In Simi visit, Gingrich slams fiscal cliff ‘fantasy’

Nov. 28, 2012 – Ventura County Star
By Michele Willer-Allred
Politician and author Newt Gingrich, speaking in Simi
Valley on Wednesday night, said there is no pending
“fiscal cliff.”
The “fiscal cliff is a fantasy. It is an excuse to panic,” said
the former speaker of the House and candidate for the
2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Gingrich told a sold-out audience at the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library and Museum that the fiscal cliff is a
way to scare politicians into raising taxes.
“It is a device to get all of us running down the road so we

accept whatever Obama wants, because otherwise we will
have failed the fiscal cliff, and how can you be a patriot if
you don’t do what the fiscal cliff requires?” Gingrich said.
Gingrich, 69, joined his wife, Callista Gingrich, 46, at the
Reagan Library to sign copies of their books.
She signed copies of her children’s book “Land of the
Pilgrims’ Pride.”
He signed his book “Victory at Yorktown,” published
this month.
He said the couple launched “an American legacy” book
tour, with speaking and signing engagements across the
country to teach history and how important it is to be
an American.
Gingrich said the lack of understanding of true American
history is “at least 50 percent of why we’re in the mess
we are in.”
“Part of what Callista and I have done is to try to get
across to the American people that this is a country worth
knowing, and you know it by learning its history,” he said.
About the fiscal cliff, he said President Barack Obama’s
team is smart with making Grover Norquist the issue
rather than having people focus on their failure to produce
any serious spending cuts.
“Why are congressional Republicans allowing taxes
instead of spending to be the focus of budget discussions?
We are overspent, not undertaxed,” Newt Gingrich said.
About the lost presidential election, he said Republicans
should “get over it.”
“We had a bad election. We did a number of stupid things,

and we faced an opponent who was smarter than we
were, worked harder than we did, thought longer than we
did, did some clever things,” he said.
Although he gave Obama credit for winning the election,
“I’ve never seen anyone better at finding trivial distractions
in order to avoid responsibility,” he said.
“What I would say to the House Republicans is to get a
grip. They are the majority; they are not the minority. They
don’t need to cave in to Obama. They don’t need to form a
surrender caucus,” he said.
He said he talked about immigration during the
presidential nomination debates and said he doesn’t
blame people who show up in the United States when this
country refuses to control the border, require identification
or do anything toward illegal immigrants.
“It’s a little hard to tell you that you are stupid for taking
advantage of the richest country in the world that seems to
be saying, ‘Please come and exploit me,’ ” he said.
He said conservatives should not try to write laws based
on fantasy when it comes to immigration. He said it would
be stupid for the country to go after grandmothers who are
already here.
“I didn’t say (in the debates) to give amnesty. I’m not for
citizenship for people who come here illegally, but I’m for
figuring out a path for residency that gets them to pay
taxes, gets them within the law, gets them to be nonexploited,”
he said.
Gingrich also took a moment Wednesday to talk about
former first lady Nancy Reagan, who was not in

attendance for the speech.
“I hope all of you will join Callista and I with keeping Mrs.
Reagan in your prayers. She is a remarkable woman who
has spent a lifetime serving this country, and we all
cherish her as she continues to be active and continues to
play a role here at the library,” he said.