Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Sunday dismissed foreign policy criticism from Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, quipping that his advice was only valuable “[i]f there’s a problem on a lunar colony.” Last week, Gingrich had blasted President Barack Obama for apologizing to Afghans after U.S. troops reportedly burned a number of Qurans.
“If [Afghan President] Hamid Karzai doesn’t feel like apologizing, then I feel like we should say goodbye and good luck,” the former House Speaker said, referring to deaths resulting from protests over the Quran burning. “We don’t need to be here wasting our lives and wasting our money for somebody who doesn’t care.”
CNN’s Candy Crowley asked Gibbs if Gingrich had captured the public mood with his call to leave Afghanistan.
“What the president is trying to do now is to get us to a point where we can hand off the security of Afghanistan to the Afghans, and that we can bring our troops home,” the Obama campaign adviser explained.
“Quite honestly, I’m not sure many people are looking to Newt Gingrich for foreign policy advice. If there’s problem on the lunar colony, he’ll be among the first we call,” Gibbs quipped.
Gingrich has been widely mocked after a January speech where he proposed creating a moon base that could become the 51st state.
