Now this is the Newt Gingrich we were promised last week in Iowa — the one who promised not to go negative on his Republican opponents even as they dumped millions in negative advertising on the airwaves in Iowa against him.
After Thursday’s relatively mild final Republican presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses, Gingrich was all smiles in a spin room interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity.
Gingrich had nice things to say about every one of his opponents, save for Michele Bachmann — who made going after Gingrich her goal Thursday and whom Gingrich didn’t mention.
About Ron Paul, who’s been blanketing Iowa with highly critical attack ads and rhetoric, Gingrich said, “you just can’t not like Ron Paul.”
But the biggest Gingrich praise was left for Mitt Romney, who has been going at Gingrich hammer and tongs recently. Gingrich again apologized for calling out Romney’s political past in the last debate and then added a new apology for attacking Romney’s time at Bain Capital.
“There was a very brief moment where, frankly, he got under my skin,” Gingrich told Hannity. “And I frankly responded in a way that made no sense and doesn’t fit my values and I made reference to Bain. I’ve said publicly that I think he’s a good manager, he’s a good businessman.”
“He got that round,” Gingrich said, saying that after the exchange over Bain he “spent a day thinking it through” and decided to return to a “relentlessly positive” approach.
