Former Alaska Republican Governor Sarah Palin again came to the aid of Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Friday, asking the “Republican establishment” to stop their “Stalin-esque” attacks on the former House speaker.
The former vice presidential candidate also supported Mr. Gingrich while he was on the campaign trail in South Carolina, and many popular Republican figures and public officials were criticizing his attacks on rival Mitt Romney’s career with Bain Capital. Several Republican members of Congress characterized his criticism of Mr. Romney as attacks on “free enterprise.”
Ms. Palin wrote a lengthy post on her Facebook account Friday accusing Republicans of using liberal attacks against Mr. Gingrich.
Her post was likely a reply to the outburst of Republican criticism that occurred a day earlier.
On Thursday, Ann Coulter, Drudge Report, National Review and American Spectator published scathing articles attacking Mr. Gingrich primarily for his record as speaker of the House in the 1990s.
Additionally on Thursday, former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole released an open letter on Mr. Romney’s website attacking Mr. Gingrich for his record as speaker. Mr. Dole’s letter blamed Mr. Gingrich for causing him to lose the 1996 presidential election against Bill Clinton, and gave other details of his personal interactions with Mr. Gingrich during his tenure as speaker.
On Friday, Ms. Palin seemingly had enough, she feels the aforementioned Republicans had violated former President Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” She also accused Republicans of attacking Mr. Gingrich the same way Mr. Reagan was the victim of infighting in the 1970s.
“What we saw with this ridiculous opposition dump on Newt was nothing short of Stalin-esque rewriting of history,” wrote Ms. Palin. “But this whole thing isn’t really about Newt Gingrich vs. Mitt Romney. It is about the GOP establishment vs. the Tea Party grassroots and independent Americans who are sick of the politics of personal destruction used now by both parties’ operatives with a complicit media egging it on.”
The heated debates and comments in interviews by Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich throughout the Republican primary race have drawn similar criticism from other popular Republicans. Although, others have called it typical of a primary race, and even compared it to the heated Democratic primary election that occurred in 2008 between President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton who were both running for the Democratic nomination at the time.
Ms. Palin still has not offered an official endorsement of Mr. Gingrich or any of the remaining Republican candidates, but she has repeatedly come to his defense. The former Alaska governor believes that a longer Republican primary race is beneficial too, because it allows for the candidates to be “vetted,” something she believes did not happen to Mr. Obama in 2008.
Although she did not call out any of the “Republican establishment” figures by name, her Facebook post on Friday certainly seemed to be aimed at the “characters” who voiced their opinion of Mr. Gingrich a day earlier.
“Many of these same characters sat on their thumbs in ‘08 and let Obama escape unvetted,” wrote Ms. Palin. “Oddly, they’re now using every available microscope and endoscope – along with rewriting history – in attempts to character assassinate anyone challenging their chosen one in their own party’s primary. So, one must ask, who are they really running against?”
The most recent polls of likely Florida Republican primary voters show Mr. Gingrich trailing Mr. Romney with the Tuesday Florida Republican primary election looming. Ms. Palin’s support has not seemed to have any effect on voters in Florida, though it will be interesting to see if she has any influence on voters as the candidates move on to the upcoming elections and caucuses.
