Mitt Romney is struggling against Newt, obviously. Why? Newt is articulate - he can articulate pretty much anything and over the course of his years in the limelight, he pretty much has. Newt also knows what conservatives want to hear - big ideas, sweeping reform, stop punishing people who work and stop rewarding people who don't, media bias attacks, and all the rest. He's throwing red meat to red-staters and they like it.
But Newt cuts corners, intellectually, morally, and politically. That's why he got bounced out of the speakership and then out of Congress. That's why he can ask for an "open marriage" (assuming he did), or at least pretend he has one even if he didn't ask. That's why he can take several thousand dollars from Freddie Mac for its lobbying operation and not think of himself as a lobbyist. His ideas on Social Security take a beating here, for instance - again, cutting corners, rushing to the end without thinking things through. His impatience will tell in the White House, too, if he ever gets there.
Romney, in attacking Newt on the ethics and morals line, is missing the point. Folks already know that about Newt. What they want is what they wanted from Perry and Bachmann and Cain - forceful, unapologetic, cogent presentation not just of conservative policies, but of a conservative worldview. Newt gave that to us in spades when he jumped on Juan Williams' attempt to accuse him of racism. Romney never has - because he not only doesn't share it, he doesn't know how to provide it. So when Romney is attacked from the left (by Newt, among others) for his work at Bain, Romney has a hard time responding because to him it's a reasonable criticism. However conservative Romney's policy positions may be, he has essentially accepted the basic worldview of the left. So did John McCain, and Bob Dole, and so did both George H. W. and George W. Bush.
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