After so many years of being bashed by Republicans, Hillary sought to find a centrist middle ground in the Senate. The junior Senator reached out across the aisle to many Republicans to work on legislation. One of those Republicans was Newt Gingrich. You might even remember the two of them teaming up to work on health care. This was only a few short years after he helped lead a charge to smear the then First Lady's failed bid to provide Universal Health Care shortly after Bill became President.
So what does Newt do after she reached out to him and other Republicans to build a consensus?
Well Newt certainly had some nice words for Hillary and the Clintons in general. This came from the New York Post this morning:
March 1, 2007 -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich yesterday called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton "a nasty woman" who runs an "endlessly ruthless" campaign machine.
The conservative Republican made the surprising comments - after months of taking care not to trash the Democratic presidential front-runner - in a wide-ranging New York Post editorial-board interview.
Asked whether Americans are ready to elect Rudy Giuliani - a leader, the questioner noted, whom Ed Koch had called a "nasty man" - Gingrich shot back, "As opposed to a nasty woman?"
Oooooh, a nasty woman. That is quite the intellectual commentary coming from a man with a history of nastiness. Anything else to add Newt?
"Nobody will out-mud the Clintons," said Gingrich, who added that he'll decide in the coming months whether to run for the White House.
He called Clinton's political team one of the most "talented" in U.S. history, but "endlessly ruthless."
"You can't beat them tactically . . . They're too relentless, they're too well-organized, they have too big a machine and they'll just grind you down," he said.
"If they think [Obama] is a real threat, they'll just grind him up."
Ouch! Ground-up Obama? That sounds painful. Seriously though, for someone would only run for President next year on the most remote of chances, why bother making harsh commentary like that? Why would the liberal bashing NY Post want to interview him? Perhaps he is trying to look like a tough guy with all the doubt surrounding Giuliani and McCain.
I think that Newt is seriously underestimating Barack Obama and the un-mentioned John Edwards. The nasty backbiting campaign tricks from years past are wearing thin on voters. Now would be a great time for candidates such as Obama and Edwards to rise above this type of viciousness and show the American public that politicians can rise above the mud-slinging.
Newt has no business in the Democratic primary and he should really stick to his own side. Hillary can sling mud all she wants, but when it comes down to it Democratic voters are going to see her stance on the war and weigh their decision heavily on that, not what Gingrich says about her.
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