Of course Clinton would think Gingrich’s factual statements were not “helpful,” even if she knows they were true. Her entire career as Secretary of State, after all, is built upon fantasy-based policymaking: pretending, as matters of policy, that Islam is a Religion of Peace, that Pakistan is our ally, that Iran is no threat, etc.
“Clinton slams Gingrich comments on Palestinians,” from Reuters, December 14 (thanks to Wimpy):
WASHINGTON – Newt Gingrich’s comment that the Palestinians are an “invented people” was unhelpful, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, saying the Republican presidential candidate had realized this.
Gingrich, a former speaker of the US House of Representatives, stirred controversy on Friday when told the Jewish Channel cable television broadcaster he saw the Palestinians as an invented people who want to destroy Israel.
“Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire” until the early 20th century, Gingrich said in the interview.
“I think that we’ve had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs and who were historically part of the Arab community. And they had a chance to go many places and for a variety of political reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and it’s tragic,” he said.
Asked by PBS Newshour Executive Editor Jim Lehrer at an event on economic innovation whether Gingrich’s comment about the Palestinians being an “invented people” was helpful, Clinton replied: “No.”
“I think he recognized that, from what I read,” she added, speaking at an event on Innovation and the Global Marketplace. “I think he realized that was, you know, one of those innovative moments that happen.”
Huh? Does she mean that the invention of the Palestinian nationality was an “innovative moment”?