From this Monday night's live version of Sean Hannity's show immediately following the Fox South Carolina primary debate, pollster Frank Luntz had nothing but praise for Newt Gingrich and his racist dog whistles. As Karoli already noted, Gingrich knew the audience he was dealing with and so does Frank Luntz. It's just a bit jarring to hear such blatant race baiting praised out loud because of the applause it got rather than what should be an appropriate reaction, which is disgust that we've still got a party that's so openly willing to use racial resentments to win elections.

Lee Atwater and his Southern Strategy are sadly still very much alive and well both within the Republican Party and at Fox News for that matter, and Luntz and Hannity couldn't be happier because of it.