Newt knows how to throw red meat

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Updated: February 25, 2012 8:15AM

South Carolina Republicans selected as their choice for the presidential nomination a politician whose campaign operation is so inept it failed to get him on the primary ballot in his home state.

Palmetto Republicans deemed the most electable in the GOP presidential field to be a candidate who has a 56 percent unfavorable rating among Americans, according to a recent Fox News poll.

South Carolina Republicans named as the most conservative candidate an often chameleon -like opportunist whose tenure as House speaker was upended in a revolt by conservative members.

Palmetto voters saw as the best candidate to change Washington a Beltway insider who made his mark in Congress and who, after elective office, continued to peddle his influence, most notably with Freddie Mac, the quasi-governmental mortgage giant deeply implicated in the housing disaster.

But all these issues were irrelevant to Saturday’s primary where Newt Gingrich scored a stunning victory over Mitt Romney.

Gingrich’s win was all about his ability to throw red meat on the table. His fiery, indignant denunciations of President Barack Obama and the mainstream media tapped into a deep vein of discontent and wrath on the right over a White House that is undermining the constitutional foundation of the country and the major media outlets that conservatives view as setting an agenda also out of touch with the nation’s core values.

That anger is more than understandable. Although I think Gingrich is the wrong candidate, I couldn’t help but admire his ability to articulate some of the legitimate complaints about Obama.

I’m not saying Gingrich couldn’t beat Obama. But given his history, too much of it embarrassing, given his record of being at best an erratic leader, and given his propensity to implode, everything — and I mean everything — would have to fall into line for him to win. Things that worked well for him in South Carolina’s primary won’t be so rewarding in the fall campaign.

White hot anger turns off moderates and independents, whose votes are vital in November. A national campaign can’t be centered on debates. There will be only three. And they won’t be the three-hour Lincoln-Douglas type that Gingrich craves. Debates might give him a stage to best Obama — though it is mistaken to underestimate his campaign skills — but they also provide a chance for another episode of Gingrich’s grandiose self-destruction.

Still, it falls to Romney to ramp up his game and reclaim momentum. The next primary, in Florida a week from today, is in a more diverse state and should be more favorable to him, given his superior organization and his deep pockets. But he would be wrong to again underestimate the appeal of Gingrich’s red meat campaign.

Romney’s cautious last-man-standing strategy has failed. Obviously he needs to forcefully explain how his work at Bain Capital exemplified the best in capitalism by creating middle class jobs and making money for pension funds and college endowments. And, as a number of his critics have noted, he needs to articulate a bold vision for righting the American economy beyond relying on his first-class managerial skills.

If he fails and Gingrich were to win the nomination, it will have started in South Carolina. I cringed at one moment in the debate in which Texas Gov. Rick Perry, to applause, said that on several issues South Carolina was “at war with the federal government.” Not an appealing allusion. Republicans don’t want the state’s primary to turn out to be the GOP’s Fort Sumter.