The New Yorker | TV Newser | Politico
“I am frankly astounded that Gingrich hasn’t been asked more about his various affairs and divorces,” writes Ariel Levy in The New Yorker. Levy says evangelical voters — not the media — are most concerned “with the candidate’s vague and not-particularly-remorseful-seeming statements about ‘past mistakes.’ ” But at Thursday night’s South Carolina debate, the thrice-married GOP candidate attacked the media for covering his ex-wife’s claims about their marriage, telling CNN’s John King he was “appalled” that the moderator’s first question would be about his second marriage.
“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.”
King defended himself after the debate, telling Anderson Cooper, “It was my judgment, my decision, and mine alone.” The CNN anchor told Politico’s Dylan Byers and Keach Hagey, “My old AP training is, you deal with the lead of the day upfront first … I respect anybody who disagrees, but we made our decision.” Politico also reports that “Gingrich did not appear angry when he was also interviewed by Cooper, telling him: ‘I thought it was a great debate. I thought John King did a great job.’ ” That raises the question of how much of Gingrich’s outrage was him speaking to an American audience in which 75 percent of conservatives believe the media is too liberal.
Of course, Democrats blame the media, too. In an interview with Time magazine published Thursday, President Obama accused the media of portraying him as distant because he doesn’t socialize with them.
“The Washington press corps maybe just doesn’t feel like I’m in the mix enough with them, and they figure, well, if I’m not spending time with them, I must be cold and aloof.”
Related: Democrats go off the record for convention center tour while Republicans say, “We’ve never, ever done a media walk-through off the record.” (The Charlotte Observer)
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