House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio.) has certainly been more concerned with payroll tax cut extensions, unemployment benefits, Medicare cuts and the Keystone XL Pipeline project in recent weeks than he has the 2012 Republican presidential primary race.
However, on Wednesday in an interview with Politico, the House speaker discussed his thoughts on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, noting what he thinks it will take to win the presidential election in 2012.
Speaking Wednesday, Mr. Boehner noted that he thinks highly of Mr. Gingrich, saying that he’s had many conversations with him recently. The Ohio Republican also noted that the two remain good friends, and that Mr. Boehner actually assisted Mr. Gingrich in getting elected House speaker in the 1990s.
“I’d have a hard time finding someone that I felt was more intelligent, smarter than Newt Gingrich,” the Ohio Republican said Wednesday. ”I’ve never seen a guy who could think outside the box as well as he can. He’s a big thinker, but you know like all big thinkers they’ve got some great ideas, then they have some other ideas.”
The House speaker has avoided commenting on the Republican presidential primary race throughout the year, repeatedly stating that the Republican Party has several great candidates and that he would support whoever ultimately wins the nomination.
Mr. Boehner was also asked about Mr. Gingrich’s time as the House speaker during the 1990s, and the rumor that he was a part of the group of lawmakers that attempted a coordinated overthrow to remove him from the House.
“There were conversations that I overheard, there were conversations that I was told about,” Mr. Boehner said. ”It was certainly interesting how this just became fact a long time ago, I never participated in any attempt to overthrow the speaker of the House, not once.”
He was confident regarding the Republicans chances of defeating President Barack Obama in 2012 too, predicting that the president would lose his swing state of Ohio if the election were held today.
“I just think that he’s got to go out and defend his record with regard to the economy. He can’t blame anybody else. He can’t blame George Bush,” Mr. Boehner stated.
