We all knew this was coming but I have to agree with his indignation….the very first question?
He makes wonderful points while kicking some ass and then completely denies the allegation of the open marriage.
He also released his tax returns in a not too subtle dig at Mitt.
We all knew Newt was going down without a fight.
Meanwhile Santorum handled this question quite well, and it was pretty damn funny
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaQF7i2jct8[/youtube]
UPDATE
Great post on Newt:
…CNN’s John King opened the Charleston debate with a direct question to Gingrich about his past. “Do you want to take a moment to address that?” King asked.
“No, but I will,” Gingrich replied. And he wound up his ire and spent the next few minutes pulverizing the media for digging into his past on the eve of the South Carolina primary. When King tried to deflect Gingrich’s wrath back off onto ABC, Gingrich would have none of it: King has brought up the issue in the debate, after all. King looked visibly cowed.
In the hotel bar in Charleston, SC where I ended up watching the debate, cheers went up to match the standing ovation Gingrich earned from the live audience. The other candidates all found themselves, rather than criticizing Gingrich’s past infidelity, piling onto his attack on the media.
…Newt Gingrich was not my preferred candidate, and still isn’t. But in these debates he has proven that Republicans love a fighter. We are tired of a biased media belittling us and denigrating, even undermining, us. We are tired of an ignorant media inflating nonsense and avoiding asking the other side the tough questions Republicans deal with every day. Like a Civil War general once accused of letting his personal problems get in the way of doing his duty, we may not be able to spare Newt Gingrich. He isn’t perfect, far from it. But he fights.
UPDATE
1. Romney can’t answer questions about his tax returns at all.
2. He’s terrible at it and he needs to get better, quickly.
3. John King trying to use Romney’s father as a precedent on the tax return issue was dumb.
4. Romney referred to “RomneyCare” tonight. I think that was a first, and not a good first for him.
5. He also made some sort of reference to coming from the “streets of America.” Romney is a fine man, but if there’s anyone less “street” than Mitt Romney I don’t know who it could be. If he’s street than I’m the shock collar for a vicious Mexican drug gang.
6. 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.
7. Ron Paul had some of his best moments of any debate. I really liked his answer on free trade. The problem, of course, is that he’s a theoretical free trader and an operational protectionist.
8. I was less impressed than most with Santorum tonight than a lot of folks seem to have been. But I still think he did very well, all things considered.
10. Santorum’s best moment came when he threaded the needle on immigration, sounding both tough and compassionate.
11. He also had the most dramatic moment dropping the House banking scandal bomb on Newt.
12. It is simply amazing that it took all this time (is this the 17th debate?) for anyone to really deliver a serious and cogent attack on RomneyCare.
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