Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is the second prospective “candidate” to speak at Congressman Steve King’s conference in Des Moines. Listen: GingrichMarch26
“First of all, it’s great to be here and I’m very proud of what…Steve King is doing in Washington to defund ObamaCare,” Gingrich said to start. “…What he is doing is really important because we have to draw the line in the sand this year and we have to stop ObamaCare being implemented this year.”
(Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour — the first speaker at this event — did not do the same kind of homage to King, BTW.)
Gingrich mentioned some aspects of the health care reform act dealing with dental care. “It’s not a laughing matter and Steve King understand that,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich then mentioned his wife, Callista, who went to college in northeast Iowa. “She spent four years getting to know Iowa winters better, but since she’s from western Wisconsin, she actually thought of it as going south for the winter,” he joked.
Gingrich declared himself “very optimistic” about the 2012 election. “I think there are three large topics on which we can recenter America. The first is values…the second is the economy…and the third is national security,” he said.
Gingrich derided “many of our tenured faculty” at colleges around the country, then suggested “every class in K-12, in every tax-paid college university should teach the Declaration of Independence.” This drew applause. “And I don’t care what the ACLU says, they should teach it accurately and they should explain what the Founding Fathers meant when they said, ‘We held these truths self-evident…and that we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.'”
Gingrich next rejected the idea the GOP should focus on economic rather than social issues in 2012. “If you don’t start with values…the rest of it doesn’t matter. Life is not just about money,” Gingrich said, to applause.
Gingrich addressed economic issues, then went to national security, addressing his statements about Libya. (Read background here.)
Gingrich said at this point, the “only rational objective” of the current U.S. involvement in Libya is the removal of Gaddafi “as quickly as possible.”
Gingrich, as he has recently, derided Obama as a “spectator in chief” who is “confused” about “whether his job is kicking a soccer ball” or being the leader of the free world.
Gingrich mentioned the 200 executive orders he’d sign on day one if he’s elected president.
“We can turn it around with remarkable speed,” Gingrich said as he neared conclusion.
About O.Kay Henderson
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
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