Gingrich: Obama's Failure Is Extending the Recession

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," September 30, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: The country is turning against the Democrats, and instead of behaving like responsible adults, left-wing politicians, they're shifting the blame.

Now in just a moment you'll hear from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on this subject. And President Obama was the first to point the finger, and he pointed it straight at Fox News, saying that this network is destructive to the country's growth.

And now Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank is joining the chorus. The longtime congressman is in an unexpectedly tough reelection race against Republican Sean Bielat and for that he is blaming none other than, well, me among others. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BARNEY FRANK, D-MASS.: Yes, it's a tougher race because once I became chairman of the committee in 2007, the right-wing media talk show hosts decided to target me. Because I think they were frankly worried about what we would do.

I've had Hannity and Limbaugh and Beck basically say things about me that weren't true. And if people say things that aren't true over time, and you don't respond, then it has an impact.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. But their perpetual attacks on conservatives do not seem to be gaining traction because Republicans continue to surge in the polls.

In Washington GOP candidate Dino Rossi has edged ahead of Democrat Patty Murray. And he now leads her by one point 48-47.

Down in Florida Marco Rubio holds a commanding lead over Republican turned independent Charlie Crist. And Democrat Kendrick Meek he is running ahead of both by double digits.

And then out in the Golden State we have Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, she has pulled ahead of Democrat Jerry Brown. She now leads him 38-37.

Now those polls reflect a conservative ascendancy around the country. And here with analysis on the midterm elections is former speaker of the House, FoxNews contributor, host of the brand new documentary along with his wife, Callista, "America at Risk: The War with No Name," which is available at www.americaatrisk.com.

Mr. Speaker, welcome to the program. By the way, you're out at the Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab for America at Risk right now, right?

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: That's right. The Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab is a brilliant museum in Denver. I wish every American city had one. And if anybody comes to Denver, the city of John Elway, I certainly hope --

HANNITY: Yes.

GINGRICH: If they're going to go to the cell and see this remarkable museum about terrorism around the world, and I'm here tonight to talk about the threats to the United States.

HANNITY: Well, maybe --

GINGRICH: But I have to say, I have to say your opening -- these guys create the longest, deepest recession, since the great depression. In June more Americans were on food stamps than ever before in history.

The Democrats have become the party of food stamps. The Republicans are becoming the party of paychecks. And the guys who have made the unemployment, killed the jobs, created the food stamps, are now complaining that the American people don't like that future?

I think it's pretty sad that they can't stand up and defend their own policies.

HANNITY: You've been giving a speech around the country and I've been following it. And basically what you're saying is that if you want unemployment and you want food stamps, vote for the Democrats. If you want a job, if you want a paycheck, vote Republican.

Is it really that simple? Is that what this debate has now become?

GINGRICH: Well, look, I think it's that clear. If you look at the Republican pledge in the House. It is to create jobs, to control Washington spending, to cut taxes, to have a new, dramatic breakthrough in how to control regulations and bureaucracy.

It's a step towards a full employment economy. If you look at what we've advocated in American Solutions with Congressman Jordan's Economic Freedom Act. It's a step towards real job creation.

Then you look at the Obama, Pelosi, Reid job destruction program, bigger taxes, bigger bureaucracy, bigger red tape.

But here's the big thing. When Congress, the Democrats, voted to leave town without settling the tax question, they guaranteed that every American business is living in uncertainty. And therefore they have crippled job creation for the next three or four months.

And I don't think they even realized -- everywhere I go businesses say to me, how can they have this health bill? How can they have this financial regulatory bill? How can they have this confusion over taxes and expect us to create jobs?

Obama is extending the recession by the destructiveness of his failure. And that makes them the party of food stamps.

HANNITY: All right. It sounds to me like you're putting together like a great, great defense attorney. Your closing argument or a great prosecutor your closing argument here.

The president, though, is the one that launched what was supposed to be for them this massive class warfare debate, which is, you know, he talked about millionaires and billionaires and attacked big business.

And this was all going to lead up to this vote on extending the Bush tax cuts. They leave town without the vote, which I think was utterly cowardly on their part. But in part they had to leave because Democrats wouldn't go along for the first time, with the agenda of the leadership.

