On Tuesday, January 31, Republican voters in the state of Florida turned out to cast their votes in the state's primary. Mitt Romney won with 46 percent of votes, beating runner up Newt Gingrich by a staggering 15 percent. Prior to this vote, Gingrich was considered the frontrunner, before a quick collapse gave Romney the victory.
This collapse could be attributed not only to Gingrich's lack of morals, but also due to his rhetorical choices in the days prior.
The most obvious mistake Gingrich made were the ill-advised "moon colony" plans. These plans were a response to the exigence of a loss of jobs in Florida when President Obama shut down the National Space Program. Vocalizing this idea kind of makes sense. What would be a better promise to thousands of former technicians than to restart the space program?
Of course, Gingrich failed to take a few things into account. The first was the size of his rhetorical audience. According to some reports, these plans were a hit amongst Gingrich's rhetorical audience. However, these thousands of people that Gingrich is appealing to isn't nearly the entire state of Florida, and while he did attempt to appeal to other demographics, it wasn't enough to win.
Looking forward, this primary election was not the right time to bring up this "moon colony." There is a term for the right opportune moment, called Kairos. While Florida was an opportune moment and place to bring up his plans short term, it was not an opportune time or place for the rest of the primary.
The "moon colony" was only meant to appeal to Florida voters, but national focus revealed these plans to voters around the nation. Instead of buying into these ideas, people have regarded Gingrich as being crazy. It's also an especially bad time to propose a program that would cost taxpayers billions of dollars. With the state the American economy is in, it is not a good time to bring up additional spending.
This is likely to work against Gingrich's campaign, as the media has a tendency to remind viewers of goof ups such as this one (Dean Scream anybody?), which will most likely deter voters even more. So, due to Newt's poor rhetorical choices, his election bid is looking to be in doubt.
Seriously though,,, That moon colony idea is almost as dumb as Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, AKA Star Wars.
Newt Gingrich is the ultimate disgrace to the Republican party in my mind, so I'm always happy to hear him lose inn anything. Also, he had no grasp on Kairos like you said.
ReplyDeleteNewt Gingrich has seriously lost a great deal of respect, not only among the public of the United States, but also among his co-candidates and fellow government officials. It wouldn't surprise me to hear of his dropping out in the next few months.
ReplyDeleteTrue, he totally failed with his timing! I mean I remember hearing about that plan and I was like what? It made me hum Star Wars.
ReplyDeleteGingrich really out did himself with the moon colony business. I won't be surprised if it costs him the national vote as the Republican candidate for the election.
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