BILL PRESS: Well, I'm sure you're as excited as I am about tonight's GOP debate, which is happening as we speak. In case you're counting, it's number 19, more than any halfway-sane human being needs to see of Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and most TV anchors.
But most attention tonight is going to be focused — not on the candidates — but on the audience. Will they go berserk, as they were encouraged to do a week ago tonight in Charleston?
I was there in the audience before the debate. A CNN producer actually came out and whipped up the audience and encouraged them to make as much noise as possible. Which they did on the very first question, when John King asked Newt whether or not he had, in fact, asked his wife for open marriage and Newt attacked the media.
(Excerpt from video clip) JOHN KING: As you know, your ex-wife gave an interview to ABC News and another interview at The Washington Post and this story has now gone viral on the Internet. In it, she says that you came to her in 1999, at a time when you were having an affair. She says you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. Would you like to take some time to respond to that?
(Excerpt from video clip) NEWT GINGRICH: No, but I will. I think — I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office and I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.
PRESS: Standing ovation.
Or will they be on their best behavior, as they were admonished to be just last Monday by Brian Williams?
(Excerpt from video clip) BRIAN WILLIAMS: We've asked our invited guests here this evening to withhold their applause, any verbal reactions to what they hear onstage, so as to ensure this is about the four candidates here tonight and what they have to say.
PRESS: The next morning Gingrich actually attacked Williams for stifling free speech and vowed never to appear in another debate unless the audience was allowed to scream and shout like a high school basketball crowd, which tells you a lot about Newt. He's not such a good debater, after all. He's a good actor who thrives on the cheap shot and audience reaction.
It also tells you a lot about American politics today. We've gone from the Lincoln-Douglas debates, we've gone from the Kennedy-Nixon debates, we've gone from the dignified Obama-McCain debates to "The Jerry Springer Show," where it's not who says the smartest things that counts, it's who gets the most laughs or the most applause from the audience.
Which, in the end, you know, isn't going to help Newt Gingrich at all because — if he ever makes it to the big leagues, debating President Obama — no audience applause is going to be allowed.
So, Newt will have to suddenly act like a grownup. And for a spoiled child like him, that is impossible.
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