If there's a worse time to drop a nuclear-powered campaign gaffe than the week between Christmas and New Year's less than a month before the primaries begin, I don't know when it is. Many people are off work, sitting around watching TV, talking about world events with relatives and otherwise tuning into the news with a focus and attention they usually don't have time for. Meanwhile, the news is usually pretty slow this time of year so any gaffe is going to get outsized attention because the media is desperate for campaign stories that aren't dull as dishwater. Something that might be one little item in a crowded news cycle becomes The Major Story and a campaign is pushed back on its heels.
If you're one of those who tuned in over the past 36 hours, you've heard about former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley's massive gaffe in New Hampshire on Wednesday when she was asked a very simple question at a town hall meeting: "What was the cause of the United States Civil War?" That's not a trick question or a gotcha. The answer is very simple: "slavery." But what Haley said was absolute gobbledygook:
