Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) is chiming in on the recent controversies involving a fellow potential presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, with some mild (but still quite clear) criticism — that while he does respect her, she should watch what she says.
In an appearance on Good Morning America, Gingrich was asked by George Stephanopoulos about Palin’s low approval ratings in recent opinion polls, and how she might turn it around. The recent “blood libel” flap involving Palin’s response to accusations that her heated political rhetoric had contributed to the environment in which the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) occurred, was not directly mentioned, but it did seem to hang over the conversation.
“Well, I think that she’s got to slow down and be a lot more careful, and think through what she’s saying and how she’s saying it,” Gingrich responded. “There’s no question that she’s become more controversial. But she is still a phenomenon. I don’t know anybody else in American politics who can put something on Twitter, or put something on Facebook, and automatically have it become a national story. So she remains, I think, a very formidable person in her own right.”
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Meet The 2012 GOPers: Ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)]
The key moment comes at about the 3:55 mark:
