Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that Hillary Clinton would not be defeated in 2016 due to any revelations about Benghazi, calling focus on Benghazi “nitpicking smaller issues.”
Gingrich stated:
I think any Republican strategy which tries to nibble at Hillary Clinton is hopeless. She has been in public life for 40 years. She was a McGovern field person in 1972. I mean, the idea that suddenly we’re going to learn something new about Hillary Clinton … In fact, she’s a lot like Nixon in her capacity to survive forever. So she’s a fact. I think if she gets beaten, she’s going to get beaten because ObamaCare keeps decaying. She’s going to get beaten because we’re losing the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. She’s going to get beaten because there are big decisions and she’s caught between loyalty to a president whose base is still loyal and the country. Now, if that happens, she’ll lose. But we’re never going to beat her on nitpicking smaller issues.
Gingrich’s terminology is sure to upset many conservatives who believe that Clinton has never been held responsible for her fundamental duty to protect State Department employees including those who were killed in Benghazi. Clinton’s personal popularity in polling has tanked over the course of 2013, despite widespread belief that she is the inevitable nominee for the Democrats in 2016.