Newt Gingrich

I’m not sure what the record is for the most backhanded compliment of all time, but a nominee for recent winner in that category might be this one, from Newt Gingrich, in which he “compliments” President Obama by comparing him to Hillary Clinton.

Here’s the quote, reported by Alan Rappeport of  the New York Times’ tipsheet First Draft:

Republicans rarely have nice things to say about Mr. Obama, especially those who once wanted to take his job. But Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who sought the White House in 2012, gave Mr. Obama a backhanded compliment on Tuesday. He said Mrs. Clinton would be a downgrade if she replaced him.

“I think in the end, while Obama is a radical, and I obviously think he is very dangerous on foreign policy because he is so incompetent, he is not venal and he doesn’t corrupt the entire system,” Mr. Gingrich said in an interview with First Draft. “Having the Clintons back in the White House would be like having a very bad mayor running a very corrupt city.”

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11 Comments

  1. Heh

    I’d pay money to see Newt debate either one of those two.

    Part of Newt’s problem with the Clintons is that Bill goes around taking credit for things like balanced budgets and welfare reform when those things came about by Bill Clinton signing Newt Gingrich’s legislation.

    My favorite Newt debate moment:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLQebqVQKcc

    1. Newt on Judicial Tyranny

      Newt would probably find people on the “left” who agree with his assessment of overreach of judicial power but not for attacking the “core base of American exceptionalism” or for affirming the separation of church and state.

      Newt pretends to be a scholar as if he knows what the Federalist Papers state. Federalist paper No. 78 stands for just what Newt is complaining about: the power of judicial review.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_No._78

      Apparently people on the right still find Marbury v. Madison controversial. No wonder this country is so stuck. Millions of its citizens remain in mental bondage to the 18th century. Newt is one of them.

  2. Gingrich who?

    It is the type of comment my Great Uncle Fred would come up with some time ago, but as my dear dead father once said on Fred’s politics…”He won’t do anybody any harm as long as he never runs for public office”

    Do No Harm:
    May Gingrich never one again for public office.

  4. Let’s hear it for Newt!

    The man who shut down the government because he didn’t get to ride in the front seat of Air Force One has a lot of nerve calling any President “incompetent.”

  5. The Dems have a problem – and they know it.

    Way down deep these DFL types are scared to death of H.C.

    What will happen to half the content on MinnPost complaining about the “big money” in politics and the need for “transparence” and then say “Vote for Hilary”?

    1. Some of us can count

      We can compare the money the Clinton’s have with what the Bush Combine raised and the Koch brothers have pledged.

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