Newt sets the record straight

[KG1]

Setting the Record Straight:
Newt's Positions on the Issues and His Record.

Answering the Attacks | Newt Gingrich 2012

 

[rambone]

This should be fun to debunk.

 

[KG1]

Actual accomplishments of Newt Gingrich from 15yrs. ago instead of a bunch of political musings that have never amounted to anything more than that.

The Newt Gingrich Record

THE RESULTS OF NEWT GINGRICH’S FOUR YEARS OF NATIONAL LEADERSHIP:

Eleven Million New Jobs Created By the American People. In four years, the national unemployment rate fell from 5.6% to 4.2%

Federal Spending Held to the Slowest Growth Rate Since the Early 1950s (avg. of 2.9% a year).

Four Straight Balanced Budgets for the First Time Since the 1920s.

Dynamic Entrepreneurial and Investment Growth from the Biggest Capital Gains Tax Cut in History. Venture capital spending grew 500% in three years and manufacturing sector grew to 17.43 million jobs.

Bipartisan Welfare Reform that Lifted Millions from Poverty. Within five years of the passage of bipartisan welfare reform, child poverty had dropped by nearly a quarter, child poverty in single-parent households reached an all-time low, and nearly two-thirds of those who left welfare were gainfully employed.

Over $400 Billion of National Debt Paid Down During the Balanced Budget Years. During his four year Speakership, Gingrich led a reduction in the share of the public debt for every worker in the amount of $2,484. (Compared to an increase of $26,302 per worker under Obama.)

 

[88GT]

Newt: the political EVERYMAN.

 

[KLB]

Interesting that these claims of leadership would normally be attributed to a President not a Speaker of the House.

Also, why did the deficit go up every year if they balanced the budget? A surplus from Social Security made them all look good.

 

[UncleMike]

This should be fun to debunk.

 

[KG1]

Interesting that these claims of leadership would normally be attributed to a President not a Speaker of the House.

Also, why did the deficit go up every year if they balanced the budget? A surplus from Social Security made them all look good.

Not necessarily. Not if you had to get the President in a position to do it reluctantly. I believe they had to go a few rounds to get Clinton to go against the grain and sign on to welfare reform. I also believe it's Congress's job to control spending and do the grunt work to carry out a balanced budget.

Sure enough, the 1994 congressional elections brought about what would be called the "Republican Revolution." After four decades of Democratic control, the GOP won the majority in the House, and Gingrich was elected speaker. Fiercely opposed to many policies of President Clinton, Gingrich was instrumental in getting Clinton to reluctantly sign the GOP's welfare reform act after two initial vetoes. It was a major victory for Gingrich. Gingrich also had other major pieces of legislation passed, including a balanced budget and a capital gains tax cut.

.Newt Gingrich Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story - Biography.com

 

[steveh_131]

Actual accomplishments of Newt Gingrich from 15yrs. ago instead of a bunch of political musings that have never amounted to anything more than that.

The Newt Gingrich Record

THE RESULTS OF NEWT GINGRICH’S FOUR YEARS OF NATIONAL LEADERSHIP:

Eleven Million New Jobs Created By the American People. In four years, the national unemployment rate fell from 5.6% to 4.2%

Federal Spending Held to the Slowest Growth Rate Since the Early 1950s (avg. of 2.9% a year).

Four Straight Balanced Budgets for the First Time Since the 1920s.

Dynamic Entrepreneurial and Investment Growth from the Biggest Capital Gains Tax Cut in History. Venture capital spending grew 500% in three years and manufacturing sector grew to 17.43 million jobs.

Bipartisan Welfare Reform that Lifted Millions from Poverty. Within five years of the passage of bipartisan welfare reform, child poverty had dropped by nearly a quarter, child poverty in single-parent households reached an all-time low, and nearly two-thirds of those who left welfare were gainfully employed.

