Confronting Newt's lie

In his vituperative response to the debate question about wife #2's claim he asked for an open marriage, Newt boomed out at moderator John King that he was "astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate."

Continuing his bombastic counterattack, Newt effectively buried the question under a barrage of denunciation, saying he could hardly imagine a more despicable thing for the elite media to do just before an important primary.    And by the way, the story is completely false, and he has witnesses who will say so, Newt claimed.  The partisan audience loved his response.  Newt was standing up to the mean old media, and they rewarded him with a standing ovation.  He handily won an upset victory in the South Carolina primary a few days later.

But the controversy over the question continued.   He talked about it at rallies and in another TV interview, claiming that "anyone who knew me" would testify that Marianne's charges weren't true.    Actually, the only thing that seems in question really is whether he used the term "open marriage" or whether he simply asked to have what amounts to an open marriage;  i.e., that his wife would agree for him to have Callista as his mistress.

Newt claimed that his campaign had offered witnesses when Marianne's interview was first shown on ABC, and ABC was not interested and didn't call them.    Now, under continuing pressure to name names, his campaign has admitted that it was only Newt's two daughters from his first marriage (Marianne was their step-mother) who were offered as witnesses.   They had already been interviewed and had written about their father's marriage problems.

I'm not surprised at this lie.  This tactic is Newt's trademark.   Create a tornado of indignation, toss out a barrage of counter-charges, paint himself as the victim of the powerful forces that he is challenging -- and the questions about his character get lost in the chaos.  Newt, the Crusader for Truth and Good Government Leads the Nation into the Future.

The job for Romney -- and perhaps later Obama -- is to help voters see this as the tactic that it is and to see the truth about the dangerous man who uses it so effectively.

Ralph