Mitt Romney (Phelan Ebenhack/Reuters) plots strategy to stop Newt Gingrich (Chris Keane/Reuters)
If
this is the path Mitt Romney's campaign ultimately pursues, it will be hilarious.
They’ll point out Gingrich’s past policy shifts which can protect them from attacks against Romney’s own inconsistencies. They’ll highlight Gingrich’s conservative apostasies as a hedge against Romney’s own moderate views. And they’ll highlight his stable family while leaving an unspoken impression about Gingrich’s two divorces.
The plan to increase the attention to Romney’s wife of 42 years and five sons in the hopes of sparking more conversation about Gingrich’s three marriages without raising the topic themselves is one of several subtle offensives. Another is the barrage of surrogate conference calls this week that they meant in part to remind Gingrich of their massive organizational advantage if he decides to lob an attack.
There's no question that Newt Gingrich is every bit as flip-floppy as Mitt Romney, but that's hardly a winning position for Romney to take—especially given that Newt is a far better liar than Mitt. And while Gingrich's personal life is definitely a problem for him, his line of defense—that he sinned but has sought forgiveness from God—is exactly the sort of redemption story that evangelicals love. And it probably doesn't hurt Gingrich that they see him as a Christian—unlike Romney.
The fact that Romney is even considering making these sorts of attacks is a sign of his desperation. It's like when he attacked Gingrich for being a career politician earlier this week ... the first thing that came into my head was that Mitt Romney has been seeking office since at least 1994. It was an attack with such an obvious response I couldn't believe he made it.
But at the same time, Romney can't afford to sit back and watch Newt Gingrich continue to soar. It tells you something about the weakness of Romney's campaign, however, that most of the attacks he's thinking of launching could easily blow up in his face.
