Posted on 09/30/2007 1:35:29 PM PDT by dano1
Former President Bill Clinton and his one-time adversary former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have found something to agree on. They both said Sunday that they view Mike Huckabee as the most likely Republican dark horse candidate for the GOP nomination.
“I think Huckabee is very effective, and if Huckabee can find money, he will be dramatically competitive almost overnight,” Gingrich said. “He’s probably the best performer in terms of giving speeches and being appealing…”
Gingrich, who announced Saturday that he would not seek the presidency in 2008, heaped more praise on Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.
“I mean, there’s something about him that is just - you just have to like Mike,” Gingrich said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” adding that Huckabee would become “instantly competitive” if given the funds to succeed.
Bill Clinton, who also appeared on the show, said Huckabee is the only GOP “dark horse that’s got any kind of chance.”
Gingrich, who said that there is an 80 percent chance that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) would be the next president, said that her Republican opponent would only be able to beat her on the issues and not by attacking her.
“I think trying to beat Senator Clinton personally is just insane,” the former speaker said. “Everybody in America who’s ever going to vote against Senator Clinton knows everything that anyone’s going to tell them. And everybody in America who’s going to vote for her knows everything you could possible tell them. This is over.”
Bill Clinton defended his wife, saying that she can bring the country together. He repeated his claim that voters will like Sen. Clinton if they are given a chance to get to know her.
The former president also handicapped the GOP race, saying that the outcome depends on whether former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani can hold on to his lead once other candidates begin attacking him.
Clinton also said that “you can’t rule out is John McCain making a comeback with no money.”
Two has-beens with nothing to say, IMHO.
True enough, but both know politics. I wonder where Clinton is coming from in saying this?
Huckabee is a nice man but his support of the nanny-state and big-government policies under the guise of faith will drive off libertarian and swing voters in the general.
Neither Democrats nor GOP establishment want Thompson.
...except good things about Hillary. :(
If he told me the sun was shining I would reflexively look at the sky to check.
The only thing of note here is that they are both studiously ignoring Fred, and that does mean something.
My cat has about as good a chance at getting the GOP voters to pull the lever as Huckabee.
I don’t know what Newt is up to, but I’m not interested in anything he has to say. Nothing.
Maybe so.
According to my elders, they didn't want Reagan either.
Right, Newt. pro amnesty, pro big government and anti war. Nice to see newt is really trying to help grow conservatism here...
There's something wrong with that boy. He said basically the same thing about clinton, even while clinton was handing him his head.
Imagine that.
A candidate that hasn’t “kissed the ring” of the GOP establishment that could have populist appeal from Reagan Democrats isn’t desired by either team.
I know some conservatives still like Newt, but I don’t and never did. not only is he promoting someone that is a G.W.B. clone on government use and amnesty, but he’s worse on the war. in his free time he’s hanging out with Hillary, Al Gore, and agreeing with Bill Clinton.
Screw the establishment choices. I’m going for Thompson and they can stuff it.
Clinton likes to sound nonpartisan and reasonable when there's nothing riding on it. One way to do that is to agree with whoever is holding forth. Probably why Gingrich likes him so much.
Are Bill and Newt hustling the same whores?
Huckabee is for open borders and supports illegals. I will never vote for him.
Build up a candidate who can't possibly win, Clintoon tries to split the conservative vote while Newt is brain dead at this point.
Hey Newt, how about backing a conservative who can actually win?
Unlike you.
New odd couple: Hillary Clinton and Newt Gingrich
By Raymond Hernandez
Published: SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2005
WASHINGTON: What do Newt Gingrich and Hillary Rodham Clinton want from each other?
In the 1990s, these two rivals stood on nearly opposite ends of the political spectrum, with him leading the assault on the Clinton presidency and helping derail the ambitious health care plan she championed.
But oddly enough, something has changed since then, and it has people talking.
Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, has been working alongside the wife of former President Bill Clinton, now a Democratic senator from New York, on a number of issues, and even appeared with her at a press conference on Wednesday to promote - of all things - health care legislation.
But more puzzling than that, Gingrich has been talking up Clinton’s presidential prospects in 2008, to the chagrin of conservative loyalists who once regarded him as an iconic figure. Last month, he even suggested she might capture the presidency, saying “any Republican who thinks she’s going to be easy to beat has a total amnesia about the history of the Clintons.”
What gives? For Clinton, standing side-by-side with her husband’s onetime nemesis gives her the chance to burnish her credentials among the moderates she has been courting during her time in the Senate.
But in recent comments, she portrayed the rapprochement as one born of shared policy interests, not calculated politics.
“I know it’s a bit of an odd-fellow, or odd-woman, mix,” she said. “But the speaker and I have been talking about health care and national security now for several years, and I find that he and I have a lot in common in the way we see the problem.”
For his part, Gingrich, who helped lead the impeachment fight against the former president, called the senator “very practical” and “very smart and very hard-working,” adding, “I have been very struck working with her.”
(snip)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/13/news/clinton.php
At the rate Mike Huckabee has been flipflopping on some issues, he might be the choice the Clintons would like.
Huckabee has apparently seen the light and supports closing the borders. This is now. When he was governor, he gave a speech before a predominately Hispanic group in support of open borders. That was then.
His record on taxes is a mixture of raising and reducing.
Add that to his wanting to control peoples’ personal lives with his nanny state proposals, he doesn’t seem to be candidate of preference.
One of his latest ideas is to ban smoking nationwide.
A dark horse Huckabee? I just don’t see it. He reminds me of Gomer Pyle and while that character is likable it is one not likely to go to Washington as President. I may be wrong but he is going to have to show a bit more than he has so far to convince me he is a dark horse.
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