Newt had obviously rehearsed in preparing for King's first question. And King cannot have been taken aback by anything but the degree of outrage from Newt. If King knows anything about Newt -- and we all know he must -- he knows that (1) Newt fully expected this line of questioning (perhaps not as the first question, but at least somewhere during the debate), (2) Newt prefers offense than defense, and (3) Newt's offenses often bear a striking resemblance to a steamroller. So King should have been prepared for the barrage that ensued.
I think Newt's outrage was a combination of two things: (1) Genuine anger at the audacity of the question as the very first question in an important, pre-primary debate, and (2) 'Convenient' anger in that he knew that the object of his ridicule, .i.e. the media elite, are certainly not admired nor respected by most in the debate audience. So King unknowingly provided Newt the stone with which to kill two birds -- the audacity of the question, and the ability to play to the audiences perceptions of the pro-Obama/anti-conservative media that King represents.
Much of it was indeed theatrics, but the catalyst for those theatrics (the media's treatment of conservatives) was a powerful one that definitely scored Mr. Gingrich some points. It may turn out, in the long run, that the ABC interview will have benefitted him in that (1) many voters (even the normally apathetic, who vote on the basis of soundbites) will view the airing of the interview, all of whose 'facts' have been previously publicized more than a year ago, just two days before the primary is blatantly biased and unfair, even to the less perceptive among us, and (2) it provided Newt the opportunity to not only rail against that unfairness but also to portray himself as 'human', in need of forgiveness, and as the victim of a woman who is out for revenge. (It's an unexpected pleasure to witness blatant media bias morph into a weapon for a conservative candidate.)
It seems to me that the roadblock that Marianne's interview was expected to represent for Newt instead morphed into a win-win situation. And, partly as a result, I suspect he'll take South Carolina tomorrow by a good 5% margin. |
