Gingrich Stuns CNN’s John King, Wins Audience!

Thursday’s CNN debate was more like an episode of “Jersey Shore” or “Housewives of Beverly Hills,” than a Presidential debate of a nation mired in a poor economy and high unemployment rate.

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Two days before the citizens of South Carolina vote in their primary, ABC chose to air an interview with Newt Gingrich’s ex-wife. As of this writing, it has not aired yet, but the specifics of the interview were leaked, and all the major networks talked of little else—even though Rick Perry bowed out of the race and Rick Santorum was informed that the Iowa vote recount made him the winner of the Iowa Caucus.  Twitter was ablaze with enraged grassroots conservatives who believe this is yet another example of liberal bias in the media. After all where was the media’s fascination with the candidates personal lives when John Edwards was seeking the Democratic party nomination?

John King, the CNN moderator, opened the debate by asking Newt Gingrich whether he would like to comment on his ex-wife’s revelations.  Gingrich responded, “No, but I will.”  He then very aptly turned the question into an attack on the liberal media by saying, “I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking Republicans,” for which he received his first of three standing ovations.  If you missed it, you can watch a replay HERE of the exchange.

John King, possibly believing the other candidates would all be eager to condemn Gingrich, then asked each of them to respond.  Mitt Romney said, “John, let’s get on to the the real issues.”  Rick Santorum said he would leave it to a “higher authority” to judge, and Ron Paul also dodged an attempt to attack Gingrich.

Did we learn anything new about how the candidates agree and differ on major issues?  I’m not sure we did.

Even the after-debate wrap-up played like Reality TV, as the CNN pundits defended their actions and justified to why and how the media behaved as it did Thursday.  Ari Fleisher, former George Bush press secretary, perhaps summarized it best when he said to John King that the debate was great for politicos but the audience was not politicos.  Kudos to Fleisher.  One of the first laws of journalism is, “Know Your Audience.”

Meanwhile, as Gingrich continues to surge in the polls, Scott Rasmussen reports that Mitt Romney’s appeal as “the most electable candidate” is now beginning to erode.