After months of confrontation from candidates whose campaigns each eventually sped off a cliff with Wile E. Coyote certainty, it looked as though veteran politician Newt Gingrich might finally mount a challenge to Romney that had some staying power. Each of the other flavors-of-the-month fizzled as quickly as Republican voters actually got to know them, but with most of his dirty laundry having been aired years ago, Newt had the potential to present a different kind of opposition to Romney. Nonetheless, the latest polls out of Iowa now show Romney beginning to solidify and even increase his lead once again.
With other GOP candidates having squandered their opportunities, Newt capitalized on the ongoing lack of Romney enthusiasm and a few successful debate performances to boost his lackluster campaign. But now, with just a little help from a few negative ads that Romney is running, Republicans have been shaken back to their senses, remembering two critical details: (1) Newt is a relentless, uncooperative, and selfish dick. (2) Newt cannot beat Obama.
The first fact, regarding Newt's erectile personality, could be reluctantly ignored by a Republican electorate that is reaching "Ron Paul is for real" levels of desperation, but the second fact simply cannot be overlooked.
For right-wing Tea Party types, President Obama is (literally) Satan incarnate. Somehow, a President who headed off a second recession and brought steady economic progress, who facilitated undeniable improvements in job growth, who ended the Iraq war, who enabled our forces to kill dozens of top Al Qaeda leaders (including Osama), and who has led the nation differently (instead of just divisively) has become President Evil.
The defeat of Obama is paramount for far-right Republicans. If Newt can't beat him, then no matter how flip-floppy and closet-liberal he is, Mitt Romney will be the Republican candidate of choice by virtue of his stature as the most realistically electable.
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