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GOP Debate: It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Gingrich
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Dec 11, 2011
Modified Dec 11, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Dec 11, 2011
Modified Dec 11, 2011
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All eyes were on the Gilded Historian at last night's debate in Iowa, as the GOP presidential field took shots at their new frontrunner. Michele Bachmann said he made his living on K Street, the "Rodeo Drive of Washington D.C." Rick Perry cautioned, "If you cheat on your wife, you'll cheat on your business partner, so I think the issue of fidelity is important." And Mitt Romney even took a shot at one of the former Speaker's ideas, saying he disagreed with "his idea to have a lunar colony that would mine minerals from the moon," presumably because Romney's own race of insipid moon people have already developed extensive Saltine quarries there.
Gingrich, through a series of conceited grins, winks, and return volleys, largely held his own. When Romney tried to pin him down for calling Palestinians an "invented people," Gingrich replied that as a "historian" and a friend of "Bibi," he was qualified to say so, and even upped the ante by calling all Palestinians "terrorists." Embrace less nuanced, right-wing policy + self-comparison to Ronald Reagan = Point, Gingrich.
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And Gingrich parried Romney's claims that he was a career politician by invoking a race that Romney would rather forget (for many reasons): “The only reason you didn’t become a career politician is, you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994." Perhaps all the pressure forced Romney to offer a wager of $10,000 to Rick Perry regarding his position on his Massachusetts health care plan. You know, one of those friendly wagers you make at the CORE Club after a game of squash you played with a shrunken, platinum-plated human head, using the money you found between the cushions in the couch sitting inside one of your million-dollar estates (you can't remember which one)!
Two profiles of Romney in the Times and the Washington Post paint an interesting picture of a man who insists on using Kmart golf clubs and refuses to pay for a $10 luggage voucher, but also uses his net worth of over $250 million to continuously renovate his million-dollar homes, and who jumps at the chance to buy $90K parcels of land. WaPo wins the money quote:
His fastidiousness can border on the fussy.At a rally at a Polish American club in Troy, Mich., Romney mentioned how he preferred the state’s lakes to the ocean. “There’s something special about lakes where you don’t get salt on you after you’ve been swimming . . . where’s there’s not seaweed . . . where you don’t have to worry about things eating you in the water,” he said, while the audience looked at him quizzically.
"You know, where the saltwater doesn't corrode your circuits? Where you can just power down without worrying about the electrical current from large shipping barges miles offshore interfering with your—oh never mind."
Tagged
2012 election
frugality
gop
michele bachmann
mitt romney
newt gingrich
obama
republicans
rick perry
tiffany's
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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