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City Lights

(25,171 posts)
Fri Jan 20, 2012, 08:43 AM Jan 2012

Salon: The power of conservative victimhood

Friday, Jan 20, 2012 4:08 AM UTC

It took Newt about five minutes to steal the show at the final pre-South Carolina debate

By Steve Kornacki

If Newt Gingrich does pull off a victory in South Carolina on Saturday, he’ll owe it to the skill with which he has tapped into the right’s persecution complex this past week — and to some helpful debate moderators.

The final pre-South Carolina debate Thursday night ran for two hours and featured several sharp attacks on Gingrich. Mitt Romney, for instance, ridiculed Gingrich’s frequent claims that he worked closely with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, noting that Reagan’s published diary offered just one dismissive mention of the Georgian. Rick Santorum, meanwhile, depicted Gingrich as an erratic and unreliable leader. “Grandiosity,” he declared, “has never been a problem with Newt Gingrich.” (In a response that we’ll probably see a few more times on cable news shows Friday, Gingrich admitted that “I think grandiose thoughts.”)

But it seems doubtful any of this will really matter for much , because Gingrich may very well have won the debate before it was five minutes old.

The question hanging in the air when the candidates took the stage was whether and how the interview that Gingrich’s second wife, Marianne, just gave to ABC News would be addressed. The interview had hijacked the Thursday’s political conversation, with ABC teasing salacious details — like Marianne Gingrich repeating on-camera for the first time her claim that Newt had asked her for an open marriage after revealing his affair with Callista — throughout the day and promising the run the full version on “Nightline” after the debate. Would moderator John King bring it up? Would one of Gingrich’s rivals? Or an audience member? Or maybe the former speaker himself? Or maybe somehow it wouldn’t come up at all.

Read the entire piece at Salon.com

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Sarah Ibarruri

(21,043 posts)
1. Airing in SC. lol Knowing what I now know about Repukes (having seen them in action up close)
Fri Jan 20, 2012, 09:05 AM
Jan 2012

I can't help thinking just deliriously happy some poor Repuke assholes in South Carolina must be to be watching their hero, Newt, oinking right there in SC!

They watch from their Confederate flag-covered sofas (shotgun at their side), joyfully wanking off under their KKK hoods and gowns, smiling blissfully toothless Deliverance smirks, and feeling oh so very successful!

lol

 

southernyankeebelle

(11,304 posts)
2. Newt is a loose cannon and america should fear this guy if he wins the primary. Republicans
Fri Jan 20, 2012, 09:59 AM
Jan 2012

are not being rational because they want a flame throwing at Obama because they hate him so much. I hope raltional republicans find a way to push Fruity Newty out. He is damaging their brand. It is scary.

JustAnotherGen

(31,681 posts)
3. tee hee
Fri Jan 20, 2012, 10:37 AM
Jan 2012

Republican in an of itself is a 'damaged brand'! But I do see your point. Feel the same way about Ron Paul.

 

southernyankeebelle

(11,304 posts)
4. Well the difference is Paul is going no where. The lust for war in the republican party will not
Fri Jan 20, 2012, 10:43 AM
Jan 2012

allow him to get their vote. Don't you think.

City Lights

(25,171 posts)
7. I hope Newt damages their brand as much as possible.
Fri Jan 20, 2012, 01:23 PM
Jan 2012

And I'm pulling for anyone but Romney in SC. I want their primary drags on and on and on, damaging their brand beyond repair.

 

southernyankeebelle

(11,304 posts)
8. I have to tell you I'm scaried to death. Newt really is a valcano. I pray america won't elect him.
Fri Jan 20, 2012, 01:29 PM
Jan 2012

But yet your right it would be great to see the freak show continue.

City Lights

(25,171 posts)
10. The thought of a "President Gingrich" scares me, too.
Fri Jan 20, 2012, 01:46 PM
Jan 2012

I think most of the voting public will see him as too toxic to elect. At least that's how I hope they'll see him. :fingerscrossed:

Charming

(2 posts)
12. Misconception about Southern Repugs
Fri Feb 10, 2012, 09:22 AM
Feb 2012

While there are more than enough of the gun toten' flag waving red necks in battered pickups to go around in SC , these days they mostly wear polo shirts and dockers drive big SUVs and migrated here from NY, NJ and CT with a heavy dose of OH.

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