Economy

Newt Gingrich's Race-Baiting Meltdown

He's utterly shameless. And it's so, so, soooo fun to watch this gasbag suffer a total meltdown.

"You want to be a country that creates food stamps, in which case frankly Obama's is an enormous success," Gingrich said in the recorded excerpt. "The most successful food stamp president in American history. Or do you want to be a country that creates paychecks?"

After David Gregory asked him if the statement was racist...

Gingrich replied, "That's, that's bizarre. That -- this kind of automatic reference to racism, this is the president of the United States. The president of the United States has to be held accountable. Now, the idea that -- and what I said is factually true. Forty-seven million Americans are on food stamps. One out of every six Americans is on food stamps."

And when, exactly, did all of that get started? Not during this president's term. As PolitiFact points out, t's the economic theories of supply-side fiscal conservatives (regardless of party) that's killing the middle class. The current president has done nothing but to mitigate the damage from 30 years of Reaganomics.

Oh, and yes. It was entirely intended to be a Southern Strategy dog whistle. Not a shocker from someone who made a bundle selling a book fantasizing about the Confederates winning the Civil War. (Yes, I intend to repeat that fact until Newt goes away.)