Inside the North Charleston Coliseum, an enthusiast crowd of white Republicans cheer and jeer a dwindling lineup of white guys at CNN's Thursday night debate, while inside the press room, a crowd of white journalists stare at a huge projection screen on which the debate is being broadcast. No one is bothered by the fact that the debate is taking place elsewhere in the building, perhaps only yards away. Out of the 200-plus journos, I count three black reporters, and they are all curiously sitting toward the back of the room. If this is what the Fourth Estate looks like in this country — nearly 50 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — then the republic is doomed.
Before the debate proceedings begin, I feel a malaise hovering over the pack of reporters. Perhaps they are depressed because they realize that they are just as lily-white as the audience that they will later mock over cocktails following the debate. Perhaps it's because they have given themselves over to the Realdoll charms of nearly lifelike simulation — they are at the debate but then again they are not. Perhaps it's because they know that when the night has finally come to an end, they will return to yet another carbon-copy hotel room and carve out a few minutes to themselves watching SportsCenter or jerking off to internet porn. Make no mistake, once the debate begins, this depressed mass of hive-mind drones will try to act as if anything about any of this surprises them, and later their editors will ignore the fact their writers compose the bulk of their reports before the night's show had even begun
And while Newt Gingrich has deflected questions about scandalous claims made by his second wife, Mitt Romney has struggled to explain why he won't release his tax returns in the near future.
If Gingrich wins South Carolina, that means a different candidate will have won each of the first three primary contests -- making it hard for any of them to claim frontrunner status.
Both Romney and Gingrich are expected to attend the same late-morning campaign event on Saturday, though the campaigns did not plan it that way.
Meanwhile, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul appear to be fighting for third place in the state.
Santorum, on Fox News, disputed Gingrich's description of himself as a "Reagan conservative."
He criticized Gingrich for his past support of an individual mandate -- the requirement to buy health insurance that is at the heart of the federal health care overhaul -- and of the financial industry bailout.
Santorum argued that neither Romney nor Gingrich is what the GOP needs in a nominee.
"Mitt Romney is a moderate, someone who is timid in his tax plan, timid in his approach to cleaning up Washington and reducing the budget deficit," he said. "And Newt Gingrich is, you know, unpredictable."
"We don't need either of those things," Santorum said. He added, in reference to his trademark attire, "We need ... the guy with the sweater vest that everybody trusts."
Meanwhile, fraudulent emails were circulating the day before the primary claiming Gingrich urged his ex-wife to have an abortion -- one was a fake news report, another a fake response from the Gingrich campaign. Gingrich decried the messages, though no one has taken responsibility and it is being investigated.
Before the debate proceedings begin, I feel a malaise hovering over the pack of reporters. Perhaps they are depressed because they realize that they are just as lily-white as the audience that they will later mock over cocktails following the debate. Perhaps it's because they have given themselves over to the Realdoll charms of nearly lifelike simulation — they are at the debate but then again they are not. Perhaps it's because they know that when the night has finally come to an end, they will return to yet another carbon-copy hotel room and carve out a few minutes to themselves watching SportsCenter or jerking off to internet porn. Make no mistake, once the debate begins, this depressed mass of hive-mind drones will try to act as if anything about any of this surprises them, and later their editors will ignore the fact their writers compose the bulk of their reports before the night's show had even begun
And while Newt Gingrich has deflected questions about scandalous claims made by his second wife, Mitt Romney has struggled to explain why he won't release his tax returns in the near future.
If Gingrich wins South Carolina, that means a different candidate will have won each of the first three primary contests -- making it hard for any of them to claim frontrunner status.
Both Romney and Gingrich are expected to attend the same late-morning campaign event on Saturday, though the campaigns did not plan it that way.
Meanwhile, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul appear to be fighting for third place in the state.
Santorum, on Fox News, disputed Gingrich's description of himself as a "Reagan conservative."
He criticized Gingrich for his past support of an individual mandate -- the requirement to buy health insurance that is at the heart of the federal health care overhaul -- and of the financial industry bailout.
Santorum argued that neither Romney nor Gingrich is what the GOP needs in a nominee.
"Mitt Romney is a moderate, someone who is timid in his tax plan, timid in his approach to cleaning up Washington and reducing the budget deficit," he said. "And Newt Gingrich is, you know, unpredictable."
"We don't need either of those things," Santorum said. He added, in reference to his trademark attire, "We need ... the guy with the sweater vest that everybody trusts."
Meanwhile, fraudulent emails were circulating the day before the primary claiming Gingrich urged his ex-wife to have an abortion -- one was a fake news report, another a fake response from the Gingrich campaign. Gingrich decried the messages, though no one has taken responsibility and it is being investigated.
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