Gingrich Decries 'Backdoor Socialism'

By Joy Lin, Fox News

Newt Gingrich returned to the stump Thursday with a heavy dose of populism and defended himself against charges of being anti-capitalist and anti-free enterprise.

"I think when you have crony capitalism of politicians taking care of their friends, that's not free enterprise, that's just backdoor socialism in which the rich get all the money and the rest of us get left, get left with all the debt," Gingrich told an audience of senior citizens gathered at the state fair grounds for a convention.

Gingrich said he's been "amazed" by the intensity of critics who he said are attacking him for questioning the bailout of big banks. He suggested the bailouts were tied to corruption at the Federal Reserve and the Treasury.

"American people have a right to know what has been happening to their economy, and they have a right to know where all the money went, they deserve an audit on the Federal Reserve, and the Treasury, to find out where the money went, to find out who got the money and why they got the money," said Gingrich to wide applause.

But it's not Mr. Gingrich's questions about bank bailouts that are raising eyebrows among prominent conservative voices, it's his questions about Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital. And while Gingrich would later tell reporters he was referring specifically to the bailouts of AIG and Goldman Sachs when he criticized "back door socialism," the candidate made a point to tell seniors that it wasn't just financial institutions that need to be more transparent but also presidential candidates as well.