EVery time Newt speaks it's a teaching moment.
Posted on 01/17/2012 1:17:13 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
If former House Speaker Newt Gingrich does the impossible and somehow defeats Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination, analysts will look back and say the upset was sparked Monday night at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
The knowledgeable, rhetorically gifted Newt Gingrich conservatives love showed up at the Fox News/Wall Street Journal debate and shook the house. Instead of shining by attacking Romney, he thrived by battling his old antagonists: the “elite” media and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
Asked by debate co-moderator Juan Williams whether he could understand why his comments that “black Americans should demand jobs not food stamps” and that “poor kids lack a strong work ethnic” and perhaps should “work as janitors in their schools” were insulting to Americans — especially African-Americans — Gingrich dismissed the notion out of hand.
“No, I don’t see that,” he said bluntly to wild applause.
“New York City pays their janitors an absurd amount of money because of the union. You could take one janitor and hire 30-some kids to work in the school for the price of one janitor, and those 30 kids would be a lot less likely to drop out,” the former House Speaker said.
“They would actually have money in their pocket. They would learn to show up for work. They could do light janitorial duty. They could work in the cafeteria. They could work in the front-office. They could work in the library. They would be getting money which is a good thing if you’re poor. Only the elites despise earning money.”
Williams followed up by asking Gingrich to respond to emails that suggested Gingrich intended to “belittle the poor and racial minorities” with his words.
“Well first of all, Juan, the fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history,” Gingrich responded to more cheers.
“Now I know among the politically correct you’re not supposed to use facts that are uncomfortable. Second, you’re the one who earlier raised a key point: The area that ought to be I-73 was called by Barack Obama a corridor of shame because of unemployment. Has it improved in three years? No. They haven’t built a road, they haven’t helped the people, they haven’t done anything.”
“So here’s my point,” he concluded. “I believe every American of every background has been endowed by their creator with the right to pursue happiness. And if that makes liberals unhappy, I am going to continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job, learn how to get a better job, and learn some day to own the job.”
The crowd again erupted, rewarding what sounded more like a sermon than a debate answer with what pollster Frank Luntz later said was the first standing ovation he had ever witnessed during a presidential debate.
I guess if Newt had said these young kids should go out and get paid to be a community organizer instead of a janitor, that would have been okay. And deemd racially sensitive...
Well, if you consider it, drug dealers and pimps ARE community organizers, in a roundabout way..... :)
Why would it be insulting to say that the kids can work as janitors?
In fact, the janitor himself must have children of his own who’d be offended that Juan suggests this. THAT is elitist BS!
Work is work. You have to begin somewhere and if you are not skilled, you begin with unskilled tasks. You then continue your education and get a better job...etc.
Juan if full of s%$#!! I’m glad Newt smacked him down.
Hey Jamie....“poor kids lack a strong work ethnic”
You might want to proofread your article before it goes to print. Words have meaning.
And not one bit of that energy is spent on attacking Romney. Hell, even Santorum deserves to be vetted far more viciously for his past moderate Senate record, than Newt has.
I thought it was good how Newt bitch-slapped Juan when he said that his own daughter’s first job was doing janitorial work.
People like Juan are the reason MLK’s “dream” never came true. MLK (allegedly) wanted all people to be seen as equals with no regard to color. As long as these whiny racists like Juan are stirring the pot, that will never happen. They’re creating the problem, not solving it.
[[sigh]] Yes, Newt’s debate performance was spectacular — and it usually is — but, while I would love to see him verbally puncture the Narcissist-in-Chief, passionate rhetoric is not enough to qualify one for the presidency.
EVery time Newt speaks it's a teaching moment.
Yeah, I’ve been mistified for a while about this murmuring campaign that Mitt is, of course, the only possible nominee. He wasn’t of any interest in 2008, when McCain somehow (somehow) became the GOP choice. What has Mitt done in the last four years to effect such a transformation?
When a history professor tags you with a title, he knows it will stick. Newt called him a “Food Stamp President”.
Ouch! n/s
And they are earning money!
Excellent news. Mr. Gingrich is our last, best hope to defeat Mitt Romney.
Listening to Bill Bennett on the way to work. He has that shrill on there, Ann Coulter. Three months ago i adored her, now I abhor her.
He asks a question regarding liberal bias in moderators or some such thing, and she weaves the answer to knock Newt!
Bennett points this out.
She calls Newt The Joe Palouka of the debates. A guy who talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk. A trucker calls and tells her that he’s tired of establishment conservatives like her, she talks for almost 6 minutes on why she jumped in two months or more ago fro Romney.
the she talked the more I thought to myself, that this a no nothing biased person beyond belief.
There is no doubt in my mind that she didn’t here newt speak at all last night.
She never married. But she’s no spinster, just a amateur at life. Life means marriage.
Exactly, but the attempt is to justify the criminal statistic as "racial profiling causes more of them to be prosecuted", when, in fact, if it weren't for their crime over-whelming the court system (usually, on the public dime with "appointed" attorneys they can't afford), and the allowance of Plea Bargaining, there would be even MORE blacks in jail.
Newt did well combatting Juan Williams assault (playing the Race Card), and made him look like a fool. I wish he would have made the "work for welfare" argument, and see what Williams would have said, then. Others on the group didn't take up the fight, either, afraid to lose the black vote (which they won't get, anyway).
The typical mealy-mouthed response would have been to accept Williams' false premise and pledge to fight to correct it.
He wasn't my first choice, but I think that he's the best we've got.
When was I convinced? When Juan Williams asked him that loaded, race-baiting question. 99 out of 100 pols would have squirmed like a puppy who just peed on the rug, and fallen all over themselved to apologize, or at least "Clarify what they meant" in a long-winded, rambling answer.
Newt didn't. He stood behind what he said with a simple, "Nope. I said it and I meant it." A politician with a spine? How refreshing.
So long as he doesn't screw it up - which is always a good bet, Republicans are always shooting themselves in the foot - I think that we saw the next president in that moment last night.
Newt did an outstanding job last night.
Well said. On the day of MLK’s birthday, the rhetoric from the so-called leaders did everything to promote racial division. Everything I heard sounded like stuff one would hear in the 60s. It is like they want the strife to continue without end, even if they have to look under a rock for racism.
I see skin color as God’s paint job. I don’t want God to stir up the paint color and use one tint. I celebrate the difference. Because I pick a green one instead of another color does not make me racist.
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