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Did Newt Gingrich really propose a general amnesty in this week’s foreign policy debate? Or does his plan have more to do with general-election strategy than replacing a decade of Republican rhetoric on the issue of immigration? My column for The Fiscal Times today looks carefully at what Gingrich actually said during the debate, and also what the problems would still be with his proposal: First, consider how Gingrich framed the quoted statement above, to which the candidates and activists reacted. “So I think you’ve got to deal with this as a comprehensive approach,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “that...

Unfortunately, it appears that Paul's views on immigration have now shifted into the pro-amnesty camp. ... Paul says deporting illegal immigrants will require "splitting up families and deporting some who have lived here for decades." ... As for the illegals here for decades, why should we reward them for breaking the law longer than others? Some crimes have a statute of limitation, but unlawful entry into our country does not. According to Paul, deporting such people would be "incompatible with human rights."...So if we can't enforce the law, what does Paul want to do with the 12 million illegal aliens...

Whether the matchup between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney is the final bout on the GOP primary card is impossible to know. The whole season has been more like professional wrestling than boxing, with weird characters sporting implausible hair appearing out of nowhere to talk smack and explain why they are the greatest in the world. (I’m looking at you in particular, Mr. Trump.) Still, let’s assume for the moment that it’s a Gingrich-Romney contest. It’s quite a matchup. Romney has been brutalized for having too little personality, Gingrich for having way, way too much. Romney looks like the picture...

snips: ...."But "there is no path to citizenship in my Tuesday night comment on immigration," Gingrich told Newsmax. "There is a path to non-deportation for certified, very long-term community members but they would not have the right to vote." The goal of his plan, Gingrich said, is to gain control of the border in 12 months while ensuring that English is the official language of the U.S. government. He wants even faster rules for the deportation of criminals and a guest worker program "outsourced to American Express, Visa or MasterCard to minimize fraud..."

Newt Gingrich did not walk on stage at Tuesday's Republican presidential debate planning to make a bold new statement on immigration. In debate prep, the former House speaker spent a lot of time with national security advisers discussing the issue of religious freedom abroad -- a topic he has tried to showcase recently -- but didn't discuss immigration at all. Besides, when Gingrich made his now-controversial remarks -- that he would permit some long-time illegal immigrants to stay in the United States permanently -- he wasn't saying anything he hadn't said earlier in the campaign. It's just that back then...

SC: Gingrich 31%, Cain 17%, Romney 16%, Perry 6% AZ: Gingrich 28%, Romney 23%, Cain 17%, Paul 8% PA: Gingrich 32%, Cain 15%, Santorum 12%, Romney 12% IA: Gingrich 32%, Romney 19%, Cain 13%, Paul 10%

Critics have accused the Republican electorate in recent years of putting a higher premium on ideological fervor than on policy knowledge. But the success of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the current presidential primary fight undercuts this charge. Conservative political figures such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and 2010 U.S. Senate candidates Sharron Angle of Nevada and Christine O'Donnell of Delaware attracted passionate followers. This fan base came to their defense whenever they were criticized for inarticulate statements or moments that suggested they didn't have a strong grasp of the issues. In...

Illegal immigrants started nearly 40 percent of human-caused wildfires along the Arizona and Mexico border between 2006 and 2010, according to a new government report that backs up claims state lawmakers made during this year’s catastrophic blazes. That number even may be understated - the report by the Government Accountability Office said federal land agencies often violate their own policies by not trying to investigate the origins of such fires. Of the 422 human-caused fires, just 77 were investigated, and of those 30 were found to have been ignited by illegal border crosses. Illegal immigration also makes battling the fires...

Occupy Wall Street has now dragged into its third month. What should be a matter of enforcing existing laws has turned into an intractable political problem. But we should look to the federal government and its illustrious current and former leadership for inspiration on how to handle such situations. They have plenty of experience in not enforcing existing laws and then proposing ways to deal with that lack of enforcement.It's just plain inhumane to tear down the OWS encampments in the bitter cold of November just because they are occupying public spaces and causing noise and sanitation problems. Some of...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is an interesting candidate because he has been around so long and is only now topping a recent Gallup poll for the Republican nomination. And yet as a candidate, he comes pre-packaged with his own dirt. No need for investigative reporting here. Usually a candidate has to top a poll or two before some dirt comes out about him. And some of the dirt is pretty ugly. Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/newt_is_no_gecko.html#ixzz1easwdUqB

It's not exactly clear what segment of the Republican electorate is behind Newt Gingrich's surge in recent presidential primary polls, save that they aren't fans of Mitt Romney. Gingrich isn't well regarded among established Republican types, who are fully aware of his propensity for bombast and verbal and political gaffes. Nor does it seem like he would do well with the Tea Party crowd, which is skeptical of both long service in Washington and careers in influence peddling. Read more: Allen West: Newt carrying 200 lbs of political baggage http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=370525#ixzz1eaM5SVa8

In June, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich signed a pledge to adopt the Lean Six Sigma business management strategy in New Hampshire as a means to help eliminate the national debt by 2017, Politico reports. More recently, Gingrich spoke to the Heritage Foundation to promote the strategy while denouncing the new 12-member debt panel. Additionally, Gingrich announced his plans to meet with other supporters of Lean Six Sigma to discuss ways to improve the U.S. economy. "An intelligent Congress in a city that wanted to be intelligent would hold hearings, bring in the experts, figure out how to fundamentally change...

WASHINGTON—Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich called for replacing the leadership of Iran and said that could be accomplished within a year, adopting a more aggressive posture toward the U.S. adversary than advocated by the rest of the Republican field or by President Barack Obama. Mr. Gingrich's comments came at a televised candidates' debate Tuesday night at a moment when multiple polls showed him leading in the race for his party's nomination. The eight candidates offered sharp distinctions over a range of national-security issues, among them the proper speed of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and continued foreign aid to...

EL UNIVERSAL, (CARACAS, VENEZUELA) Original in Spanish "ESTADOS UNIDOS: Gingrich favorece políticas migratorias más humanas" ... Candidato republicano se pronuncia a favor de la inmigración" Wednesday November 23, 2011 24:08 ("FREEPRANSLATION" TO ENGLISH): "Washington, D.C. - Newt Gingrich, the newest candidate in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, has run the risk of scaring the conservatives saying that favors the establishment of legal channels for illegal immigrants who have behaved peacefully, within the law paid their taxes and lived in the U.S. for many years. During a televised debate on Tuesday night, former House of Representatives Speaker said...

Technically Gingrich didn’t accuse him of anything, he just strongly insinuated it. It’s Romney who’s going for the jugular: “My view is that people who come here illegally should not have a special break or a special pathway to become permanent residents or citizens of this country,” Romney said, speaking at a campaign stop at Nationwide Insurance in downtown Des Moines. “They should be in line or at the back of the line with other people who want to come here illegally.”… Further pressed on whether he thinks Gingrich’s remarks qualify as amnesty, Romney said ”it certainly was.” “But he...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is an interesting candidate because he has been around so long and is only now topping a recent Gallup poll for the Republican nomination. And yet as a candidate, he comes pre-packaged with his own dirt. No need for investigative reporting here. Usually a candidate has to top a poll or two before some dirt comes out about him. And some of the dirt is pretty ugly. When his first wife was recovering from surgery, he showed up to discuss terms of their divorce (an episode attempted to be revised by Newt's daughter Jackie). And...

Overview Turning a Complex Problem into a Simple Solution Very few modern political issues have proven more divisive, polarizing, and difficult to solve than the illegal immigration problem. It has divided Republicans and Democrats along stark partisan lines, but the divisions run much deeper. Proposals to reform the nation’s immigration system have also divided traditionally aligned factions: labor unions and civil rights groups, business associations and conservatives. Administrations and Congresses have struggled with the issue for years, unwilling to act on any reform for fear of alienating one constituency or another, paralyzed to the point of virtually ignoring one of...

We’ve all heard about the latest Gallup poll showing Newt Gingrich slightly ahead of Willard Romney and both of them ahead of Herman Cain. People like Tokyo Rove and the Republican establishment (which now includes all of the media since Fox has jumped in Romney’s tank as well) do not want you anywhere near the latest Harris poll – it doesn’t fit their narrative which says Herman Cain’s campaign was mortally wounded by the false charges alleged by Gloria Axle-Red. The Harris survey says otherwise. It says, to paraphrase Mark Twain, “The reports of the demise of Herman Cain’s campaign...

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All he said was, “Let’s be humane in enforcing the law.” That was my reaction last night when Newt Gingrich argued that the federal government should refrain from deporting illegal immigrants who had been in the U.S. for many years if the effect would be the break up of a family. I did not take him to be proposing a new law conferring amnesty. To do what the former Speaker proposed would require no change in U.S. law. All you’d need is the sensible application of prosecutorial discretion. A successful immigration enforcement policy, easily implemented under current law, would secure...