Gingrich Calls Attention to ‘Fear of Government’ : Congress: He says such sentiment cannot be dismissed as ranting of fringe. Assault weapons ban still targeted.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Sunday that political leaders must take seriously the virulent anti-government sentiment spotlighted by the Oklahoma City bombing, stressing that “genuine fear” of federal power cannot be dismissed as the ranting of a radical fringe.

“There is in rural America . . . a genuine fear of the federal government and of Washington, D.C., as a place that doesn’t understand their way of life and doesn’t understand their values,” Gingrich said in a television interview. “This is not an extremist position in much of the West.”

Gingrich also defended the effort to repeal the ban on assault weapons. He said the House would hold hearings on the deadly 1993 siege near Waco, Tex., and that the promotion of Larry Potts, an FBI official who oversaw the Waco raid, might give Congress second thoughts about President Clinton’s legislation to give the FBI more anti-terrorism authority.

Gingrich’s comments come at a time when he and other Republicans are striking a tricky political balance in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing and the unflattering publicity that has been showered on right-wing anti-government groups. Gingrich has kept his distance from the violent extremes of the right. He has, for example, insisted it was “grotesque” to suggest his anti-government rhetoric had contributed to the climate that fostered violent extremism. And during Sunday’s interview, Gingrich criticized radio talk show host G. Gordon Liddy for advising listeners on how to shoot federal agents.

But Gingrich has continued to champion the same causes as these extremist groups: criticism of the Waco siege, opposition to gun control and general anti-government themes.

Gingrich made his comments as Congress heads into consideration of budget, abortion and gun control issues, which will test the ability of Republican leaders to hold together the conservative and moderate wings of their party. Some of those issues were addressed by Gingrich and his Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, in separate broadcast interviews:

* Dole signaled a new willingness to drop his threat to block a Senate vote on the nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. as surgeon general. Foster, an obstetrician-gynecologist who is the acting president of Meharry Medical College, has come under fire for initially understating the number of abortions he performed. Dole said on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation” that he now wants to talk to Foster before deciding how to handle the matter.

* Gingrich predicted that a proposal to repeal the ban on certain assault weapons would come up in the House in late fall--months after the mid-May target date set before the Oklahoma City bombing.

* Gingrich suggested that a constitutional amendment to ban abortions would be unwise right now because it might increase the number of illegal abortions. “I think this is a topic where, frankly, we have to win the argument in the country. As a society, we are pro-choice but anti-abortion.”

In his comments on anti-government activism, Gingrich denounced groups that resort to violence but backed away from a blanket condemnation of the militia movement, which may be linked to the April 19 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

“People are allowed in a free country to get together for a lot of reasons, and I don’t think you should condemn any group as a group,” he said when asked his views of the militia movement. “It may be satisfying to run around and find new groups to get mad at, but I think the message ought to be much narrower. We are opposed to violence, we condemn violence, we’re going to treat violent people as criminals.”

Gingrich said he did not support a bill, introduced by Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-Ida.), to require federal agents to get approval from local law enforcement officials before they can arrest someone or use their weapons in enforcing the law. But he said the bill “should be taken very seriously as a symptom” of the raging hostility toward the federal government.

“It’s a much deeper fear of Washington than people in Washington realize,” Gingrich said.

He said the House would hold a hearing this summer or early fall on the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff, which ended in a fire that killed cult members holed up inside the building. “I don’t think you can have 85 Americans killed and not at some point address and ask what happened and why,” Gingrich said. “I think that Waco was clearly mishandled.”

Potts’ promotion to FBI deputy director, the bureau’s No. 2 post, has been controversial because he oversaw the Branch Davidian operation and had been censured for his role in a fatal 1992 FBI raid on the Idaho home of white separatist Randy Weaver.

Gingrich said Potts’ promotion “will further slow down the terrorist legislation,” which contains law-enforcement powers that already have drawn fire from civil libertarians.

The promotion sends a signal that “watching the FBI is not illegitimate,” Gingrich said. “It does have the consequence, I think, of making members of Congress take a step back and remind them that it’s useful to have oversight.”

Dole’s comments on Foster came after a week of Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee hearings, in which the latter’s confirmation prospects improved. Dole said he still has the option of blocking a vote on Foster, but he seemed to lay the groundwork for dropping his threats to do so.

“I think he did a pretty good job before the committee,” Dole said. “I think I should, before I make a final judgment, sit down and talk with him face to face. I think he’s entitled to that.”

White House Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta said he was encouraged by Dole’s comments. “It sounds like he at least is trying to give Dr. Foster, I think, the fair shake that he deserves after that hearing,” Panetta said on CNN’s “Late Edition.”