From Capitol Hill Blue:
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich‘s campaign director is comparing the candidate’s failure to get his name on Virginia’s Republican primary ballot for 2012 to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
That’s right. Gingrich’s inability to take the necessary steps to qualify for a ballot is, in his campaign’s view, similar to an surprise attack that killed thousands of Americans and triggered the nation’s entry into World War II.
Gingrich campaign director Michael Krull posted on Facebook:
Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941. We have experienced an unexpected setback, but we will regroup and refocus with interested determination, commitment and positive action. In the end, we will stand victorious.
The Virginia Republican Party was less dramatic in its reasoning for why Gingrich failed to make the ballot. The campaign simply did not collect the required number of verifiable signatures: 10,000 overall including at least 400 from each Congressional district.
Gingrich wasn’t alone. Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to make the ballot as well. Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will appear on the ballot when Republicans make their choice.
Gingrich Sunday urged his supporters to write in his name.
That won’t work either. Virginia law prohibits write-ins in primary elections.
Gingrich went on the attack over the Christmas holiday weekend, calling the Virginia ballot process “archaic” and stacked against him.
University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato tells Capitol Hill Blue Gingrich’s failure is a “disaster” for his campaign, which has plummeted from front runner to also-ran in the past two weeks.
“This sends yet another signal to Republicans that Gingrich is not able to organize,” Sabato says.
Ouch! Pearl Harbor? Isn’t that elevating Gingrich’s own importance in the grand scheme of things? Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Perhaps the Gingrich campaign should have chosen a different analogy. Additionally, taking cheap shots at Virginia seems unnecessary. Gingrich should know the rules and follow them. Not only do 10,000 verifiable signatures need to be collected, there need to be 400 from each congressional district. The signatures were being verified and matched to addresses.
Is this political? I don’t know. Virginia is currently Gingrich’s home state. Was it a way to knock Newt Gingrich out of the running? I don’t know that either. How long have these rules been in place? Is the Virginia Election Board taking all precautions again partisan decisions being made? Will Virginia be the hanging chad of the 2012 election within the Republican Party?
All Democrats and Independents can do it sit back and watch what shakes down. Meanwhile. Gingrich needs to chose his analogies very carefully. His bad analogy as well as his Virginia-bashing won’t bode well for him. Gingrich is a resident of Virginia. That’s just bad form.
Why am I not surprised?
The most important (he thinks – no, KNOWS) presidential candidate of the season is being dissed by his own state! Comparison – Pearl Harbor!
I’m picking up my chin—-
@punchak, There seems to be no end to his arrogance.
Did you find Poldark? I can’t tell you how much I am enjoying the series.
Actually, for him this is a PERFECT analogy.
A lot of the disaster at Pearl could have been prevented if some people had paid attention to the warning signs and had a better organization.
Like Newt…they lacked a competent organization. Oh, well…..this is what happens when you play with the big boys.
That said, the rules ARE slanted to assist better organizations. Also…in the case of Newt’s and Perry’s campaigns, is the state trying to tell us that over TEN PERCENT of the signatures were not valid?
There have to be 400 signatures from each congressional district that match up to the addresses provided. Apparently they fell short.
Newt should have chosen a better analogy..where 3000 lives weren;t lost. Oh well, sucks to be him.
CNN obtained the court records from the demise of Newt’s first marriage, which contradict the version of events he’s been telling and his campaign had posted on their website. He said his wife wanted a divorce and he just went along. The newly released documents show he filed for divorce and she responded asking the court to dismiss his request. Then she had to go to court a couple of times over the years to compel him to live up to his legal obligations.
Leonard H. “Kip” Carter, a former close Gingrich friend, backed the contention that it was Newt Gingrich who wanted the divorce. “He (Gingrich) said, ‘You know and I know that she’s not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a president,'” Carter, who now lives in South Carolina, told CNN recently, relating the conversation he had with Gingrich the day Gingrich revealed he was filing for divorce. Carter served as treasurer of Gingrich’s first congressional campaigns.
What a great family values example.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/26/politics/gingrich-divorce-file/
@Moon-howler
I no find Poldark. Any ideas?
@Punchak,
Do you belong to Netflix? If so, go to their web page and type in Poldark in the search bar. It will show up. Then watch it on your computer.
It would be interesting to read or hear a shrink’s take on all of Newt’s grand proclamations of grandiosity. I’ve known one manic-depressive in my life who was that convinced of her infallibility but other than that person I’ve never heard a person need to toot his own horn as much as Gingrich. It’s just odd – and doubly bizarre for an “historian” – to attach as much importance to his failing to acquire the necessary signatures to qualify for the ballot in his present home state as the attack on Pearl Harbor and the loss of lives there. (My pysch professor once relayed a story about having to attend a lecture by a “prominent psychiatrist” when he was a grad student. Half way thru the lecture he and his fellow students realized that the lecturer was totally batty – the lesson. There’s something about Gingrich that reminds me of the prof’s story.)
Isn’t Jerry Kilgore heading up the Gingrich campaign in Virginia? Former gubenatorial candidate Kilgore? Is that his name?
Gingrich was a horrible husband. What a terrible way to treat his wife,
Not just one wife.
Gingrich is a legend in his own mind.