No Bows, No Food Stamps, No Alinsky...Aggressive Gingrich Speech Ignites the Right

FORMER REP. NEWTGINGRICH, R-GA., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE,

   DELIVERS REMARKS

   JANUARY 21, 2012

   SPEAKER: FORMER REP. NEWT GINGRICH, R-GA.,

   PRESIDENTIALCANDIDATE

   (+)

   GINGRICH: OK.  OK.  Let me first of all say thank you to everyone in SouthCarolina who decided to be with us in changing Washington.

   (APPLAUSE)

   GINGRICH:  Callistaand I are particularly happy to have our daughters, our son-in-laws (sic), mytwo chief debate coaches, Maggie and Robert, who are both right here.  Andwe are delighted to have -- my sisters are here, Robbie (ph) and Susan(ph).  It's just terrific.

   I also want torecognize several people who were just extraordinarily important in SouthCarolina making this happen.  Judge Billy and Debra Wilkins (ph) justreally took over and did a great job.  And my former colleague, former CongressmanJohn Napier (ph) is just such a terrific class act.  He did such a greatjob statewide putting things together.

   (APPLAUSE)

   GINGRICH: House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham (ph) came on board and really helped uswith a statewide network.  Speaker Bobby Harrell was tremendous.  Wetraveled the last several days together.

   Andre Bauer (ph)made a big difference.  Vivian Wong was tremendous in helping us allacross the state.  Peter McCoy (ph) was remarkable.  And finally, Ijust want to say that we have a -- we had a team on our staff who work endlesshours, week after week, they did a great, great job.

   (APPLAUSE)

   GINGRICH: So there are so many things -- and Callista and I have so many memories from somany parts of the state.  Everybody, including those who, by accident orthrough misinformation were for the other candidates --

   (LAUGHTER)

   GINGRICH: -- but everybody was nice to us everywhere.  And I just want to say that Ithink South Carolina showed Southern hospitality as beautifully as any placewe've been.

   (APPLAUSE)

   GINGRICH:  Ialso want to mention in particular General Livingston, who is a CongressionalMedal of Honor winner, who gave me the great honor in Yorktown of introducingme yesterday, and to have a man of that courage, that patriotism and thatdedication to freedom, come out and support us, really meant a great deal.

   And everybody whowent to the Yorktown, it was a remarkable evening and I'm just grateful toeverybody for that moment of patriotism.

   (APPLAUSE)

   That is a -- thebiggest thing I take from the campaign in South Carolina is that it is veryhumbling and very sobering to have so many people who so deeply want theircountry to get back on the right track.

   (APPLAUSE)

   And so manypeople who are so concerned about jobs, about medical costs, about the everydayparts of life and who feel that the elites in Washington and New York have nounderstanding, no care, no concern, no reliability and in fact do not representthem at all.

   (APPLAUSE)

   In the two debatesthat we had here in Myrtle Beach and then in Charleston where people reacted sostrongly to the news media.  I think it was something very fundamentalthat I wish the powers that be in the news media would take seriously. The American people feel that they have elites who have been trying for a halfcentury to force us to quit being America and to become some kind of othersystem.

   (APPLAUSE)

   And the reaction,people completely misunderstand what's going on.  It's not that I'm a gooddebater, it's that I articulate the deepest felt values of the American people.

   (APPLAUSE)

   You know, this isa remarkable system.  What makes us different from virtually every othercountry in the world is that we are free and because we're free, we can produceleadership from an amazing places.  Now sometimes that leadership isgood.  We once had an actor who made movies with chimpanzees.

   (LAUGHTER)

   He turned out tobe one of our greatest presidents and ended up with the disappearance of theSoviet Empire.

   (APPLAUSE)

   We once had apeanut farmer, nuclear physicist.  He didn't turn out to be quite as good.

   (LAUGHTER)

   But we -- but thegenius of America is that you can come from any background.  I watchedtonight the -- the fine speeches of the other three candidates on ourside.  And I was struck with how much they reflected the openness of theAmerican system.  You know, Rick Santorum showed enormous courage in Iowawhen he had no money, nobody covered him, and he just kept campaigning.

   (APPLAUSE)

   His...

   (SHOUTING)

   I rest mycase.  He has made an impact, right?

   (APPLAUSE)

   I mean here's aguy who articulates the values of social conservatism, who articulates theimportance of manufacturing and who may have been as right about the dangers ofIran as anybody in this country in the last 10 years.

   (APPLAUSE)

   And then as a furtherexample of how wide open our system is, you have Dr. Ron Paul who on the issueof money and the Federal Reserve, has been right for 25 years.

   (APPLAUSE)

   And while Idisagree with him on many other things, there's no doubt that a lot of his critiqueof inflation, if fiat money and of the Federal Reserve is in fact absolutelythe right direction.  And it's something I support strongly.

   (APPLAUSE)

   And finally,Governor Romney with whom I disagree on many issues, is nonetheless, a goodexample of America.  He's hardworking.  He has been verysuccessful.  He has organized large systems.  He did a terrific jobat the winter Olympics.

