he can t buy it by standing out there at a hot dog eating contest in maine. he can t buy it with a super pac ad. he just doesn t have it. i think that s actually even more than his more than his deviations from conservative orthodoxy as massachusetts governor, i think that inability to connect with base gop voters on a human level, is really what s hurting him. if anyone is taking bets not on the who will be giving the most shout-outs to maine localities, your best bet, it will be mikan brendan doherty, i m telling you up front. i think the severely conservative moment was interesting because it was so bald-faced. but also at this point, it s also kind of honest, in that it s una poll junapologetic to the rhetoric to what he has to do now. at this moment in c-pac, he decides not to run on the record, not as a businessman,
warming and on immigration. really outside of conservative orthodoxy. the republican electorate at this point in time is gravitating to him. the question is, is it gong it be a short-term date or long-term romance? so far we ve had short dates but nobody has had the sustaining power among the non-romney candidates. we re getting down to the fourth quarter here.ç will anybody else have a time to rise up and gingrich basically because he s doing well at this late stage in the game, be the winner by default if nothing else to go against romney because we re so close to the beginning of the iowa caucuses. howard fineman, how do you score the debate tonight? well, let s take newt first. this is his first appearance as the new front-runner in the race. you saw a different newt, an avuncular, thoughtful newt that complimented the commentator, blitz blitzer. he said, excellent question,
mandated health care, on global warming and onç immigration. really outside of conservative orthodoxy. the republican electorate at this point in time is gravitating to him. the question is, is it gong it be a short-term date or long-term romance? so far we ve had short dates but nobody has had the sustaining power among the non-romney candidates. we re getting down to the fourth quarter here. will anybody else have a time to rise up and gingrich basically because he s doing well at this late stage in the game, be the winner by default if nothing else to go against romney because we re so close to the beginning of the iowa caucuses. howard fineman, how do you score the debate tonight? well, let s take newt first. this is his first appearance as the new front-runner in the race. you saw a different newt, an avuncul avuncular, thoughtful newt that complimented the commentator, blitz blitzer. he said, excellent question,
somehow on mt. olympus. we need to be careful about that. tell the truth about the man, all of it, the good and the bad. let me just posit this. one of the reasons reagan could compromise is because nobody questioned exactly what it was he believed in the first place. and so he had the ability to work with the democrats because nobody said that guy, reagan, what does he stand for anyway? they knew he wanted to get something done. bill, can i just quick addendum. i agree with the point you re making but in some instances when reagan departed from sort of conservative orthodoxy, i don t think that showed he was wrong. i actually think that showed more about the measure of the man, that he was a large man. he had a sense of reality. he didn t want to go over the cliff with some things. he was very, very thoughtful about that so he cut taxes, left us with a legacy of sharply reduced taxes but there were several times in the presidency he signed onto tax increases
even or even get revenge with some of the folks reportedly taking advantage of this. this goes back to the early 1980s back then. the bad guy was japan and korea but now it s china or the eu. this is consistent trump, but this is the one real moment where substance actively he appears to be bumping up against conservative orthodoxy. moore saying the vast majority of gop members of congress feel the same way. you don t start trade wars. this is a it is who trump is and it s always has been. i like steven moore saying to you my advice to the other countries is don t retaliate because you know how trump is. he may double down. really? that s what other countries should take into consideration. this guy may go crazy on us so we won t protect our interests. we ll suck it up and go with it.