The Speaker Speaketh Too Much : Gingrich should watch what he says in aftermath of Oklahoma bombing

Until this week the usually loquacious Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), had wisely remained quiet on the subject of the Oklahoma City bombing. He visited the site--but unobtrusively, late at night--and allowed President Clinton to exercise presidential leadership without partisan distraction. Altruism may not have been the Speaker’s sole motive, for the public spotlight that has illuminated the dark corners of right-wing extremism cannot be politically comfortable for conservative Republicans like him.

However, Gingrich apparently could restrain himself no longer. His comments Sunday on television’s “Meet the Press” were chilling in their implications and reckless in their potential effects. While making the obligatory condemnation of violence, Gingrich seemed to skate on the edge of trying to justify the kind of paranoid apprehensions about the federal government that can fuel the most extreme elements of the anti-government crowd. He talked of a “genuine fear” of government in rural America. This is presumably the same rural America that has profited so handsomely from subsidized grazing and mining on public lands, crop supports and water reclamation projects.

Gingrich shied away from being very critical of the delusional and heavily armed paramilitary groups that have popped up in many states. And, in a stroke of bad timing, he promised hearings soon on the fiery federal raid on the Branch Davidian sect near Waco, Tex., in 1993. Clearly many unsettling questions remain about federal agents’ behavior in that raid, which left 85 dead. But, given how large Waco looms in the minds of the violent fringe, this is not the time to pour salt into that wound.

Gingrich has gotten much political mileage out of running against excessive government, and much of what he says is worth considering. He wields enormous influence among parts of the American public that resent government and harbor a myriad of real and imaginary grievances. He should use that influence now to calm the waters. If the Speaker cannot do that, let him not speak.