Old news.....here’s the present....
On Global Warming/Cap-and-trade:
Newt will continue to oppose the Democrats’ destructive cap-and-trade and carbon tax proposals,... continue to support expanded domestic oil and gas drilling,... and continue to fight for a fundamental replacement of the job-killing Environmental Protection Agency with an Environmental Solutions Agency.
Further....Newt has supported pro-market, pro-entrepreneur, innovative solutions to our environmental challenges, which he believes are superior to the liberal pro-bureaucracy, pro-tax, pro-regulation approach to the environment.
On the Individual Mandate:
...... In the 1990s, Newt and many other conservatives, such as ‘the Heritage Foundation,’ proposed a mandate to purchase health insurance ‘as the alternative to Hillarycare’. ... However, the problems (outlined on Newt.org)... caused Newt to come to the principled conclusion that a mandate to purchase health insurance was ..unconstitutional, ..unworkable and counterproductive to lowering the cost of healthcare.
Newt believes it is an unprecedented and unconstitutional expansion of federal power. .. It is a serious and unconstitutional infringement of individual liberty.
On so called Limited Amnesty:
Newt is opposed to amnesty and has a clear record of vigorous opposition to the Bush era amnesty legislation. Newt opposed the DREAM Act..... However, he did agree with part of the legislation which allowed those who came to the United States illegally as children to serve in the U.S. Military to earn their citizenship, just as foreign nationals are today allowed to do the same.Newt has proposed giving local communities the authority to allow those with long established roots in the neighborhood a legal residency status, but not citizenship.... Newt believes ‘local communities’ are at a better vantage point to determine if those there illegally should stay or go.
..... Under this system, we will send home those who are not self-sufficient, who have no family or community ties and quickly deport those who have committed criminal and other destructive acts, while providing minimal disruption to families and communities.
On Tarp:
Newt was appalled and disgusted at the amount of dictatorial power that Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson tried to grab for himself at the outset of the financial crisis.... However, he reluctantly supported a scaled-down plan after Paulson told the country that the world financial system was going to collapse without this emergency support.
Newt believes that the reckless, secretive and opaque way in which the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department administered the bailouts has been an affront to democracy. The Fed was picking winners and losers, using several emergency lending facilities to make all types of loans to connected parties, including to a bank owned by the Libyan government.
This is why broadly scaling back the role of the Federal Reserve and repealing the Dodd-Frank bill are two of the central pillars of Newt’s 21st Century Contract with America. The Fed will be fully audited and made more transparent to ensure the events of 2008 are never repeated.
Ryan’s plan “Right-wing Social Engineering”:
In response to the host’s hypothetical question.... of whether Republicans should change Medicare even if there is public opposition,..... Gingrich’s response was no you should not..... One of Newt’s basic governing philosophies is that government should offer a better alternative to existing entitlement programs that seniors can freely choose. ....Gingrich is opposed to ANY political party imposing dramatic change against the consent of the governed. ... Newt regards Paul Ryan as one of the biggest innovators in Washington, D.C. and he deeply admires the seriousness and boldness of his historic Path to Prosperity budget.
Scozzafazza over the conservative Doug Hoffman in NY23.:
The Conservative Party candidate whom Scozzafava was running against, ‘Doug Hoffman’ recently remarked about Newt’s endorsement of his rival,.... “I would advise other conservative republicans Don’t hold this against him.”
Newt will almost always back the nominee of the Republican party and not back an independent candidate ‘in a race against a Democratic candidate.’
Newt still believes in this principle, however, he has admitted it was a mistake to back Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee in the 2009 NY-23 special election. Although she was the Republican nominee, the problem was that Republican primary voters did not pick her, the local party leaders did, otherwise her liberal views would have prevented her from becoming the nominee.