COMMENTARY | Within the past 24 hours, two articles and a poll throw intellectual darkness into the light of this presidential campaign. First, an InsiderAdvantage poll has Newt Gingrich surging in the Florida primary and only trailing Mitt Romney 36 percent to 31 percent. On the other hand, though, a Time article states Gingrich’s Florida campaign is collapsing. Concluding the disarray, Newsmax.com reports liberal billionaire Democrat supporter George Soros is telling the liberal forces of Europe that the agendas of President Obama, and Republican candidate hopeful Mitt Romney are similar.
The disparity of reports whether Gingrich is sinking or swimming may have the most plausible answer, which is media bias. The torrent of often twisted negative press Gingrich endures may be reaching the stature of unprecedented. Yes, Gingrich and baggage, in some incidences, are synonymous; however, the path of exploitation the media chooses to travel is unwarranted.
Adding to Gingrich’s media woes, in the expensive media environment of Florida, his campaign coffers do not have the dollars to rebut the negative advertising. As a result, Gingrich tries to defend himself at campaign stops, but campaign stops don’t reach the electorate the way media does.
In addition, another roadblock Gingrich encounters is that he shares his conservative position with Rick Santorum; thus, Santorum gets votes that otherwise would go Gingrich. Although Santorum pulls votes from Gingrich, they are not as many as could be because his campaign chest is even smaller than Gingrich’s. Still, the vote-sharing is a factor much of the media decides to ignore.
Nevertheless, although they’re magnified by solidarity, the polls reporting a billowing support for Gingrich may be correct, thanks in part to Obama stalwart George Soros. Soros is a far-left liberal, and it’s difficult to understand his public affirmation on the similarity of Obama and Romney. It would appear, given Obama’s unpopularity, publicly linking the two gives Gingrich a negative factor with which to campaign against both of them. Unless, of course, Soros’ confidence that Romney will win the Republican primary is so high, he doesn’t feel the remarks will affect Romney’s poll numbers.
Notwithstanding, an answer for Soros’ remark may be that he is talking to Wall Street. Wall Street is disgruntled with Obama, because of his wanting to raise taxes on the rich. Soros may be telling them their taxes are increasing, whether Obama or Romney wins the election.
InsiderAdvantage: Gingrich Surging, Race Tighter Than Expected: www.newsmax.com/insider
Yahoo.com: Out-stumped and Out-Spent, Newt Gingrich Flounders in Florida: www.Yahoo.com
Newsmax.com: Soros: Obama, Romney ‘Not Much Difference’: www.newsmax.com