There was no red meat; no talk about Obamacare; no brandishing of the Constitution; no pledge to stand firm on taxes; no discussion of debt ceilings, gay marriage, abortion or lightbulbs.
In short, Newt Gingrich didn’t sound much like a GOP presidential candidate Friday. And even he seemed to concede that.
“I want to be a citizen this summer who helps this country get back to work,” Gingrich told a healthy-sized crowd at the Iowa State Fair. “There will be plenty of time to run for president later.
Of all the Republicans in the crowded field who began the long march to 2012 this year, few would have tapped Gingrich, the man who shuttered the federal government, the former House speaker who has tossed rhetorical grenades with the best of them, as the one who would emerge as a champion of political compromise. But that’s what he did in Thursday night’s debate in Ames—and that’s the point he continued to hammer home at the fair.
Referring to his time in Congress in the 1980s during the Reagan administration, Gingrich spoke about working hand-in-hand with Democrats. “We fought, but we fought with the idea of making things work.”
To that end, he was critical of the current Congress, tasked with finding ways to slice the deficit. “If all they’re going to do is come back and fight each other, they should stay home,” he said.
And though certainly, he never planned it that way, Gingrich’s remarks were similar to those of the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who spoke at the fair directly before the former House speaker.
“We need to come together and compromise,” Wasserman Schultz said. Voters, she said, “want us to come together and work together. We need a little unity in America right now.”
There was precious little of that unity, however, while she spoke, as she was heckled by conservatives who yelled “We don’t want any socialism!” and by leftists who accused Democrats of caving in on the debt ceiling deal.
The crowd was polite and respectful—even as the background chatter turned to Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, both expected to visit the fair later Friday.
Near the end of his talk, he was more explicit. about his political future. “This isn’t about what I would do in 2013 if I was president.” Indeed, nobody in the crowd, including Gingrich, appeared to think that to be likely.
In short, Newt Gingrich didn’t sound much like a GOP presidential candidate Friday. And even he seemed to concede that.
“I want to be a citizen this summer who helps this country get back to work,” Gingrich told a healthy-sized crowd at the Iowa State Fair. “There will be plenty of time to run for president later.
Of all the Republicans in the crowded field who began the long march to 2012 this year, few would have tapped Gingrich, the man who shuttered the federal government, the former House speaker who has tossed rhetorical grenades with the best of them, as the one who would emerge as a champion of political compromise. But that’s what he did in Thursday night’s debate in Ames—and that’s the point he continued to hammer home at the fair.
Referring to his time in Congress in the 1980s during the Reagan administration, Gingrich spoke about working hand-in-hand with Democrats. “We fought, but we fought with the idea of making things work.”
To that end, he was critical of the current Congress, tasked with finding ways to slice the deficit. “If all they’re going to do is come back and fight each other, they should stay home,” he said.
And though certainly, he never planned it that way, Gingrich’s remarks were similar to those of the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who spoke at the fair directly before the former House speaker.
“We need to come together and compromise,” Wasserman Schultz said. Voters, she said, “want us to come together and work together. We need a little unity in America right now.”
There was precious little of that unity, however, while she spoke, as she was heckled by conservatives who yelled “We don’t want any socialism!” and by leftists who accused Democrats of caving in on the debt ceiling deal.
The crowd was polite and respectful—even as the background chatter turned to Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, both expected to visit the fair later Friday.
Near the end of his talk, he was more explicit. about his political future. “This isn’t about what I would do in 2013 if I was president.” Indeed, nobody in the crowd, including Gingrich, appeared to think that to be likely.
Congress ought to come back in next Monday. I think this 12-person committee's a disaster. That leaves 523 senators and congressmen basically sitting to one side until Thanksgiving. I think they should change the whole approach.
I would repeal the Dodd-Frank bill on Monday. I'd repeal Sarbanes- Oxley on Tuesday. I'd open up the Gulf and other federal areas for oil and gas exploration on Wednesday. I would apply Lean Six Sigma to the entire federal government, have every subcommittee in the Congress hold hearings on how to modernize the government.
Mike George, who developed it, thinks it could save $500 billion a year. That's more over 10 years than the assignment of the "Gang of 12." I am -- I can't tell you -- being out here, Iowa, Georgia, New Hampshire, South Carolina -- being with people who are not part of the daily Washington process -- I am so fed up with politics as usual. And I think, having been speaker and having done a lot of this, served for 20 years, I respect how hard it is, but there's something profoundly wrong with how Washington is working right now in both parties.
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