Newt Raises White Flag, Will Lose Florida to Romney

Newt Gingrich's lack of combativeness after taking a few hits from Mittens was demonstrated by his wimping out and calling for "a truce" while whining about attacks on him from Romney proxies and distortions of his record by Romney's air attacks. Meanwhile, Romney has outspent his rivals by a mile, and this was Newt's crucial opportunity to level the playing field. He failed.

Gingrich, the celebrated attack dog, folded almost completely, effectively conceding Florida and the race. It was Rick Santorum that attacked Romney's healthcare vulnerability, while Ron Paul made the 99% v. the 1% transfer of wealth argument. Newt Gingrich, by contrast, was flat and never followed up on any of this. He seemed shellshocked by the Romney Machine blitzkrieg. He never raised the tax issue and refused to talk about the Swiss bank and Cayman Islands accounts when given the chance, which was baffling. Instead, Gingrich fell back on his standard tactic of attacking the questioner, Wolf Blitzer. Only this time it was a strained and feeble attack.

The question is why? Either Gingrich got bad tactical advice to pull his punches in the one forum, the debates, in which he has excelled, and where he can achieve parity with Romney and his unlimited funds. Or, as is more likely, Gingrich was told by the Republican Establishment mafia, in no uncertain terms, to back off otherwise he will be treated by them as a total pariah. That's pretty heavy stuff. The trade-off? Romney's sweetener, saying he would consider Newt as a Veep candidate, or for a cabinet position. Unfortunately, it seems Newt was neutered by Romney's Establishment juggernaut. After the debate a cocky Mittens said, "when I'm attacked I'll return fire. I'm no shrinking violet." This last sentence, a line from Romney 'unofficial' adviser and MSNBC Republican Establishment mole, Michael Steele. (Visions of Steele and Capus high-fiving.)

Party's over.