida Republicans have done it before. And just when did they do that? Well, they did it in 2010 by electing that right-wing nut-case and Medicare criminal, Florida Governor Rick Scott.

The one good item that came out of the win for Newt in South Carolina is that Mitt Romney finally agreed to release his 2010 tax returns and his 2011 estimated tax returns. Unfortunately, the real telling returns would be those that were not “sanitized” for someone that was planning on running for president. But even the latest returns show that for a man that doesn’t work and just sits by the pool collecting his dividend checks, he paid about ½ the percentage rate of what the average American worker pays. If the public was able to see Romney’s tax returns from when he was back, working for Bain Capital, there might actually be some returns where Romney paid zero in taxes. Or they might show that his tax rate was under 10%, while you and I were paying 30-35% tax rates. This is the fairness issue that the president wants to change, but the Republicans in Congress don’t.

Perhaps the most important thing we learned in South Carolina is that Mitt Romney has real vulnerabilities. We’ve been able to see up close his poor handling of questions about his vast wealth, about how he earned it, and how little he pays on it in taxes. (Yes, it’s all legal, but is it right?)

And Romney still hasn’t answered the question as to why he has a pile of money parked in Swiss banks and the Cayman Islands…? (He says it’s not to avoid taxes, then why?) For someone that has been running for president for years, he has sure shown a major lack of campaign preparation. He even lost in the Iowa Caucus after spending millions in TV ads, and in South Carolina he was soundly beaten by one of the most unpopular politicians in the country.

On top of all this, due to his campaign mismanagement, Romney’s previous largest selling point, that he’s the “one who could best beat Obama”, is now in serious doubt. Yes, the polls had previously shown him running even with the president, but no more. And a couple of weeks ago, the polls also showed Romney 20 points ahead of Gingrich… and now, look what’s happened.

Newt Gingrich's winning speech right after the South Carolina results were in, had begun very respectfully. Of course, after the initial pleasantries were over, the fear-mongering, dog whistles, and bashing of Obama and the main-stream media were turned back on at full volume. Not surprisingly, the extremist Southern crowd responded to Newt with comments against Obama, all Democrats and local progressives saying gross things like, "Off with their heads!"

Yes, regarding South Carolina elections, some things never change.

And I continue to say, the next 10 months are going to be both interesting and most likely, very politically brutal.

Copyright G.Ater 2012

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