In an effort by both politicians to move toward the center, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Newt Gingrich have seemingly become best buds.
From the WaPo
Midway through his breakfast panel at the National Press Club yesterday, Newt Gingrich said, by way of aside, “I risk sounding not quite as right-wing as I should to fit the billing.”
Now, where would he get that idea? Maybe it was because he, architect of the 1994 Republican Revolution, was sitting down with the right’s bete noire , Hillary Rodham Clinton. Possibly it was because they were agreeing on health care proposals. And it almost certainly had something to do with Gingrich saying things like “Senator Clinton is exactly right” and “I think everything she just said I agree with” and “Hillary is so correct in the direction she laid out.”
How ironic that Newt chooses to agree with Clinton on health care now, when he used it as a cudgel against the Clintons back in 1993-94. It was the health care debacle that helped Newt grab the Congress. Yet Newt now has the audacity to suggest that we are seeing the end of a 40 year “cycle of bitterness,” a bitterness he himself helped foment.
Though this joint appearance focused on health care…
both gave hints of something deeper. She mentioned businesses that “Newt and I have talked with.” He let slip that national security is “something Senator Clinton and I also work on.” Breaux called their discussion “civil,” but the pair couldn’t have been more cuddly if they had been sharing an ice cream soda.
The article makes it clear that Hillary made the first overture to Gingrich. While her motivation seems to clearly be to position herself as a moderate for a run at the presidency in ’08, Newt’s motivation is less clear. But we should pay attention, because he is saying things we may be able to use against the wingnuts:
Gingrich, out of elected office, was free to depart from his anti-government roots. With Clinton nodding in support, he came out in favor of mandatory daily physical education, healthful food in schools and a “transfer of finances” from rich to poor. Some of this,” Gingrich said after a long list of concessions to the left, “may surprise you.”
What? A “transfer of finances from rich to poor?!” Is Newt advocating class warfare?! Of course not… he is talking about saving America’s standard of living for all. And I love it!
At the end of the article, I was left liking Newt a bit more, and distrusting Hillary a bit more. What do you think?