GINGRICH: Well, let me go back to this whole issue of killing jobs. The president proposed a tax increase on over half the profits of small businesses in America. Democrats went back home and they began to be told by every business they talked to that the president's proposal would kill jobs.

And so they came back and said to Nancy Pelosi and to Harry Reid, we're not going to vote with to you kill jobs. And all of a sudden the president's totally political, totally demagogic class warfare disintegrated.

Let me tell you. If you're having your job killed and you're ending up on food stamps because of the Obama policies, class warfare doesn't make you feel very good. What Obama has done is he's tried trickle down bureaucracy with a $787 billion stimulus package.

He has imposed gigantic federal controls through the Barney Frank reform bill. He has imposed enormous costs through the health bill and now he has totally muddled the tax situation.

The result is, let me repeat this, the longest, deepest recession since the great depression. No sign that it's going to end. And the president's policies are the reason. And so I think it's fair to say they have by killing jobs become the party of food stamps. And the Republicans have a chance to become the party of paychecks.

HANNITY: Well, and the statistics back you up. I mean for the first time since we have been keeping statistics, one in seven Americans are now in poverty. Poverty defined as a family of four making $22,000 a year.

We have 45 percent of the American people now, Mr. Speaker, that are dependent on some type of government benefit in some way, shape, manner or form. What I find interesting is the Democrats' response to this.

John Kerry lashes out at voters as ignorant. Joe Biden lashes out at liberals as being whiners. The president suggesting the other day well, liberals may not be as committed if they are going to be lethargic and just don't show up at the polls.

I've never saw or never have witnessed in all my years, and I started in radio in 1986 a party single-handedly go after people, the voters, the people that keep them in power, the people they're supposed to serve as much as now.

How -- what is the thinking behind that?

GINGRICH: Well, I think that what you have is a dedicated, hard-line, left-wing radical group who thought that the country wanted big government, that the country wanted high taxes, that the country didn't mind crushing the economy as long as they had government subsidies.

And all of a sudden they discovered that the American people actually reject them. There's no confusion. You read all the polling data. The American people believe that Obama's health plan is destructive. The American people believe that all these big tax increases are destructive.

The American people want smaller government, not bigger government.

I just saw a poll that was done by the Creebo Foundation. Ninety percent of the American people believe you have to have the right to fail if you're going to have the right to succeed. And they believe that that's what America is all about.

That's a total repudiation of the Obama, Pelosi, Reid model that government will crush your business but somehow take care of you. And it turns out most people don't want government to take care of them.

Most people want a chance to go out, pursue happiness, create a job, have a good family on their own.

HANNITY: All right, Mr. Speaker, we're going to come back. We'll continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." Now over the past several days Republicans and Democrats alike have come forward to condemn a campaign ad in which Florida Congressman Alan Grayson completely distorts and takes out of context comments that are made by his opponent, that's Republican Daniel Webster.

Now in case you missed this ridiculous video last night, take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Religious fanatics try to take away our freedom in Afghanistan, in Iran and right here in central Florida.

CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE DANIEL WEBSTER, R-FLA.: Wives, submit yourself to your own husband.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daniel Webster wants to impose his radical fundamentalism on us.

WEBSTER: She should submit to me. That's in the Bible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Webster tried to deny battered women medical care and the right to divorce their abusers.

WEBSTER: Submit to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wants to force-rape women to bear the child.

WEBSTER: Submit to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taliban Dan Webster, hands off our bodies.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And on behalf of Daniel Webster, the NRCC is setting the record straight. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Orlando Sentinel says that this Alan Grayson ad twists Dan Webster's words. Grayson edited the original video, chopping it up out of context.

Alan Grayson is comparing Christianity to the Taliban. The same Alan Grayson who called a top government economist a whore, likened Republicans to Nazis, said those who oppose President Obama's health care plan want Americans to die quickly.

Alan Grayson, he's a national embarrassment.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That pretty -- pretty much sums up the kind of man that Alan Grayson is. Joining me now again live tonight is former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

All right, Mr. Speaker, first of all, if you looked at Webster's comments. We played them in total the other night. He said don't pick that phrase -- he actually said don't pick that phrase. Submit to your wife -- wives submit to your husband. He said don't pick it.

And Grayson just chops it up to be just the opposite. I think it's probably one of the most destructive, distorted ads that I think I've ever seen in all the years I've been following politics. Your reaction.

GINGRICH: Well, what's happening to people like Grayson and I think what's happening to Barney Frank in his campaign is that you now live in an age where between YouTube, 24-hour talk radio, 24-hour cable news, it's a lot higher for -- it's harder for these guys to lie and get away with it. Because you can go back and find the original material.

And so, vicious, dirty tactic that might have worked 10 or 15 or 20 years ago aren't going to work because the truth is going to catch up with them. And Grayson is such a disgrace. He is so fundamentally dishonorable that I suspect he'll be repudiated by a huge margin.

Just by -- I bet a lot of Democrats are embarrassed and a lot of Democrats will vote against Grayson.

HANNITY: Yes.

GINGRICH: Just because they're decent people and he is so fundamentally dishonorable.

HANNITY: But do you think and there's a lot of people now especially in the Democratic Party they're running away from Nancy Pelosi. By the way, she's got a really high popularity rating. She's as popular as BP right now according to a latest poll.

Do you think she's gone as speaker, win, lose or draw?

GINGRICH: No, I think if they get -- if she gets the majority reelected she'll be speaker. She has enormous power. She's delivered everything that Barack Obama wanted. She has the full weight of the presidency behind her.

And I think the danger for her is, if they in fact get routed and Joe Gaylord, who you know well, who helped designed the '94 Contract with America campaign, his current estimate is that Republicans will pick up 55 seats in the House as a minimum. If that happens then I think that she may well face a real decision.

I'm not sure she wants to stay as minority leader. And at that point she may just leave.

HANNITY: Well, she may not have a choice, too, at that particular point.

It seems that there's no Democrat that wants to run on their record. If they voted for health care they're not running ads saying hey, I voted to pass the health care bill.

If they voted for stimulus or cap-and-tax they're not running ads that way. It seems that it's going very negative very fast. Another example besides Grayson is out in California where you have gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.

Now she hired somebody to work for her in 2000. The person signed a document under perjury statutes that, you know, said she was in the country legally, had a legal driver's license, a Social Security number, and now that person is saying well, Meg Whitman knew that I was illegal when all the evidence points to the contrary.

Is this what we're going to expect now for 33 more days?

GINGRICH: Yes. Look, you're going to have 33 days of Democrats desperately trying to make Republicans radioactive because if the election comes down to the record, and the election comes down to the economy, and the election comes down to really bad votes, the Democrats are just going to get crushed.

And so they're going to do everything they can to start a new argument and a new conversation. And they know that if they don't scar up the Republicans badly, they're just plain going to lose.

HANNITY: Yes.

GINGRICH: It is that straightforward. And that's why you're getting this kind of campaign.

HANNITY: Well, it's interesting. And then the president himself was lashing out at Fox as being destructive.

What do you think of so close to an election so many people close to the president, Rahm Emanuel is out, Axelrod is moving back to the campaign. We hear rumors that Gibbs is gone after the election. He lost Gates. His entire economic team except Tim Geithner, the tax cheat, wants to have another stimulus program and spend even more money. But all these people are leaving. Is it -- you know, are they leaving a sinking ship, in your view?

GINGRICH: Well, you know, I don't quite know what's going on in the White House right now. And I do find that the president doesn't seem to have the same level of loyalty that George W. Bush had, for that matter that Bill Clinton had.

And I don't quite know why. But it's kind of strange, you know, having Emanuel, for example, occupy and dominate the news in Chicago is just helping the Republicans win the governor's race out there and the Senate race out there because he's taking all the oxygen out of Democratic Party.

It's an act of enormous selfishness.

HANNITY: All right, Mr. Speaker, good luck with your speech which I think is about five minutes from right now. Thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

GINGRICH: Talk to you soon.

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