South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour followed an appearance by Newt Gingrich on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer Sunday Morning and the pair provided a few headlines with both hinting at potentially supporting Speaker Gingrich but stopping short of an outright endorsement. To be fair to all parties to the conversation; Graham and Barbour are both well-entrenched GOP establishment types, and there are very few in that circle that Gingrich has not crossed a time or two or twelve along the way. What I’m saying here is this may be the closest thing to an endorsement Newt may ever get from either of these men.
Senator Graham: ”The debate Monday night in Myrtle Beach was probably the best explanation for conservatism – in a bold fashion coming from Newt Gingrich – was the best I’ve heard in decades.”
“Newt Gingrich has changed a lot – in a positive way.”
“Newt’s putting on the table – today – real solutions that he wouldn’t have put on the table back in ’94. That kind of maturing of thought is going to help the Party and help him.”
Governor Barbour: ”Ours is a very diverse party.”
“As Bill Buckley used to say years ago, we want the most conservative person who can win in November. And Newt was helped by the fact that some people who didn’t think he could win three months ago have come to that conclusion.”
“Obama can’t run on his record. He’s gonna make the republican – whoever it is – somebody his grand momma wouldn’t recognize or vote for.”
