Gingrich : "I think the president did exactly the right thing,"

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/react082198.htm

Tough Response Appeals to Clinton Critics

By Guy Gugliotta and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, August 21, 1998; Page A17

President Clinton won warm support for ordering anti-terrorist bombing attacks in Afghanistan and Sudan yesterday from many of the same lawmakers who have criticized him harshly as a leader critically weakened by poor judgment and reckless behavior in the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal.

...

But most lawmakers from both parties were quick to rally behind Clinton in a deluge of public statements and appearances yesterday, a marked contrast to the relatively sparse and chilly reception that greeted his Monday statement on the Lewinsky matter.

"I think the president did exactly the right thing," House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said of the bombing attacks. "By doing this we're sending the signal there are no sanctuaries for terrorists."

Gingrich said he was told "very precise details" of the attack before it occurred, and praised Clinton's aides for being "sensitive to making sure we were not blindsided in this." Other congressional leaders, several of whom were on vacation or difficult to locate, said the White House had made an effort to notify them before the attacks.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) called the attacks "appropriate and just," and House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.) said "the American people stand united in the face of terrorism."

[JHB]

1. A flip-flopper, eh? n/t

[Sammy Pepys]

2. hehe....

I was browsing through GD, saw this, and thought he was talking about GWB. I was thinking "What's so groundbreaking about that?"

[originalpckelly]

3. Of course we only need to look lower in the article to find...

the comments by the moonbats about wagging the dog.

[wtmusic]

4. Great find. This needs to be thrown in a few faces

at the appropriate moment...

[progressoid]

5. Ya, I bet Fox will be interviewing Gingrich, Armey, etc any day now...

NOT!

[insane_cratic_gal]

6. He's a nut bag

Heres another one.. you can feel the desperation in his tone

If Democrats don't drop this debate, he said, their chances of winning back Congress in November are slim.
"I think their chances are much less today than they were a month ago," Gingrich said

To that I say to the Dems keep fighting, because they expect you to roll over and play dead.


http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2496755&page=1

In this ABC article he calls Clinton's anger a premeditate response.

[truckin]

7. Doesn't this undermine what Clinton said to Wallace about the

Repubs that are criticizing him now for not doing enough when he was president who were against the strikes he ordered in 1998 because they accused him of a Wag the Dog scenario?

[Scriptor Ignotus]

8. read the article

before posting. :toast:


But Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), one of Clinton's severest critics earlier in the week, said, "There's an obvious issue that will be raised internationally as to whether there is any diversionary motivation." Sen. John D. Ashcroft (R-Mo.), a possible presidential candidate in 2000, noted "there is a cloud over this presidency."

And Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), who called on Clinton to resign after his speech Monday, said: "The president has been consumed with matters regarding his personal life. It raises questions about whether or not he had the time to devote to this issue, or give the kind of judgment that needed to be given to this issue to call for military action."

Told of these criticisms, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, branded them "preposterous," and noted that Osama bin Laden, suspected of bankrolling the installations that were bombed, "is one bad mother."