New York Magazine : Liberals root for Gingrich : "Brutal as a loss in Florida would be to Newt Gingrich's prospects, the press may help keep him on life support into the spring. "The very “liberal media” that Gingrich delights in excoriating are, in fact, in his corner in his battle with Romney"

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For Gingrich, this may turn out to be a crucial asset—especially if, as seems likely, he falls short in the Florida primary and is forced into survival mode"

Soft coverage helped to propel Obama first to the Democratic nomination and then into the White House.

Mitt Romney has earned a big reputation as an inveterate flip-flopper, the members of the ­media—and his rivals, then and ­today—have regarded him as a phony,

On a range of issues, notably his finances, Romney is making claims that may be less than fully truthful. This perception is ­growing—and problematic for Mitt Romney. Much as the press enjoys poking at phoniness, it absolutely relishes demolishing a liar.

New York Magazine

Newt’s Base

The press loves drama and hates a front-runner. So guess who they are rooting for.

By John Heilemann

January 27, 2012


The press loves drama and hates a front-runner. So guess who they are rooting for.


Some excerpts :

And while the media dynamic may not be enough to keep Romney from the nomination, the sentiments underlying it will bedevil him mercilessly in the fall should he face off with Barack Obama.

The idea that the mainstream press has an institutional rooting interest that favors Gingrich over Romney seems obvious enough to me. On TV on the night of the South Carolina primary, I remarked that the former’s victory meant he would “get so much free media attention over the next few days, it is going to be wall-to-wall Gingrich”; that the media “want this race to go on, and so he is gonna … get more attention and in some ways more favorable coverage … than he would ordinarily from people who would normally give him tougher scrutiny.”

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A bias that favors sensationalism is a bias that by definition favors Gingrich, who is sensational in every sense of the word. The kind way of describing this is to say that Newt is recognizably human: He is, as BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith puts it, “a flawed, interesting man with a story that includes success and failure.” A more colorful way is offered by the National Review’s Jim Geraghty: “He’s Rex Ryan, with an enormous ‘Can you believe what this guy said?’ factor in every appearance.” Or, perhaps even more apt, Gingrich is a candidate forever on the verge of spontaneous human combustion—and what reporter in his right mind would want to drive a guy like that out of the race any sooner than necessary?

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The suspicion of Romney is even deeper than that, however. Ever since his run in 2008, when his contortions on various issues earned him his reputation as an inveterate flip-flopper, the members of the ­media—and his rivals, then and ­today—have regarded him as a phony, his candidacy based on, as Smith puts it, “some ­really brittle half-truths about his consistency.” But now there is a creeping sense that he may be something worse; that on a range of issues, notably his finances, Romney is making claims that may be less than fully truthful. This perception may or may not be fair, but trust me, it is ­growing—and problematic. Much as the press enjoys poking at phoniness, it absolutely relishes demolishing a liar.

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