Charlie Rose sparred again with Newt Gingrich on Tuesday's CBS This Morning, hounding the former House Speaker for apparently casting aspersions on President Obama's patriotism: "By saying...that the President of the United States is running over the Constitution...you seem to be saying that the President is not patriotic. You seem to be questioning [his] patriotism" [audio available here; video below the jump].
During his two previous interviews of Gingrich on the morning newscast, Rose threw the race card at the Republican for a supposedly insensitive remark about food stamps, and hammered him over prominent conservatives opposing his presidential campaign. The anchor also highlighted how apparently "there are those who say that you [Gingrich] are angry and you want to get even with Romney."
Gingrich answered Rose's "patriotism" barrage by accusing the President and his administration of acting in an unconstitutional manner in four areas. Only two have been visible issues in the media since Obama was inaugurated:
GINGRICH: The President of the United States is patriotic in a worldview that involves the writing of Saul Alinsky, and involves a radical reinterpretation. Clearly, his czars were unconstitutional; clearly, his recess appointments, when there was no recess, is unconstitutional; clearly, the use of the U.S. attorney in North Dakota to selectively prosecute oil companies over eight migratory birds is unconstitutional. Again and again, this is a president who routinely only obeys those laws he personally deems fit. I think that his attack on the Catholic Church is unconstitutional. It's a violation of the First Amendment. Now, I think that's an important debate for us to have as a country.
Earlier in the segment, the CBS journalist prodded Gingrich over his criticism of the President's national security policy, name-dropping two prominent Cabinet members who supposedly unassailable in that area:
ROSE: ...[W]hat did you mean when you said it's a duty to defeat President Obama because of America's national security, because one would assume that if, in fact, President Obama was a risk to America's national security, that people like Bob Gates and Secretary [Hillary] Clinton and lots of other people would not have been serving in that administration?
The GOP candidate cited two examples that also haven't gotten much press in his answer:
GINGRICH: Unless they agree with his worldview- I mean, ask Secretary Clinton, why would she hold a meeting with the Organization of Islamic Countries at the State Department to talk about censoring anti-Islamic talk? Why is it that when a Moroccan man is picked up as he's trying to bomb the U.S. Capitol, the Obama administration can't even accurately describe him? It's against the rules of the federal government today to talk accurately about radical Islam.
The CBS anchor seems to have a tough time with any criticism of the President. Just under a month earlier, on the January 26 edition of CBS This Morning, Rose took issue with Senator Marco Rubio labeling the Democrat "divisive." When the Florida senator tried to highlight Mr. Obama's State of the Union as an example, the on-air personality interrupted and replied, "I saw him honoring the military of America and a lot other things where we should be coming together. That doesn't seem to be divisive."
The full transcript of Charlie Rose's interview of Newt Gingrich, which began seven minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour of Tuesday's CBS This Morning, is available at MRC.org.