Over $400 Billion of National Debt Paid Down During the Balanced Budget Years. During his four year Speakership, Gingrich led a reduction in the share of the public debt for every worker in the amount of $2,484. (Compared to an increase of $26,302 per worker under Obama.)

This page on his website was pretty devoid of research and links. I'd like to know what exactly he did to make all these things happen, not just a laundry list of things that occurred while he happened to be around.

 

[88GT]

This page on his website was pretty devoid of research and links. I'd like to know what exactly he did to make all these things happen, not just a laundry list of things that occurred while he happened to be around.

Every last one of them except for the jobs created is directly attributable to legislation passed during his term as Speaker.

And the jobs created are a direct result of about half of the list. Doesn't really take a rocket scientist to understand the connection. Hell, Clinton gets credit for the welfare reform too and he balked at it twice before putting pen to paper.

 

[PistolBob]

Over $400 Billion of National Debt Paid Down During the Balanced Budget Years. During his four year Speakership, Gingrich led a reduction in the share of the public debt for every worker in the amount of $2,484. (Compared to an increase of $26,302 per worker under Obama.)

The last time the national debt was reduced was in 1957 under Eisenhower. It hasn't gone down a dime since then. This statement above is in error.

Not one dime.

Historical Debt Data

 

[KG1]

This page on his website was pretty devoid of research and links. I'd like to know what exactly he did to make all these things happen, not just a laundry list of things that occurred while he happened to be around.

As has been pointed out it was under Newt's leadership in Congress that made these initiatives possible.

Now there are some that will acknowledge Gingrich's role but they have debated the facts as to how much he played a part and what percentage Clinton should get the credit. Unlike some others I don't have a problem with presenting both sides of the debate.

Here are a couple of pieces that I came across. The first one suggests that Clinton played more of a role than Gingrich is giving him credit for as far as balanced budgets and the second one suggests otherwise.

Listening to Gingrich, you would be forgiven for forgetting there was a president (Bill Clinton) in office at the time the nation starting running a budget surplus.

Gingrich is right to assert that he and the Republican Congress prodded Clinton to move to the right and embrace such conservative notions as a balanced budget and welfare reform. (Clinton vetoed two versions of welfare reform before signing the bill, prompting some key staff members to resign in protest.)

Fact checker: Newt Gingrich

Here is the second article from 1998 suggesting that Clinton got to much credit.

Newt Gingrich and company -- for all their faults -- have received virtually no credit for balancing the budget. Yet today's surplus is, in part, a byproduct of the GOP's single-minded crusade to end 30 years of red ink. Arguably, Gingrich's finest hour as Speaker came in March 1995 when he rallied the entire Republican House caucus behind the idea of eliminating the deficit within seven years.

No, Bill Clinton Didn't Balance the Budget

 

[steveh_131]

Every last one of them except for the jobs created is directly attributable to legislation passed during his term as Speaker.

I don't think that's necessarily true. The biggest one he touts is balancing the budget, but what did he actually do to balance it? Does Newt get credit for the booming economy of the 1990's? I can't imagine how he could, but it certainly had an enormous effect on the deficit.

So, again, I ask: What exactly did he do to balance the budget? How much did congress cut spending while he was there, and what did he do to influence it?

 

[Phil502]

See there you go, we cant trust Newt, just like his wife did.

 

[steveh_131]

Who Balanced the Budget? | Stephen Moore | Cato Institute: Daily Commentary

The galloping economy has played a major role in reducing the deficit by sweeping record levels of tax revenue into the treasury over the past two years. This year, federal revenues are running about $110 billion above those of 1996. Here again Republicans can deservedly claim partial credit -- but mainly for what they have not done, rather than what they have done. They have not crippled the economy with costly new mandates or regulations (although the forthcoming EPA clean air mandates may be a severe body blow). They have not enacted expensive entitlement expansions (with the glaring exception of this year's child health care programs). They have not raised taxes. The animal spirits guiding this economic expansion appear contented enough with a Congress that is at a bare minimum committed to doing no harm.

