Gingrich Taking Conservative Flak
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Just hours before his next scheduled debate, right-wing commentators and writers have unloaded on the former Speaker of the House.
The National Review, the American Spectator, and other conservative icons opened fire on Newt with the National Review publishing an editorial by Elliot Abrams that said Gingrich is a far cry from the conservative icon that is Ronald Reagan.
"Mr. Gingrich voted with the president regularly, but equally often spewed insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides, and his policies to defeat communism," Abrams wrote. "Gingrich was voluble and certain in predicting that Reagan's policies would fail, and in all of this he was dead wrong."
The American Spectator said that Newt is "hoping conservatives suffer amnesia," during his presidential run for his past comments.
The Spectator even labeled Gingrich as the right-wing's Bill Clinton, which is not a compliment coming from conservative circles.
All of the criticism couldn't come at a worse possible time for Gingrich. He's been running neck-and-neck in the poll for the Florida Primary after easily defeating Mitt Romney in South Carolina.
Gingrich has pulled ahead in some national polls, but after a shaky debate performance on Monday Newt has been slowly coming back to earth.
Gingrich blamed the poor debate performance on NBC's instructions to the crowd not to cheer.
In previous debates, Gingrich was viewed as having strong performances, and often times, he would rally the crowd in attacks against the "liberal media" or other favorite conservative topics.
Traditionally, debates don't allow cheering and it could be a problem going forward for Newt. He had his second surge on the backs of several debate performances after sinking in the polls to start the year.
If Gingrich can pull off an upset in Florida, it will energize his campaign and put him in the driver's seat for the GOP Presidential nomination.
That could be anathema to some of the Republican mainstream that oppose him and could set the stage for a tough convention this year in Tampa.
