When a building is on fire, you call firemen. When your house is being robbed, you call the police. When the liberal press is mugging a conservative, you call Newt Gingrich.
There are many good reasons that Newt isn’t the Republican nominee, but give the man his due. Newt is a samurai warrior when it comes to putting the press in its place. Think about this one fact: For much of the 2012 GOP primary season, Newt didn’t have a campaign. He didn’t. His staff abandoned him. He didn’t have state offices. He didn’t kiss babies. He barely shook hands. He did almost zero retail politics, and yet he led in the polls for almost two months, won South Carolina, and almost stole the nomination. There’s only one way to do that: slay the opposition with sound bites.
Newt is a magnificent wordsmith. He has expert timing. He has an assassin’s sense of where his opponent is weakest. And — most needed in the Romney camp of all — Newt has a killer instinct. He goes for the jugular.
I don’t know who the hell is running Romney’s messaging team, but they should have been shit-canned long ago. For the good of the nation, someone in that outfit needs to swallow their pride and step down. Either that or someone needs to slap their boss because Obama is throwing fat pitches down the middle of the plate, and Mitt is playing volleyball.
Defeating an incumbent president is never easy, but Obama is the closest thing to a lay-up ever offered to the nominee of a major party. The economy is a shambling wreck. Our enemies don’t fear us. Our friends don’t trust us. And our president is focused on extending abortion rights and birth control.
Mitt isn’t losing because he’s Mormon or because people don’t know him or trust him. He’s losing because he’s not putting up a fight. From everyone’s perspective — left, right and center — Mitt’s been on the defensive since Tampa. How is that possible? Perspective is everything. Mitt needs to be attacking every day — pointed attacks, attacks that sting, attacks that demand a response … attacks like Newt fires in his sleep.
Whatever the issues with Team Romney, the messaging problem needs to be solved. It could be solved with one phone call: Mitt Romney to Newt Gingrich, street fighter, gunslinger, ninja master of the sound bite.
Newt can’t attack the president himself. He’s not the nominee. The words must come from Mitt. But Newt can gauge situations, provide silver bullets and help Mitt Romney save his campaign.
Mitt needs to make whatever apologies or promises necessary, swallow his pride and ask Gingrich for help. The winds aren’t going to change. Mitt can’t wait for an opportune moment. He can’t wait until the debates. He must engage and fight every day.
Mitt Romney needs Newt Gingrich and he needs him now. Right now. Today. This minute.
Yates Walker is a conservative activist and writer. Before becoming involved in politics, he served honorably as a paratrooper and a medic in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. He can be reached at yateswalker@gmail.com.