Moment of Clarity: Gingrich fully recants on Gore’s global warming ‘love seat’ ad with Pelosi: ‘The dumbest single thing I’ve done in years’
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Gingrich Was ‘Debating the Left’ When He Cuddled With Pelosi: ‘Um, oh geez, this is embarrassing but…Newt’s point about debating the left is probably too subtle for us to pick up on. We’re so dumb’
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After pressure from Climate Depot, Gingrich finally ‘regrets’ 2008 Gore climate ‘loveseat’ ad with Pelosi — But Newt still claims ad was ‘misconstrued’ & was somehow a ‘debate’
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has officially flip-flopped about his 2008 Al Gore ad with Nancy Pelosi on global warming. Gingrich declared he now regrets making the commercial. Gingrich’s announcement comes after months of pressure from global warming skeptics, led by Climate Depot. (See: Sierra Club’s Carl Pope recognizes Climate Depot as Kingmaker: ‘All seem to be mindful of the remarkable know-nothing standard set for GOP candidates by Marc Morano’)
The Hill – July 26, 2011 Excerpt: Gingrich regrets 2008 climate ad with Pelosi — By Michael O’Brien – 07/26/11 — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Tuesday that he regrets making a commercial with then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on the need to address climate change. Gingrich, who partnered with Pelosi while she was Speaker for the 2008 ad, said the spot was “misconstrued,” and for that reason, he wouldn’t do it again. “I was trying to make a point that we shouldn’t be afraid to debate the left, even on the environment,” Gingrich said on WGIR radio of the 30-second television commercial. “Obviously it was misconstrued, and it’s probably one of those things I wouldn’t do again.” That commercial has caused some difficulties for Gingrich in the Republican presidential primary. […] Gingrich said in January that he “meant exactly what [he] said in that commercial,” which was produced by the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit organization founded by former Vice President Al Gore (D). In the ad, Gingrich makes no endorsement of any policy solution, but says the “country must take action to address climate change.” [End The Hill article excerpt.]
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Climate Depot’s executive editor Marc Morano responded on July 27 to Gingrich’s latest evolving explanation of his 2008 Pelosi ad.
Morano: “Gingrich is now admitting the obvious, the Gore climate ad with Pelosi was rooted in sub-prime science, sub-prime economics and sub-prime politics. We welcome Gingrich’s last ditch attempt to grasp scientific and political reality, but still scratch our heads as to why Newt refers to the Pelosi ad as some kind of ‘debate’ that was ‘misconstrued’ by the public. Mr. Gingrich, please just admit your whopper of a mistake and stop trying to spin your embarrassing behavior.”
Watch Gingrich/Pelosi loveseat ad here.
Gingrich’s latest shift on global warming leaves only former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney as the only two announced GOP candidates clinging to the Al Gore …
Morano on John Batchelor: ‘Newt claimed conservatives need a seat at the table…if you have a seat at the table with Gore and Pelosi, your goal should be to tip over the table — not capitulate’
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Listen Now: Climate Depot’s Morano on Heartland radio: ‘The problem with Gingrich is deception… he is trying to fool the voters…Newt thought AGW was the bandwagon winning issue’ Listen here.
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Newt lies?!: ‘If you read what I said on the couch. I said this is a topic worth debating. We should be able to find ‘incentives’, the specific word I used, to lower amount of carbon in atmosphere’
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Lou Dobbs: Gingrich’s climate ad with Pelosi ‘hurts him’ — will prove ‘more difficult than any charges about his personal life’
GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is facing more scrutiny about his 2008 global warming ad for Al Gore with former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. [See Gingrich/Pelosi video here.] [Update: May 16: Gingrich tries new spin, claims he used word he never used.]
On the May 13, 2011 edition of ‘The O’Reilly Factor’, host Bill O’Reilly and guest Lou Dobbs mocked and ridiculed Gingrich’s climate ad with Pelosi and warned it could single-handedly derail his presidential bid. [Note: Gingrich has refused to apologize or recant the ad and instead now claims it was a ‘debate’ with Pelosi.]
Watch Bill O’Reilly and Lou Dobbs discuss Gingrich here.
O’Reilly presented the Gingrich political ad and then quipped that Gingrich and Pelosi “looked natural.” “A regular Sonny and Cher out there. aren’t they? ‘I got you Babe,’” O’Reilly joked.
Former CNN anchor and current Fox Business host Dobbs agreed. “Absolutely. They were made for each other,” Dobbs said.
Partial Transcript Follows:
O’Reilly: ‘Does this hurt Newt Gingrich?’
Dobbs: ‘Without question. If he had said nothing Bill — just sitting next to Nancy Pelosi.
O’Reilly: ‘Just on the couch with her…’
Dobbs: ‘Especially that couch — he would be in real trouble. This is going to be more difficult than any charges about his personal life. This is more difficult, in my judgment, for him than anything else…Gingrich is talking about climate change, he is making clear the implication that climate change is the responsibility of a Republican Speaker and a Democratic Speaker. It is not a smart choice on his part.
O’Reilly: ‘You think people will remember it and hold it against him?’
Dobbs: ‘Without question. And conservatives who are his natural allies, are going to be offended by this [Pelosi] ad.’
Watch O’Reilly and Dobbs discuss Gingrich/Pelosi ad here.
Related Gingrich/Pelosi Gore Ad Links:
Update: Gingrich on radio (Begins at 14:20): ‘I am for incentives for bio-fuels such as ethanol which have a much lower impact on the environment’
Climate Depot Response: ‘Wrong again, Mr. Gingrich. You never once uttered …
Gingrich: I know it looked and sounded like I was spooning with Pelosi in that ’08 global warming hoax ad, but I was actually debating her
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Politico: Gingrich’s ‘love seat’ predicament with Pelosi — ‘just won’t go away’ — Newt Digs In: ‘I don’t know what we’d apologize for’
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Media Coverage Grows: Politico Covers Newt’s Epic Failure: Climate Depot’s Morano: ‘How stupid does Gingrich think American voters are?’
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