Newt Gingrich is garnering high praise for his performance in Monday night’s presidential debate in South Carolina — a dazzling success that drew an unprecedented standing ovation and could propel him back into close contention for the nomination.
And his sharp-edged response to a question from Fox News contributor Juan Williams may have generated the buzz equaled only by Ronald Reagan’s famous 1980 New Hampshire debate outcry, “I am paying for this microphone.”
“Gingrich’s performance was epic,” The Daily Caller website observed in a story headlined “Newt delivers potentially game-changing performance.”
“It very well may have been the single best performance during any debate in the current cycle.”
The site added that, if the former House speaker overcomes Mitt Romney and goes on to win the GOP presidential nomination, “analysts will look back and say the upset was sparked Monday night at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.”
Pollster Frank Luntz told Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity on Monday night that Gingrich’s debate performance could produce “some movement” in the polls. He said: “I’ve never seen it in a debate — and I’ve been to debates for 16 years — a standing ovation in the middle of a debate.
“Remember there’s only five candidates up there so you would assume that only 20 percent would award them their support. But Newt Gingrich got a standing ovation, and he did it fighting with your own Juan Williams over the whole welfare issue.”
Editor's Note: Can Gingrich come back with his win in the South Carolina debate? Tell us what you think. Vote here!
Asked by debate co-moderator Williams whether he could understand why his comments that “black Americans should demand jobs, not food stamps” and that “poor kids lack a strong work ethic” and perhaps should “work as janitors in their schools” were insulting to Americans — especially African-Americans — Gingrich dismissed the notion out of hand.
“No, I don’t see that,” he said bluntly, to wild applause.
“New York City pays their janitors an absurd amount of money because of the union. You could take one janitor and hire 30-some kids to work in the school for the price of one janitor, and those 30 kids would be a lot less likely to drop out.
“They would actually have money in their pocket. They would learn to show up for work. They could do light janitorial duty. They could work in the cafeteria. They could work in the front office. They could work in the library. They would be getting money which is a good thing if you’re poor. Only the elites despise earning money.”
Williams followed up by asking Gingrich to respond to emails that suggested Gingrich intended to “belittle the poor and racial minorities” with his words.
“Well, first of all, Juan, the fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history,” Gingrich responded, to more applause.
Luntz said: “Gingrich challenged him over the elites who are opposed to making money. It just lit up the audience, and they continued to applaud right into the commercial break.”
By Tuesday afternoon, Gingrich's performance was receiving kudos from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, who admitted to jumping out of his chair on several occasions while watching.
“It was everything that the establishment Republicans don’t want to hear and don’t want to see,” he said. “I have to say I think it was the best debate yet. It was Newt’s night, but they all did well.”
He added: “Obama doesn’t stand a prayer, if Newt were the nominee . . . in the debates.”
Gingrich also is receiving high marks for his handling of a foreign policy question. He was asked how he might react if given intelligence about an enemy who was hiding inside Pakistan, as Osama bin Laden was before he was killed.
“Bin Laden plotted deliberately, bombing American embassies,” Gingrich said, “bombing the U.S.S. Cole, and killing 3,100 Americans, and his only regret was he didn’t kill more.
“Now, he’s not a Chinese dissident. A Chinese dissident who comes here seeking freedom is not the same as a terrorist who goes to Pakistan seeking asylum. Furthermore, when you give a country $20 billion and you learn that they had been hiding — I mean nobody believes that bin Laden was sitting in a compound in a military city one mile from the national defense university and the Pakistanis didn’t know it.”
Gingrich then delivered what the Daily Beast called “a killer rhetorical blow.”
He said: “South Carolina in the Revolutionary War had a young 13-year old named Andrew Jackson. He was sabered by a British officer and wore a scar his whole life. Andrew Jackson had a pretty clear-cut idea about America’s enemies: Kill them.” That comment again drew wild applause.
Luntz said the Jackson remark was “the best line of the entire debate. Those kinds of statements are what propelled Gingrich to the leader of the pack back in December, until Mitt Romney’s super PAC took him down. I think you’ll see some movement from this debate.”
Author and political analyst Dick Morris also praised Gingrich’s performance. Asked who won the debate, he told Hannity: “Newt, Newt, Newt. He was always one good debate performance away from getting back in this race and boy, he had it tonight.”
Later, Morris said on Twitter: “I think this debate may give Gingrich new life.”
Pollster Matt Towery, who served as Gingrich’s first debate coach, told Newsmax that the former speaker earned enthusiastic applause from the crowd by capitalizing on his superior debate skills.
“He wowed the debate audience by picking and choosing his moments to insert himself and waiting for the right questions,” observed Towery, chief pollster of InsiderAdvantage.
“When some fact or contention was thrown at him he would just say it was wrong. He wouldn’t debate it. He wouldn’t discuss it. Then he would go on to deliver a very cogent message. It’s a debate tactic. You feel out your room. When a fact is thrown your way, or an argument, you can just say flatly, ‘you’re wrong.’”
Towery added that Gingrich still needs to deliver the message that he is the only candidate who can stand toe to toe with President Obama on a debate stage and that he has the proven experience to tackle many of the nation’s problems.
“It’s a very simple message,” Towery said. “If he says it, he can win.”
Editor's Note: Can Gingrich come back with his win in the South Carolina debate? Tell us what you think. Vote here!
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