CNN's John King walked into a minefield with his opening question of the GOP debate in South Carolina, with a question to Newt Gingrich regarding allegations made by Mr. Gingrich's wife earlier in the week. The question is legitimate but better for a 1 on 1 interview than a multi-candidate debate.
Mr. Gingrich was prepared and seized the question as an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive and within five minutes, owned John King. I am pretty sure that the other three candidates who might have initially thought this was an issue that would have hurt Mr. Gingrich are now wishing John King hadn't raised it. In fact, I'm pretty sure Mr. King is wishing he had opened with another question now.
Mr. Gingrich was prepared and seized the question as an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive and within five minutes, owned John King. I am pretty sure that the other three candidates who might have initially thought this was an issue that would have hurt Mr. Gingrich are now wishing John King hadn't raised it. In fact, I'm pretty sure Mr. King is wishing he had opened with another question now.
There is an old adage in the legal profession that you never ask a witness a question for which you don't already know the answer. It is only the inexperienced and naive or a fool who tries to score a quick, cheap point against someone with the experience of a career politician like Mr. Gingrich.
Within seconds, John King was on the defensive and within minutes, whether he is the best candidate or not, Mr. Gingrich was given the opportunity to redirect the entire issue away from himself and his past and turn it into how the mainstream media has sunk to new lows.
The crowd loved it, giving Mr. Gingrich a standing ovation and no doubt it will play well out in the broader community. Indeed, the audience response was such that the other candidates on the stage were extremely cautious in their response when Mr. King asked them for their comments on the issue.
It's indicative of the growing lack of respect many have for the main-stream media and was a telling moment and a rookie mistake by a seasoned journalist that played right into the hands of Mr.Gingrich. It allowed Mr. Gingrich to deflect the issue and his opening response overshadowed the rest of the debate. It is also illustrative of the fact that the media are less interested in allowing the news to unfold as it will and have become too busy trying to create news by stirring controversy. This controversy blew up in Mr. King's face and Mr. Gingrich wiped the floor with him.
It's indicative of the growing lack of respect many have for the main-stream media and was a telling moment and a rookie mistake by a seasoned journalist that played right into the hands of Mr.Gingrich. It allowed Mr. Gingrich to deflect the issue and his opening response overshadowed the rest of the debate. It is also illustrative of the fact that the media are less interested in allowing the news to unfold as it will and have become too busy trying to create news by stirring controversy. This controversy blew up in Mr. King's face and Mr. Gingrich wiped the floor with him.
The rest of the debate was spirited and the candidates engaged with the issues but this debate was over before it began. Whether he won on the issues or not, Mr. Gingrich won the overall moment despite how qualified or effective the others might have been in the debate. It is Mr. Gingrich's response to John King that will be talked about just as it was one of the main topics of discussion by pundits immediately following the debate. The opinions on the other issues by candidates will be secondary. Whatever his motives may have been, John King just gave the Newt Gingrich campaign a major shot in the arm and a huge boost in support within the conservative movement.
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