Roger Simon of Politico Sneers at 'Dangerous' 'Blood Lust' of South Carolina Audience

January 17th, 2012 6:12 PM

This is what they think of you, South Carolina. Roger Simon, Politico's top columnist, smeared the audience of Monday night's GOP debate, warning of a "kind of blood lust in the air" after the crowd booed a question of Juan Williams, an African American.

Appearing on Tuesday's "Hardball," Simon sneered  at "that audience, with that kind of blood lust in the air, an audience that was way over the line, way over the top." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] He added that Gingrich was "playing a dangerous game by playing to the audience and baiting people and appealing to their worst instincts, instead of their better instincts." Chris Matthews piled on, insisting there was a "Birth of a Nation" aspect to the audience after a Rick Perry comment.

Republican strategist Ron Christie appeared to deride Simon's original point, that Newt Gingrich's response to a Juan Williams question could be seen as racist.

Christie attacked, "Just because Juan happened to be black, I don't think that the speaker was trying to bait him or bait the audience based on the color of Juan Williams' skin. I just entirely dismiss that."

Is there any wonder why people don't trust the so-called mainstream media?

To read a version of this article with a transcript of the exchanges, go here.