Gingrich Can Support a Liar in the White House as Long as He's Not Obama

CBS News
Dino Grandoni 1,581 Views Jan 3, 2012

Ahead of today's caucuses in Iowa, Newt Gingrich woke up early to do some heavy Mitt Romney bashing only to go on to say that he'd still vote for him in a head-to-head matchup with President Obama. CBS's Norah O'Donnell and Bob Schieffer tag-teamed an interview with Gingrich on The Early Show, pressing him on his recent criticisms of Mitt Romney. Over the weekend, he took a swipe at Romney by suggesting that he's a liar, reports ABC News. "Here is my simple tag line. Somebody who will lie to you to get to be president will lie to you when they are president," he said Sunday. So O'Donnell was compelled to definitely ask Gingrich, "Are you calling Mitt Romney a liar?"

"Yes," Gingrich responded exasperatedly, reiterating his claims that Romney lied in his negative ads against him and lied about his relationship with his Super PAC. Schieffer jumped in with the obvious follow-up a few minutes later, "Do you think you could find a way to support [Romney]" if he won the nomination. "Sure. I would support a Republican candidate against Barack Obama because I think Barack Obama is tearing the country apart," going on to say that "he would be much less destructive than Barack Obama." That last answer sent O'Donnell and Schieffer chuckling. But while Gingrich's potential support of someone he thinks is a liar is funny, the reporters both been in politics long enough to know that that's the way it works: party rivals bashing each other during the primary only to sing kumbaya during the general election. It's something, of course, we saw in 2008 with Obama and Hillary Clinton, now his Secretary of State. But one thing we learned about Gingrich today: apparently in his eyes being a libertarian is worse than being a liar, as he's said he'd never ever vote for Ron Paul.

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