Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) continued to show her admiration for GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Monday, claiming that he was the one candidate President Barack Obama "would really fear having to debate."
In a discussion with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News, Palin said that Obama's camp was happily gearing up to face Mitt Romney, amid increasing speculation that it is only a matter of time until he locks up the GOP nomination. That would be a mistake, Palin suggested, because it would be ignoring the candidate best suited to defeat Obama: Newt Gingrich.
"Well, I think that Newt Gingrich would be the toughest debater, debating ideas and solutions, and his experience as one who had learned through the Reagan revolution what true conservatism is, and how it is that with foreign policy we need to provide that peace through strength in our world, and how it is that we need to balance budgets and we need to slash budgets because we are going bankrupt, all those things that Newt has talked about in his campaign," Palin said.
"I think that he could most brightly contrast himself against what Obama's failed policies have done to this country through debates. So that's why I say that Obama, I believe, would really fear having to debate Newt Gingrich."
(Video above via Fox News. Palin's comments begin around the 2:30 mark.)
While Palin believes that Gingrich would match up best against Obama, a poll released on Monday showed that the former House speaker presented a weaker matchup against him, giving the president 54 percent of the vote in a hypothetical head-to-head. The same poll showed Obama winning 51 percent against Mitt Romney.
Palin has been one of Gingrich's most vocal supporters, despite her ongoing decision not to follow her husband, Todd, and give Gingrich her outright endorsement. She's repeatedly encouraged Republicans to vote for him in primary contests in order to prolong the nomination process, and defended him against attacks on his conservative credentials. Last month she said that attempts to expel him from his supposed place in the Reagan Revolution were "Stalin-esque."