George Stephanopoulos Ready to Crown Romney, 1099 Delegates Shy of Nomination
Ignoring the facts, "Good Morning America's" George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday insisted that it would be "impossible" for a non-Mitt Romney candidate to capture the nomination if the former Massachusetts governor wins the South Carolina primary on Saturday. However, even if Romney won all 25 of the state's delegates, he would still be 1099 shy of the amount needed to clinch a final victory.
While talking to reporter John Berman, Stephanopoulos declared, "And if he wins on Saturday, impossible to see how any of [the other candidates] could really come back." Berman cemented this questionable logic, agreeing, "Seems like that wraps it up." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Romney currently has 20 delegates. The most he could have after Saturday is 45. 1144 are needed to win the GOP nomination.
Stephanopoulos teased the segment by highlighting the "new ABC poll that shows that [Romney] may have an insurmountable lead as the candidates pounce in a South Carolina showdown last night."
Over on "CBS This Morning," Charlie Rose offered the same talking points, lecturing Newt Gingrich: "What has to happen if- to prevent Governor [Mitt] Romney from doing so well in South Carolina that he wraps it up?"
Rose followed up, "But if you don't do that and Romney wins, is it all over?"
Obviously, Romney is in a good position to win the nomination. But when the ex-governor is more than 1000 delegates away from doing so, the comments on ABC and CBS sound like nothing more than an attempt to control the process.
A transcript of the January 17th segment can be found below:
7am tease
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Also breaking this morning: A huge surge for Mitt Romney. The new ABC poll that shows that he may have an insurmountable lead as the candidates pounce in a South Carolina showdown last night.
7:11
STEPHANOPOULOS: We're going to turn now to politics. Your voice, your vote. And a brand new ABC News/Washington Post poll out this morning that shows Mitt Romney decisively breaking away from the pack, now holding a two-to-one lead over his closest rivals for the nomination. Looking ahead, it also shows a dead heat in November with Romney holding a one-point lead over President Obama. But Romney's Republican rivals have not given up the fight yet. They took it to him in last night's debate in South Carolina and ABC's John Berman is here with more with more on that. Good morning, John.
JOHN BERMAN: Good morning, George. You know, here's a telling number. 72 percent of Republican voters think Mitt Romney will be the nominee. That is a big number. So, the question heading into last night's South Carolina debate, could his opponents do anything to derail what seems like an almost run-away train of inevitability? Well, they certainly tried. Mitt Romney tried to chug along overnight, riding his big lead and touting his business experience.
MITT ROMNEY: Do I believe that free enterprise works? Absolutely.
BERMAN: But his opponents in the Fox News/Wall Street Journal debate weren't buying, throwing their bodies in the way of that momentum railroad.
RICK PERRY: We need for you to release your income tax so the people of this country can see how you made your money.
BERMAN: Romney, worth more than $200 million, gave a noncommittal semi-answer. Sort of.
ROMNEY: If that's been the tradition and- I am not opposed to it. Time will tell. But, I anticipate that, most likely, I'm going to get asked to do it around the April time period and I'll keep that open.
BERMAN: Rick Santorum knocked him off track in a gotcha exchange over voting rights for felons.
ROMNEY: I don't think people that committed violent crimes should be allowed to vote again. That's my own view.
SANTORUM: That's very interesting that you should say that, Governor Romney, because in the state of Massachusetts, when you were governor, the law was that not only could violent felons vote after they exhausted their sentences, but they could vote while they were on probation and parole.
BERMAN: The Newt Gingrich train seemed to pick up speed. The crowd loving his defense of proposals to have low income kids earn money as janitors
NEWT GINGRICH: They'd be getting money, which is a good thing if you're poor. Only the elites despise earning money.
BERMAN: The boisterous crowd not nearly as in love with Ron Paul's foreign policy.
RON PAUL: Don't do to other nations what we don't want them to do to us.
BERMAN: That even earned a rebuke from a feisty Rick Perry.
RICK PERRY: I was just saying, I just thought maybe the noise you were looking for was a gong. [Audience laughs.]
BERMAN: Now, you could see Romney get a little rattled at points. You could see Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have strong moments. But that's the thing: Romney could win even by losing last night because his splintered opponents may take more votes from each other than Romney.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And if he wins on Saturday, impossible to see how any of them could really come back.
