Bill Clinton Praises Newt Gingrich’s Presidential Run: ‘He’s Being Rewarded For Thinking’

Frances MartelNov 27th, 2011, 11:27 am

“He’s being rewarded for thinking,” said former President Bill Clinton of Newt Gingrich in an interview with Newsmax yesterday. The former President, for whom Gingrich was a longtime thorn in the side as Speaker of the House, gave an interview for his upcoming book to the conservative publication, the full content of which will be released tonight. The excerpt on Gingrich was released last night, however, and Clinton praised Gingrich by suggesting his message appeals to independents.

Clinton noted that Gingrich’s rise had nothing to do with “any traditional charisma,” but with the fact that Gingrich was “articulate and he tries to think of a conservative version of an idea that will solve a legitimate problem.” His answer to the immigration question at the last debate, for example, impressed Clinton. He explained in the interview:

“He said, ‘OK, I don’t want to legitimize immigrants who came here undocumented, illegally.’ On the other hand, a lot of those people have been here for years, they worked hard, they paid taxes, they’ve got kids in the schools, they’re not criminals, we’re going to have a hard time sending them all home, there’s millions of them. So, I’d like to have a process where they could be here legally but not have a path to citizenship. That sort of splits the difference between the immigration reforms proposed by President Bush and President Obama, which would give a path to citizenship, and would be a version of what President Reagan did.”

“I think he’s doing well just because he’s thinking, and people are hungry for ideas that make some sense,” Clinton concluded, though he did note that he considered Mitt Romney to come across as “strong and forceful and knowledgeable,” but gave Gingrich a serious shot at the nomination.

The rest of the interview will be published tonight; the Gingrich comments are available on video here.