Good for Wolf Blitzer

We talked the other day about asking a debate question, but not really being prepared to ask it. Newt Gingrich has repeatedly hidden behind a veil of Republican unity when it was to his advantage, while pulling out daggers when it wasn't. I don't begrudge him that. He's running a campaign to be president of the United States. That's his interest. In a debate setting, the interest of reporters (among others) is to make candidates defend their statements in detail.

Often those two interests collide. That's a feature, not a bug. It was good to see Wolf Blitzer--even with the crowd turning on him--lean into that collision a bit last night. The ref isn't there to make sure the crowd cheers for him, or to make sure the combatants "approve" of him.