BERMAN: Seems like that wraps it up.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, John. Thanks very much.
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Comments
Liberal Math Strikes Again
Submitted by Blonde on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 2:17pm.
Florida's primary, a WINNER TAKE ALL, will give the victor 50 delegates (half of our normal count because Florida, a CLOSED PRIMARY state, defied the RNC and moved our primary to pre-empt the democrat meddling, per the usual in Iowa, NH, and SC).
Helllllloooo George! Last time I looked, 50 was more than 45.
Put that premature immaculation back in your pocket, Georgie.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Give him a break, Blonde.
Submitted by Kaleidoscopic God on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 2:18pm.
It's hard for somebody with a single digit IQ to do math without a pocket calculator!
No Breaks
Submitted by KornKing on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 4:52pm.
Probably hard WITH a pocket calculator as well
Maureen Dowd exposes their strategy
Submitted by vrwc13 on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 2:19pm.
WHAT a choice we’ll have in the fall: one man on a pedestal, another behind a wall.
Democrats and independents may have fallen out of love with President Obama, but Republicans and independents can’t fall in love with Mitt Romney. The two Harvard Law School grads are heading into a match with oddly matching flaws: both became famous while staying enigmatic and inaccessible.
...sounds like a fair hit on both? Read further.
They want McRomney:
What you say "They split on conservatives"?
Yep. McRomney's faith is the hit piece for Dowd and they are betting it works.
v
The burden of life is from ourselves, its lightness from the grace of Christ and the love of God. - William Bernard Ullanthorne
Yeah, that's strange
Submitted by Galvanic on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 3:52pm.
I can see some conservatives not voting for Romney, but I don't see them giving their votes to Obama.
The Obama/DNC strategy is to paint Romney as a Top 1%-er who
1) Made his fortune through Wall Street and 'vulture capitalism'
2) Signed RomneyCare into law in Massachusetts, which was the model for ObamaCare.
The MSM will then deluge the print media, TV waves, and blogosphere with stories about corruption on Wall Street, past and present, to create the illusion that it has suddenly become rampant despite Obama's attempts to curb it, and to link Romney and/or his associates to it.
Everytime consservatives point to a major flaw in ObamaCare, the Dems will point to a similar piece in RomneyCare. The way the anti-Romney campaign that is shaping up takes ObamaCare out of the debate for Republicans, and that is a great advantage for Obama.
Furthermore, if Romney goes down, he may take some new Republican Congressional candidates with him -- at least that's what the DNC is hoping, because they are plumb out of ideas.
Romney's faith through the ringer...
Submitted by vrwc13 on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 5:37pm.
I agree with all of your points, but I still think they will pounce on his faith, as Dowd well illustrates this in her article. They will point out all the glaring differences between his and the evangelicals faith and when they are done he might as well be with John Travolta and Tom Cruise's Scientologists.
v
The burden of life is from ourselves, its lightness from the grace of Christ and the love of God. - William Bernard Ullanthorne
How dare he abide by the law!
Submitted by CobraMan on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 2:34pm.
"That's very interesting that you should say that, Governor Romney, because in the state of Massachusetts, when you were governor, the law was that not only could violent felons vote after they exhausted their sentences, but they could vote while they were on probation and parole. '
What is it that you're complaining about, Santorum ? That Romney actually abides by the laws that were already on the books prior to his becoming Governor? What would YOU do, Santorum, ignore the law and impose your own rules? Are you sure you're not Obama's long lost brother?
Talk about being disingenuous!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
George soooooo want's to be the king maker
Submitted by c5then on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 3:23pm.
Or should I say the king re-maker since his plan is to re-appoint Obama.
And this is why so many states are looking to move up their primaries. Because every election cycle, the liberal media try and decide who is the winner almost before the starter pistol sounds. After only a few of the early primaries, they try and declare an obvious winner and thus make the states that are late in the cycle almost irrelevant.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
Clinton's court jester
Submitted by Galvanic on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 4:53pm.
Stephanopoulus was subjected to Slick's verbal abuse for years before leaving that WH. Maybve he figures that entitles him to be a kingmaker.
Run Mitt
Submitted by Bob K on Tue, 01/17/2012 - 5:00pm.
if he makes you happy. I fell for the GOP hacks last time, held my nose, and voted for a RINO. I won't do it again. Let the feces hit the fan.