Posted on 12/22/2011 2:03:44 PM PST by TBBT
RICHMOND, Va. -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday he would tell his caucus to get "noisy" if he were trying to game out the dispute on a payroll tax cut with President Obama.
Asked about the standoff by a voter, the Republican presidential candidate also called the senators "arrogant" over their refusal to negotiate.
“I would have all of my members on talk radio back home demanding the senators come back. And I could say 'How can the senators arrogantly go home."
Gingrich, who has previously said he doesn't know what John Boehner is going through because President Obama is a much more difficult leader than former President Clinton was to work with, said Republican House "ought to win the argument" and the only way to do it would be to be "noisy."
"The idea that a one-year tax cut is somehow a losing proposition and a two-month tax cut is somehow a winning proposition -- I mean, it takes Washington, and frankly it takes the bias of the elite media -- to get here because I think the Senate has been totally irresponsible and the president has been irresponsible and any normal that looks at the bookkeeping chaos of a two-month cut, it’s just mindless.”
Gingrich also laid blame with Senate Republicans, although he did not single out Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by name.
(Excerpt) Read more at politics.blogs.foxnews.com ...
"Here is the quote that Boehner made: 'most businesses file quarterly,'" he said. "That’s three months, right? The Senate has passed a two-month extension. That means if you’re a small business and you’re an accountant, or you’re a corporation, they just gave you an entire additional layer of paperwork that is utterly stupid. And yet the senators are so arrogant -- And I’m very disappointed in the Republican senators in not demanding Harry Reid come back.”When a reporter followed up with Gingrich by asking whether presidential candidates should be weighing in on congressional issues, Gingrich said the payroll tax cut wasn't a congressional issue but an American issue.
"People sometimes think that I'm too aggressive but at least I lead," he said. "I suspect that some candidates have had consultants to say to them, oh don’t take any risk. Well I don’t think we’re in a period where a lack of risk is a good idea. We need real leaders who have the courage to say what they really think. This is a mess, Washington’s a mess. Barack Obama has presided over the meltdown of the American system. We look like Italy on a bad day," Gingrich added.
The candidate also said the situation doesn't help the U.S. image in the world.
"This current -- think about how this muddle looks around the world. We can’t even pass a tax cut? I mean it’s one thing to say you can’t pass a tax increase, but when you have a political system that can’t pass a tax cut, there’s something really profoundly wrong with our leadership and I think presidential candidates ought to have the courage to speak out."
Mitt Romney - where are you?
Give ‘em hell Newt!
And that is why I’m going with Newt.
I’m not interested in pretty and perfect. I want leadership and being direct.
I do wish newt were the speaker of the house today.
Gingrich proves why he is the best choice right here on this issue.
What have the other candidates said?
*crickets*
Newt is soooo much better than romney.
donation just made.
Hiding at the house of the former Bush (failures) presidents.
Yes, you can see and hear the difference between Newt and Mitt. Night and day. Newt leads from the top and in front. Frankly, I have no idea where Mitt leads from — it is a moving target.
TRUTH is not a four-letter word.
Newt understands!
Here, Here:
TIRED of the milquetoast that passes for leadership in the GOP. Boener is a completely forgettable speaker - part of the problem, NOT part of the solution.
Washington insiders and beltway pundits are TERRIFIED of Gingrich as the CinC. THAT should tell you everything you need to know about why he is the clear choice to LEAD in a Churchillian type way.
I’m not thrilled with his personal choices (Hell, not thrilled with every one of mine either) but, I’m not voting for a saint. I’m voting for the man most capable of leading this country out of the thick fog that the current halfwit has coaxed us into.
RLTW.
He has the lady do his dirty work and then is afraid to debate Gingrich.
He's like a political Mullah sending his daughters out to blow themselves up as human bombs.
i’m not impressed. Newt is wearing thin with me.
Just what we don't need ... another RINO candidate out of touch with most Americans, who know that a Hamburger Helper meal is made with meat. What does he think the word 'hamburger' means? Can't Mitt just go away?
Does he even realize that we are talking about social security investments here not income tax? Sounds like the Democrats themselves, they want it both ways to them Social Security is a tax that the government can spend as well as it is an investment for your retirement. Give me a break this is the reason the country is so screwed up. So this payroll tax cut is akin to telling me to invest less in my 401K and somehow the money will magically be there when I retire? I don’t know why it is so hard for Republicans to make the case that the country is broke, Obama has spent us into bankruptcy one look at www.usdebtclock.org even people with half a brain can see that we are on a path to insolvency and destruction of our currency.
Newt nailed this one. Being right gets us nowhere without intelligent PR.
America has a two-party system. We have a Stupid Party (the Republicans) and an Evil Party (the Democrats). Every so often Congress does something that is both stupid and evil, and we call this “bipartisanship”.
The Social Security tax cut is both stupid and evil. Stupid, because it increases the deficit, while actually retarding economic growth and job creation. Evil, because it turns Social Security into even more of a welfare program than it already is, while pretending that this is not what is happening.
Volunteer http://www.newt.org/volunteer
National Phone Banks for Iowa Calls http://action.newt.org
As for Romney’s remark, spoken like a true liberal.
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