Tell Us How You Really Feel

The following article is from the New York Post. In it, Newt Gingrich rips Hillary a new one.

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NEWT RIPS 'NASTY' HILL
DROPS NICE-GUY APPROACH TO 'RUTHLESS' RIVAL
By MAGGIE HABERMAN

March 1, 2007 -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich yesterday called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton "a nasty woman" who runs an "endlessly ruthless" campaign machine.

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The conservative Republican made the surprising comments - after months of taking care not to trash the Democratic presidential front-runner - in a wide-ranging New York Post editorial-board interview.

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Asked whether Americans are ready to elect Rudy Giuliani - a leader, the questioner noted, whom Ed Koch had called a "nasty man" - Gingrich shot back, "As opposed to a nasty woman?"

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Gingrich added that he thinks she'll be the nominee, and cited the battle between Clinton's camp and Sen. Barack Obama's team last week over Obama donor David Geffen bashing the former first couple.

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"Nobody will out-mud the Clintons," said Gingrich, who added that he'll decide in the coming months whether to run for the White House.

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He called Clinton's political team one of the most "talented" in U.S. history, but "endlessly ruthless."

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"You can't beat them tactically . . . They're too relentless, they're too well-organized, they have too big a machine and they'll just grind you down," he said.

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"If they think [Obama] is a real threat, they'll just grind him up."

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Gingrich's harsh comments about Clinton were surprising because he has complimented her abilities and worked with her last year on a health-care initiative.

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Clinton campaign spokesman Blake Zeff cited several instances in the last year where Gingrich had kind words for the senator. "Before Mr. Gingrich started running for president, he repeatedly praised Sen. Clinton," Zeff said. "We take him at his word then."

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During the Post session, Gingrich also:

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Dubbed Obama a great "counterimage" to Clinton, but said he doesn't think the Illinois Democrat can win. "If the country wants therapy, they're going to elect Obama," he said.

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Said the GOP needs to nominate a Ronald Reagan-type candidate and added, "I think it's not an accident that Giuliani is running as well as he is in the polls."

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Gingrich called New York's evolution under Giuliani "a tremendous story . . . It's a different city."

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Warned that the GOP is in the "early stages of an enormous transition" and suggested electability is an issue for Republicans.

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"A normative Republican running like a traditional Republican, which means a non-Reagan Republican, and trying to beat Hillary by being negative is hopeless," he said.

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Last night, at an election forum at Cooper Union, Gingrich and former Gov. Mario Cuomo agreed on the need for more meaningful debates by the presidential candidates in 2008. Gingrich called for nine weekly 90-minutes debates between the two nominees before Election Day.

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maggie.haberman@nypost.com