You Sleep When You Die

On Tuesday, the voters of Iowa got it right … and kept the GOP brand promise alive for 2012…That promise says America is still a place where anything is possible. It says the spirit of enterprise and the ideals of economic freedom and opportunity are still worth defending, and are nothing to apologize for. It says the dreams of free people are still our greatest resource in addressing the problems we face. It says our enemies in the world must learn to respect our strength as a nation. And it says that, although we have no official religion in this country, we still value personal faith and personal character.

“Now, this is a pretty good symptom of how much the Left has collapsed as a moral system in this country, and why you need to reassert something as simple as saying to them: GO GET A JOB … RIGHT AFTER YOU TAKE A BATH.”

Predictably, this point of view is not popular in some circles — at CNBC, for instance, which would probably find a way to take pot-shots at Gingrich if he said that cranberries can be tasty additions to a Thanksgiving feast. I wonder: Are some members of the media dug in so far into their own ideology that they feel they have a moral obligation to disagree with every word that comes out of Newt’s mouth?

We tend to forget that the man who said “Ask not what your country can do for you” actually meant what he said..Chris Matthews’s new book Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero reminds us that he meant every word, and built his economic policies around those words.

Contrary to popular opinion, that debate was not about tax plans, or health care, or immigration, or any other policy question. It was about which, if any, of the three candidates now generally recognized as leading the pack — Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, and Rick Perry — was the best at taking a punch. This is no game. Voters need to know who performs the best, thinks the clearest, and rebounds most effectively when under stress…

Mitt Romney is having problems, though. You want to know why? So do I. Personally, I think it has nothing to do with the so-called “Romneycare” program in Massachusetts. I believe that’s just a cover story, a code word, a distraction that’s been manufactured by someone. What is the real reason Mitt Romney is not mopping the floor with far less qualified opponents like Michele Bachman and Rick Perry? If it isn’t some huge gap in his credentials (and it isn’t), or his character (it isn’t that, either), or his experience (compared to whom?) … then why in the world isn’t this man the clear choice?