Gingrich on Gingrich
September 14, 2007 at 10:29 am by Scott Freeman in NewsNewt Gingrich is back, talking about a run for the presidency again. Here’s the strange thing: Some of what he says makes sense. And when Newt Gingrich becomes the voice of reason, it’s really time to get worried about things.
The part-time Georgian who left Congress in disgrace and went after President Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky incident — even as he himself was having an affair — is back and still making noise about running for president. Gingrich tells the National Journal:
“The most tempting thought about running next year is the idea of debating Senator Clinton. That would be fun. … She is actually much more centrist than MoveOn.org. She is much tougher on military affairs than [her party’s] Left. She is more rational, and I have very great respect for her as a hardworking professional. No Republican should think she is going to be easy to beat.”
He also throws a bomb at the Republican Party for not separating itself from the failed presidency of George W. Bush:
“I think [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy said it very well when he said of the Chirac administration, ‘We need a clean break.’ There is no excuse for not controlling the border. There is no excuse for New Orleans being the mess it is. I think we ought to say these things are not right. … There is nobody out there prepared to say, on the Democratic side, “If we don’t win in Iraq, here’s how big the mess is going to be,” with the exception of Joe Lieberman. There is nobody out there on the Republican side who is prepared to say, ‘You know, we are going to have to do it differently.’ I mean, ‘Stay the course’ is not a rational option.”
Will Newt run? Don’t be surprised.
Will Newt win? No. He’ll be the right’s version of Ralph Nader.
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September 14th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
There are times (like these) when Newt makes a LOT of sense. And then there’s the rest of time, in which he scares the daylights out me. That would be most of the time.