From CNN's new State of the Union, Ed Gillespie suddenly loves him some bi-partisanship and is against nasty partisan attacks. Coming from one of the nastiest, most partisan administrations which subscribed to the Karl Rove/Lee Atwater school of politics, this is pretty rich. Now it's not good for the country to act that way. Gee Ed, thanks for coming around to that way of thinking now that the Democrats are in charge. Mighty kind of you.
KING: You mentioned you're a former RNC chairman. Gloria and I have talked about this quite a bit since the election, whither the Republican Party? Obama comes in with a clear majority. He comes in with the good will of American people, even those who didn't vote for him.
And it's a "Who's on first?" moment for the Republican Party. Who is the leader of the Republican Party, former chairman Ed Gillespie?
Who is the leader, right now?
And what is the strategy when it comes to dealing with this new president?
GILLESPIE: Well, I think the foremost leaders will be the leaders in the House and the Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader there, and John Boehner in the House.
And I think they pursued an appropriate strategy, which is there are areas where we can agree, we will agree and we'll work with the president-elect, soon to be the president. Where there are areas where there are principle disagreements, we'll disagree.
I do think, and I encourage my fellow Republicans and people who share my more conservative philosophy that we not fall prey to trying to retaliate from the kind of viciousness and the kind of bitter attacks, personal attacks against President Bush that we saw from the left in the past eight years.
We can make a stand on principle. And we can oppose on policy without -- you know, engaging in that kind of harsh, personal, nasty rhetoric. It's not good for the process. It's not good for the country.
And, look, I, obviously, was hoping for a different outcome in the election. I'm excited, as an American, that we're going to make history with the first African-American to be elected president.
And if I'm invited back or in a position to comment, I will be careful to make clear that, you know, I want the president to succeed. He will be my president on Tuesday. I am an American; I may disagree with his policies, and I hope that my friends on the right will adopt that tone.
