The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
Why Doesn’t He Keep It in the Kitchen Like Normal People Do?
“Professor’s Study Offers Promise Of Fresher, Safer Asparagus”–headline, University of Wisconsin-Stout press release, Jan. 23
1. How Come Nobody Expects It?
“The Top 10 Questions Everyone Has About the Inquisition”–headline, Puffington Host, Jan. 23
Bottom Stories of the Day
“School Buses Fixed After Inspections Find Problems”–headline, Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 24
A Crowd Pleaser Without a Crowd
Last night’s NBC debate between the four remaining GOP presidential candidates was deathly dull, yet it might have served a purpose. Newt Gingrich, who gave a lackluster performance, “on Tuesday morning threatened not [to] participate in any future debates with audiences that have been instructed to be silent.” The former speaker did much better in last week’s Fox and CNN debates, in which the audience was permitted to clap, cheer and even stand.
“In an interview with the morning show ‘Fox and Friends,’ Mr. Gingrich said NBC’s rules amounted to stifling free speech,” the Times reports. That’s bunk. NBC was exercising its right to free speech in setting the rules for its forum. And, as the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin notes, as a result voters learned something about the candidates, and Gingrich in particular:
This is one more indication that Gingrich is not a general-election candidate. In the presidential debates they don’t allow audience reaction either. At the start of the Sept. 26, 2008, debate Jim Lehrer explained: “The audience here in the hall has promised to remain silent, no cheers, no applause, no noise of any kind, except right now, as we welcome Senators Obama and McCain.”
Rubin strongly supports Mitt Romney, but she’s got Gingrich’s number here. If he does well in debates only when he has a crowd to play to, the claim that he is the man to debate Obama is awfully unpersuasive.
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
