Although he’s way behind in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, that isn’t stopping former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich from launching rhetorical bombs at the Obama administration.
On Sunday’s “Fox & Friends,” Gingrich hammered the administration’s economic performance in the wake of the release of economic numbers indicating the current unemployment rate stands at 9.2 percent. (Major Garrett gives high marks to Boehner: ‘Stronger’ than Gingrich)
“[I] think we’re at the end of the era of big government,” Gingrich said. “We need to be cutting the government in a way that encourages entrepreneurs, innovators, investors — people who create jobs. At 9.2 percent now for month after month after month, this is the Obama depression. Housing prices have dropped deeper than in the Great Depression and it’s very clear that under Obama’s job killing policies, we’re not going to get out of this deep unemployment.”
Speaking about the ongoing negotiations to raise the debt ceiling, Gingrich said it might even be a strategic advantage politically for the GOP to “kick the can down the road,” with a small deal now to increase the debt ceiling that would put the issue back on the table in 2012.
“And so I think Republicans are correct to say, ‘First of all, no tax increase period,’” Gingrich said. “John Boehner was right. He deserves credit for recognizing that the right position for conservatives is no tax increase. Second, they ought to get the biggest spending cut deal they can by taking what Vice President Biden put on the table and if that means they come back in the summer of 2012 for another debt ceiling, that’s not to the disadvantage of Republicans. That just gives them 12 months to prepare for another series of spending cuts to further shrink the size of government.”
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