GINGRICH:  And the factis, if you look at the four of us, we are proof that you can come from a widerange of backgrounds and in America, you have a chance to try to make your caseno matter what the elites think in New York and Washington.

   (APPLAUSE)

   (CHANTING)

   You sort of

   GINGRICH: Well, you sorta just now captured the heart of this campaign.  The fact iswe want to run not a Republican campaign.  We want to run an Americancampaign.

   (APPLAUSE)

   Because we areoptimists about the future because America has always been optimistic about thefuture.  And we believe as our new sign, which just got made today pointsout, that if we unleash the American people we can rebuild the America that welove.

   (APPLAUSE)

   Now, I -- Ibelieve -- and Callista and I decided to run because we, after a year ofconversation, concluded that this is the most important election of ourlifetime.

   (APPLAUSE)

   If Barack Obamacan get reelected after this disaster -- all right, just think how radical hewould be in a second term.  So I have a proposal.  With -- with yourhelp, we are now moving on to Florida and beyond.

   (APPLAUSE)

   And I want you toknow that if -- and by the way, anyone here who knows anyone in Florida, pleasecontact them by sometime tomorrow, OK? And my good friend, Louis Saza (ph)knows many people in Florida and I'm confident he'll have an impact.

   But if I dobecome your nominee and I think with your help I will become your nominee butwith your help ...

   (APPLAUSE)

   ... together, ifthat happens and it's all up to all of us to make that happen, if that happensthen I will -- then I will challenge President Obama to seven three-hourdebates.

   (APPLAUSE)

   To be fair -- tobe fair, I don't want you to be disappointed but I already have conceded thathe can use a teleprompter if he wants to.

   (APPLAUSE)

   After all, if youhad to defend Obamacare wouldn't you want to be able to use a teleprompter?

   (APPLAUSE)

   Now, there are anumber of key issues that we have to talk about with the president.  I'mgonna get there in a second.

   I believe thiscampaign comes down to economics including jobs, economic growth, balancing thebudget, the value of money.  It comes down to national security, whatthreatens us and what do you have to do about it.

   But thecenterpiece of this campaign I believe is American exceptionalism versus theradicalism of Saul Alinsky.

   (APPLAUSE)

   (CHANTING)

   Well, you know,there's a lot to just doing that because the fact is what we are gonna argue isthat American exceptionalism, the American Declaration of Independence, the AmericanConstitution, the American Federalist Papers, the Founding Fathers of Americaare the source from which we draw our understanding of America.

   He draws his fromSaul Alinsky, radical left-wingers and people who don't like the classicalAmerica.

   (APPLAUSE)

   And one of theissues -- one of the issues we're gonna address head on -- she would be a greatfirst lady and with your help, she will be a great first lady.

   (APPLAUSE)

   One of -- one ofthe key issues and I'm prepared to take this straight at the president and,frankly, straight at the elite media. One of the key issues is the growinganti-religious bigotry of our elites.

   (APPLAUSE)

   And if you get achance if you go to newt.org, my campaign site, there's a 54-page paper thereon the balance of power, putting the judiciary back in its proper role andeliminating dictatorial religious bigots such as Judge Barry in -- in SanAntonio who issued a ruling that if the students -- not only could the studentsnot pray at their graduation, if they used the word benediction, the wordinvocation, the word God, asked the audience to stand or asked for a moment ofsilence, he would put the superintendent in jail.

   Now...

   AUDIENCE: Boo.

   GINGRICH: ... we don't have speech dictatorship in America by anti-religious bigots,period.

   (APPLAUSE)

   The second bigtheme, frankly, is one that every South Carolinian understands.  It'sjobs, economic growth, balancing the budget, having stable money.  Andlet's be very clear.  And again, this makes some of the elite medianervous.  President Obama has been historically the most effective foodstamp president in American history.

   (APPLAUSE)

   I worked withRonald Reagan to create jobs and 16 million jobs were created by the Americanpeople in the 1980s.  I worked with Bill Clinton, a Democrat, to createjobs, and 11 million jobs were created by the American people during the fouryears I was speaker.  I would like to be the best paycheck president inAmerican history.

   (APPLAUSE)

   And I want to gointo every neighborhood of every ethnic background in every part of the countryand say to people very simply. If you want your children to have a life ofdependency and food stamps, you have a candidate that's Barack Obama.  Ifyou want your children to have a life of independency and paychecks you have acandidate that's Newt Gingrich.  And I'll bet you we have voteseverywhere.

   (APPLAUSE)

   AUDIENCE: Newt.  Newt.  Newt.  Newt.  Newt.  Newt. Newt.  Newt.

   GINGRICH: Part of the jobs in the economy frankly is to shrink the power ofWashington.  I just talked tonight with Governor Rick Perry, who is deeplycommitted...