 

[rambone]

Republicans against Gingrich

If Newt was such a great leader, responsible for every good thing that happened in the 1990s, he sure has a lot of his own Republican colleagues unhappy to see him return.

A Capitol Chameleon : What Will Newt Gingrich Do Next?

So, later, did some people in the White House. During last year's budget summit, Gingrich, as a leader, sat at the table while negotiators from both parties attempted to hammer together a five-year, deficit-busting deal. While the others bickered, Gingrich read pulp novels. "It was incredible, the arrogance of it," fumed one participant.

Despite Rise, Gingrich Hated By Many Republicans

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who served in the House with Gingrich, has perhaps been the most vocal of the anti-Gingrich Republicans. Over the span of two Sundays, Coburn has appeared on weekend news shows and unequivocally stated that Gingrich doesn't have what it takes in temperament or talent to be president.

"There's all types of leaders," Coburn said on "Fox News Sunday" last week. "Leaders that instill confidence. Leaders that are somewhat abrupt and brisk. Leaders that have one standard for the people that they’re leading and a different standard for themselves. I just found his leadership lacking, and I’m not going to go into greater detail than that."

"Newt Gingrich was a disaster as speaker,"Rep. Peter King told McClatchy Newspapers. "Everything was self-centered. There was a lack of intellectual discipline."

Republican old guard takes aim at Gingrich

Former Senator Alan Simpson recalls with great clarity the day, as he describes it, that Newt Gingrich “lied to the president of the United States’’ in budget negotiations with George H.W. Bush.

Simpson ... remembers Gingrich as a disruptive and destructive force, one who caused self-inflicted damage to the party and helped set up President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection and other Democratic victories.

...are hoping to remind voters of Gingrich’s record. If it were a movie, it might be called “The Establishment Strikes Back.’’

John H. Sununu, the former New Hampshire governor, and Jim Talent, the former senator from Missouri, who blasted Gingrich’s bombastic ways and said he would be a lightning rod for controversy.

“If the nominee is Newt Gingrich, then the election is going to be about the Republican nominee, which is exactly what the Democrats want,’’ Talent said. “If they can make it about the Republican nominee, then the president is going to win.’’

Simpson has been one of the most visible party members in urging more cooperation between the parties. “If Newt had done what he said he would do. . .the country would not be in the mess it is right now,’’ Simpson said.

Former US representative Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma, who worked in the party leadership with Gingrich before leaving Congress in 1993, charged in an interview that Gingrich changed the “structure of our congressional system’’ from representing constituents to “demanding uniformity.’’

“This is a man only interested in his own grandiosity,’’ said Edwards, who has not endorsed any candidate.

 

[88GT]

I don't think that's necessarily true. The biggest one he touts is balancing the budget, but what did he actually do to balance it? Does Newt get credit for the booming economy of the 1990's? I can't imagine how he could, but it certainly had an enormous effect on the deficit.

So, again, I ask: What exactly did he do to balance the budget? How much did congress cut spending while he was there, and what did he do to influence it?

C'mon, man, you're being obtuse. Again.

The same criticisms are going to fall on Paul if/when he wins the general, and when the same positive legislation comes out of Congress and he signs it, you're going to be telling the world "Look what Paul did."

And Paul would have done LESS than any member of Congress.

 

[jon5212]

I haven't heard any candidate besides Ron Paul that speaks about bringing our government back to its constitutional duties at all. And he is the only one out of the bunch I can believe anything from because he has a track record to prove it.

 

[steveh_131]

C'mon, man, you're being obtuse. Again.

The same criticisms are going to fall on Paul if/when he wins the general, and when the same positive legislation comes out of Congress and he signs it, you're going to be telling the world "Look what Paul did."

And Paul would have done LESS than any member of Congress.

Then I'd better provide some solid evidence of what he did and what effect it had.

So far, all I see is a budget balanced by the tech bubble and some tax hikes from a few years prior.

How much spending did he actually cut with his budget, and where from?