Terrier: Newt should have passed up Fla. dogfight

By: Daisy

Tuesday night, I tracked the Florida Republican presidential primary via Sirius XM satellite radio (what better brand name than the Dog Star!). Seeking a respite, I tuned in to a station called "Fox News," thinking it would provide information about the creatures we Westies were raised to hunt in Scotland. Imagine my surprise when it contained more primary coverage ... and from a right-wing angle, too!
However, my ears perked up when a Newt Gingrich supporter and ex-Oklahoma Congressman, J.C. Watts, used a dog-related proverb to explain why mean Republicans like Mitt Romney (who won the primary) and Rick Santorum were attacking Newt. "Dogs don't bark at parked cars," Watts said.
Well, Newt certainly had all the momentum heading into Florida, and it was this momentum that prompted his rivals to start yipping and yapping at him. But sometimes when you're goaded into a dogfight, the wisest thing to do is back away. Instead, Newt did the opposite. He yipped and yapped right back, and wound up losing control. This is why he's now licking his wounds in defeat.
It may seem Newt had no choice but to go negative after Mitt did the same. After Mitt lost the previous primary, in South Carolina, he went on the attack, hounding Newt about his lucrative fees from consulting for Freddie Mac, and the scandalous end of his tenure as Speaker of the House in 1998.
It is tempting to join in a fight, tough to walk away. Today, a dog-walker with five dogs on the leash approached my owner Rich and me from across the street. The dogs started rearing up and snarling. I took a few steps forward, mindful that "it wasn't the size of the dog in the fight, it was the size of the fight in the dog." Yet Rich coaxed me away from the quintet and back home, where I sit safely in my sunbeam.
In the Sunshine State, I sense Newt knew the best strategy was to keep his distance. His comments on Mitt's negativity reveal this. “Now, let me be very clear, because I understand your technique, which you used on (John) McCain, you used on (Mike) Huckabee, you’ve used consistently, OK?" Newt said in the Jan. 23 debate. "It’s unfortunate, and it’s not going to work very well, because the American people see through it.”
Had Newt kept his composure, he might have had a closer finish, even a victory. Instead, he mixed it up with Mitt, and eventually sounded even more petty and petulant than his rival. This even happened in the same Jan. 23 debate. Mitt fielded a question about the potential death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and replied with venom: “Thank heavens that Fidel Castro has returned to his maker and will be sent to another land.” Newt then abandoned statesmanship and sounded more tasteless than Mitt: “First of all…I don’t think that Fidel is going to meet his maker. I think he’s going to go to the other place.”
If Newt really does want to become president, he should change his strategy. Negative campaigning is ruining his hopes worse than a bad dog can ruin a carpet (not that I'd know about that...). It's true that staying above the fray can wound one's pride. I felt humiliated after letting myself be led away from those five dogs. Yet I believe that after the initial humiliation comes the redemption of looking like "the better man" (or dog). Think about that, Newt.
And by the way, I could have licked those five dogs any day of the week.

Daisy is a 9-year-old West Highland white terrier living in Cambridge, Mass. Her column appears weekly.