   (APPLAUSE)

   I was verygenerous for his endorsement this week.  His passion is implementing the10th Amendment.  We're going to work with him to return power to thestates, the local governments, to get it out of Washington, D.C.

   (APPLAUSE)

   But one reason Iask you to be with me and not just for me.  If we shrink the Washingtonbureaucracy, we have to grow citizenship back home to fill the backroom.

   I am alsocommitted to getting back to a balanced budget.  And since I am the onlyspeaker of the House in your lifetime to have helped create four consecutivebalanced budgets, I think I can tell you as president I will work very hard toget back to a balanced budget as rapidly as possible.  And then to run asurplus to pay down the debt so no Chinese leverage exists on the United Statesby having our debt.

   (APPLAUSE)

   Part of ourlong-term national security has to be having an American energy policy.  Iwant America to become so energy independent that no American president everagain bows to a Saudi king.

   (APPLAUSE)

   And let me giveyou an example of a common sense conservatism that solves problems.  Youhave well over $29 billion of natural gas offshore.  If -- and aspresident I will authorize on the very first day the development of it. That natural gas offshore will create jobs that in Louisiana average $80,000apiece.

   In addition, itgenerates royalties.  Part of the royalties should be used to modernizethe Port of Charleston, which affects one out of every five jobs in SouthCarolina.

   (APPLAUSE)

   But it's not --it's not enough just to find the money.  The Corps of Engineers' currentbureaucracy is so long and so stupid that they currently take eight years tostudy -- not to do the project, to study the project.  We fought theentire Second World War in three years and eight months.  Now, if you canbeat Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan in three years and eightmonths, it is almost unimaginable that it now takes eight years to study theproject.

   So, I want tofundamentally overhaul the entire federal government at every level to producea modern, lean, effective federal government.

   (APPLAUSE)

   Let me also saythat -- that the president's decision to veto the Keystone Pipeline...

   (BOOING)

   ...you know, youhave to wonder how out of touch with reality this administration is.  It's-- it's one thing to say that they can't play chess at the White House. It's another thing to say they can't play checkers at the White House. But if they can't play tic tac toe? The president says, no we don't want you tobuild a pipeline from central Canada, straight down with no mountainsintervening, to the largest petrochemical center in the world, Houston, so thatwe would make money on the pipeline, we'd make money on managing the pipeline,we'd make money on refining the oil and we'd make money in the ports of Houstonand Galveston shipping the oil.

   Oh no, we don'twant to do that because Barack Obama is taking care of his extremist left wingfriends in San Francisco.  They think that will really stop the oil fromgetting out.  No, what Prime Minister Harper, who by the way is a conservativeand pro-American, what he has said is, he's going to cut a deal with theChinese and they'll build a pipeline straight across the Rockies to Vancouver.We will get none of the jobs, none of the energy, none of theopportunity.  Now, an American -- an American president who can create aChinese-Canadian partnership is truly a danger to this country.

   (APPLAUSE)

   But it getsworse.  Last Sunday, the Saudi's announced they were signing a deal withthe Chinese to build nuclear energy facilities in Saudi Arabia.  So theSaudi's are now saying, we so distrust the Obama administration, we'd ratherrely on the Chinese.  The Iranians for two weeks taunt us with exercisesaimed at closing the Straights of Hormuz and the Obama administration answer isto cancel military exercises with Israel because we don't want to provoke theIranians?

   (BOOING)

   President Obamais a president so weak that he makes Jimmy Carter look strong.

   (APPLAUSE)

   Let me just saythat I believe the debate we're going to have with President Obama over thenext eight or nine months, the outlining of the two Americas.  The Americaof the Declaration of Independence, the America of Saul Alinsky.  TheAmerica of paychecks.  The America of food stamps.  The America ofindependence.  The America of dependence.  The America of strength inforeign policy, the America of weakness in foreign policy.  Those twochoices, I believe will give the American people a chance to decide permanentlywhether we want to remain the historic America that has provided opportunityfor more people of more backgrounds than any country in history, or whether infact, we prefer to become a brand new secular, European-style bureaucraticsocialist system.

   (BOOING)

   I agree withyou.  I'm running because Callista and I have looked at the future forMaggie and Robert and we decided, no.  We're not going to go the route ofObama and his kind of radical ideas.

   (APPLAUSE)

   So, in order tocarry out this great debate, to rally the American people to reasserting theirbelief in America, to winning the election decisively this fall, to profoundlychanging Washington starting on day one.  When, by the way we abolish allthe White House czars.

   (APPLAUSE)

   To do that -- todo that, we need to build on this victory by going to Florida.  I needyour help in reaching out to people in Florida.  I need your help infinding anybody who believes in what we're doing and telling them to go tonewt.org, just my first name, to sign up, to donate, to get involved. We don'thave the kind of money that at least one of the candidates has.  But we dohave ideas and we do have people.  And we proved here in South Carolinathat people -- people power with the right ideas, beats big money.  Andwith your help, we're going to prove it again in Florida.

   Thank you, goodluck and God bless you.

   END .ETX