Newt Gingrich leaves no potential line of attack unexploited. He’s down in Alabama talking cuisine.
“Gov. Romney indicated yesterday morning that it was the first time he tasted grits,” Mr. Gingrich told a crowd at a Mobile restaurant where the Republican Party in Mobile and Baldwin counties was holding a breakfast meeting. “I just wanted to reassure all of you that I have had some acquaintance in a variety of forms whether it’s with shrimp, with cheese, with gravy, whatever.”
Mr. Gingrich has played up his Southern background as he tries to surge and win primaries in Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday. Recent polls show the former Georgia congressman in a dead heat with Mr. Romney and Rick Santorum in both states.
“If you don’t understand grits, there’s a pretty high likelihood you don’t understand the rest of the South either,” he said to laughs at a campaign event in Mobile on Friday night, before moving to his typical stump speech saying he has a unique ability to draw a stark contrast with President Barack Obama and to beat him in debates.
It was just a joke, but it shows how Romney tends to lead with his chin. In introducing himself to the Deep Southern voter by saying he was learning to say ‘y’all’ and ‘I like grits,’ he was saying ‘hi, I’m not one of you.’ Romney’s message should have been that compared to the president, he is one of them. He might have pointed out that Rick Santorum has cast many pro-union votes. He might have pointed out that he’s a model family man, unlike the unstable Newt Gingrich. But he led with his weakness.
That’s just the latest example of Romney’s poor political skills. Whether it’s saying that corporations are people or suggesting that over $300,000/year in speaking fees isn’t very much money, Romney doesn’t know how to shake his image as an elitist or how to make a real connection with average people.
If Romney loses in Mississippi and Alabama it will be because of this failure. His opponents have their own giant flaws, but they’re easier to overlook than Romney’s.
