John King’s Big Favor

posted at 12:25 pm on January 20, 2012 by Karl

He did everyone a favor, but especially Newt Gingrich:

Mr. Gingrich delighted much of the audience at the debate with his attack on the moderator, John King, of CNN, who began the proceeding by asking the former House speaker about his ex-wife’s allegations that Mr. Gingrich asked “to enter into an open marriage.”

Mr. Gingrich met the question with cold anger, winning roars of approval from the debate audience as he said through nearly clenched teeth, “I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.” But he ultimately said of his ex-wife Marianne’s allegations, reported first on Thursday by ABC News, “The story is false.”

Given the conventional reaction, GOP fundraiser/consultant (and Newt fan) Nathan Wurtzel nailed it: “Clearly, most of the political press I follow never heard the line ‘Never get mad except on purpose.’ ” Or as Jonah Goldberg noted:

Newt’s opening answer was very strong and will be replayed a lot. But I thought it was overstated and, as he kept going, it became clear he was trying to squelch the issue rather than express his true rage. When he was all lovey-dovey with John King after the debate, it underscored that it was as much performance as anything else.

Completing the trifecta is John Podhoretz (a Mitt Romney fan, afaik): “I find it astonishing that people are falling for his being outraged at being asked about his character.”

Newt’s ample personal baggage is one of the generally-known things about him — probably as much as they know about his Speakership. Like the issues raised about Mitt Romney — Bain, the tax returns, etc. — the marriage issue is not going away, so Republicans (and ultimately all of us) are better served discussing it sooner rather than having regrets later. So thank John King; it’s a pretty good bet Newt did.

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