From Face the Nation, Nov. 16, 2008: Newt Gingrich and Bobby Jindall discuss why the Republicans lost this year. As usual there were trying to fob it off on George Bush. Never mind that Bush went along with every single policy that is at the core of Republican ideology. And the fact they they defended him at every turn which led us down a path that has almost left the country completely bankrupt. Jindall tries to pump the "we're a center-right nation" line that is littering our airwaves, but the facts don't support it and neither did the election. And as usual, Newt wraps it up by saying Obama won because he was "Reaganite".
Gingrich: I think that's right and if you look at the [...] you look at Sen. Obama's campaign he's promising a middle class tax cut. That was a Reaganite position.
I seem to recall that what was being spewed by Conservatives and Newt was that Obama is a Socialist leading up to Obama's victory. Maybe the people want Socialism, Newt?
Full transcript to follow.
Schieffer: I want to run by a couple of statistics by both of you. In 1980 Ronald Reagan got 14% of the black vote. This year John McCain got 4%. Now that's understandable. You had the first African American candidate and I think both of you would agree he was a very good candidate who ran a good campaign. But look at the rest of this. Ronald Reagan got 37% of the Hispanic vote, George Bush got 44%, John McCain 31%. Ronald Reagan in 1984 got 61% of the youth vote. John McCain got 32%. Now doesn't that tell you that you have been concentrating on the wrong things here?
Gingrich: Well hang on a second Bob, hold on a second. You take Reagan's greatest reelection in 1984 and McCain's defeat and you compare them and guess what? The guy who lost got fewer votes. But that was Reagan's greatest single vote. Now look..yeah.
Schieffer: Doesn't that you're concentrating, haven't you put too much emphasis on social issues here and not enough on issues that...
Gingrich: You know what the number one issue was this fall? The number one issue this fall was that the Bush administration had failed. Okay. That Republicans in the House and the Senate had failed. This was a performance election. You're a 20, 25, 30 year old person and you look at this mess and you say gosh, do I like this attractive, new articulate candidate named Obama who's for change we can depend on, or do I want to vote for the party that has just been failing?
Now I think we have temporarily a big problem. I think that President-elect Obama is brilliant and committed and lucky. He might well consolidate that vote. On the other hand if they watch what you just said in the first half of this show and you end up with Congress bailing out billions to failing companies and those 20 year olds and 30 year olds start to figure out they're going to pay the taxes. They're not getting the billions. I think you might find a lot of dissatisfaction by next summer.
Schieffer: How about you Gov. Jindal? What about this bailout?
Jindal: Well I think the speaker is right. I think the American voters, the American tax payers are rightfully skeptical. You go back to September what we heard from Washington was it was absolutely urgent to pass this bill right away and then since then we've heard multiple, different explanations as to how they're going to spend this money. I think tax payers are right to say one, we're the ones that are going to be paying the bills. Secondly, they're looking for competence.
I think this election certainly shows us that the American people are, I think we still live in a center-right country, but they're looking for competence. They're looking for real solutions. To your earlier question I think the Republican party needs to fight for every single vote. I don't believe that you win or lose elections based identity politics. I think you build majority coalitions by showing that we want every single American to live the American dream and I think we do that by offering real solutions.
I think as we do that we can do what Reagan did. He got those so called Reagan Democrats to vote for a Republican candidate not based on party affiliation but because he had the best idea, the best qualifications to help them send their kids to better schools, earn more in their careers and have access to affordable health care.
Schieffer: So what he is saying, and I think you agree, people voted against incompetence, not against ideology?
Gingrich: I think that's right and if you look at the [...] you look at Sen. Obama's campaign he's promising a middle class tax cut. That was a Reaganite position.
