Democrats open up line of attack on Gingrich

After months of emails and web videos focused almost exclusively on attacking Mitt Romney's record, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is now shifting focus. Early this morning, they released the first web video attacking Newt Gingrich.

The video, posted at 1:41 AM, intersperses clips of Gingrich as Speaker of the House and in Saturday night's Republican presidential debate. The ad accuses him of espousing Tea Party views and being the "original Tea Partier."

(Watch the video above.)

In a post-debate statement, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz used similar language saying, "Newt Gingrich was a Tea Party politician even before there was a Tea Party -- he supported gutting funding for education and Medicare to fund a tax cut for millionaires and shut down the government over it and those are the same policies he supports today."

This first Gingrich attack comes just days after Obama advisers said they believed there was a "realistic chance" Gingrich could be the GOP nominee.

While this week marks the beginning of an assault on a new candidate for the Obama campaign, a senior campaign adviser said they are not going to let up on Romney while they open a second line of attack on Gingrich.

The decision to engage Gingrich was made out of reality. "It's clear he's leading in the polls," the adviser said, "the dynamics of the race have changed."

[Dianna-Rene]

I think only "line of attack" the Democrats need to use on Mr.Gingrich, is to hold a microphone to his mouth.

[BlackhorseCtrp]

Is the DNC trying to help gingrich get the GOP nod? Being labeled O.T.P. is something Newt won't try to fight.
But they should be careful, they might get what they've wished for. The man is the most formidable debator in the race. That shouldn't be cast aside lightly. Newt has attained front-runnership presicely because of it. And those speeches tend to contain fistpumping moments. Newt wants to have a series of seven, three hour Lincoln-Douglas debates. The president will never go for it. But then his REFUSALS will become the major issue. Very dangerous for a candidate not to answer such a direct challenge.

[BlackhorseCtrp]

Just watched the vid again. Newt should send a letter of thanks.

[BlackhorseCtrp]

Just watched the vid again. Newt should send a letter of thanks.

[sandiegopete]

Not much chance Lord Gingrich will be elected. Too many people in this country believe the American Revolution was fought to remove royalty from national influence. So, even though Lord Gingrich does not like the unwashed poor and would rather not see them, if there was to be an honest election (is that possible in the USA?) there is no chance that a latter day royalist would be elected.

[Idiosync]

The National Defense Authorization Act, we are in Nazi mode now. Hurry, Hurry, get your Shiny new genuine youth league Arkansas Toothpick for signing up but wait, if you sign up this very minute we will throw in a new Louisville slugger!!! It's not just for baseball anymore. SS applique not included but, for three low payments of $99.99 we'll include ten iron-on SS appliques and a bottle of Mothers stainless steel polish.

[perish6]

Who cares about "the rich". If we took all the assets of the top 1% today, we would still be broke tomorrow. It is all just a game to garner votes from the non-rich majority. It really is meaningless in any real sense of revenue gain.

What we need are real LONG term programs and policies to move the economy forward creating tax revenue and jobs and less government dependence.

[arthanyel]

Just to be completely factual - if we seized all the assets of the top 1% (which will never happen and no one, not even the most liberal Democrat, would ever suggest such a thing) it would solve all our fiscal problems for some time. The top 1% own 43% of the nation's TOTAL wealth, which is (in 2009) approximate 55 TRILLION dollars, so the top 1% own approximately 24 TRILLION - enough to retire the entire debt and then some. Of course the 1% pay a significant amount of the personal income tax revenue, so it would worsen the deficit problem by about 600M per year.

That said, your second paragraph is completely on point and I agree 100%. Just taking more money from the roich will not solve any of the real problems in the long run.

[bajajohn1]

Honestly, could any of you trust Gingrich with your sister, wife or even your mother?

[perish6]

Why would we have to?
You have a really warped view of the presidency.

[DiMaggio_8]

After the first GOP Presidential debate the public is just getting less interested in the baggage of the Republican Party and Tea Party Movement. Herman was king for a few minutes of fame in debate number one. It all just got worse after the GOP Presidential herd left Orlando.

Newt is getting sloppy. He never believed with all his baggage that he would be the new GOP target of the month. All the others who lead fell like lead. He will do the same.

He was only in this Presidential campaign game playing to sell his books and media.

Now the Republican Party and Tea Party Movement is out to squash this American Heritage Foundation puppet master. He is just a one soldier in this foundations fight.

Karl Rove and similar slime merchants will endorse what this foundation is pushing directly and indirectly though PR campaigns. So the foundation is removing its support therefore of the GOP leader of the month Newt Gingrich to shore up its next favorite pick be it Ron Paul or Mitt Romney.

Ron Paul is spot on in the debates but has a hard sell group of agenda. He can't delete all the departments of government without concurring a higher national debt since the privatization of federal programs jacks up the costs and removes the glove in the fighters of big business, big oil, big coal, and big insurance and big finance.

So the Foundation is selling Mitt Romney like he is the new meth. You will get a rush for sure but you will just be a junkie of the GOP machine and its real heart in mind the American Heritage Foundation who looks out not the lower 99 percent but the super wealthy who finance them AKA the Koch Brothers.

[RobAla]

"In a post-debate statement, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz used similar language saying, "Newt Gingrich was a Tea Party politician even before there was a Tea Party -- he supported gutting funding for education and Medicare to fund a tax cut for millionaires and shut down the government over it and those are the same policies he supports today."

As usual, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, confuses getting rid of the federal Department of Education with gutting education. Education is run by the states, not the federal government. There was no federal department of education prior to it's creation in 1979. It's creation has not helped education, as the United States has continued to fall behind our nations in education for the last 3 decades.

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz needs to face the facts. The federal Department of Education is not working, and we need to get rid of dead weight in doing something about this horrible $15 trillion national debt.

[arthanyel]

The federal Department of Education spends the majority of its money in student loans to help people go to college. Without that support, and with the cost of college education rising 5 times faster than inflation, without that support only the rich would go to college. So gutting the funding for the Department is, IN FACT, gutting higher education for many people.

Which is what Republicans want - to have things work only for the 1% at the expense of everyone else.

That said, to be scrupulously fair, it is clear that many of the OTHER things the federal Department of Education has been doing are not helpful, and while we need to spend significant money on education we don't need to spend as much of it there. We need to significantly increase the pay for good teachers and we need to remove the protections for bad teachers that are (unfortunately) primarily a result of union negotiated contracts.

The bottom line is Wasserman-Shultz is 100% factual - Gingrich tried to gut education spending and Medicare to pay for tax cuts to millionaires, which is what ALL the Republicans want to do. It isn't unique to Gingrich.

[bajajohn1]

What part of Dodd-Franks do the Tea Party and Republicans not like? Is it the part where banks and Wall Street are regulated so as not to cause another economic fiasco...or is it the part, where banks that fail will have to bail each other out...instead of the taxpayer?

[Blackhawk82]

Here come the Democrats, they're going to brag about what Socialist Obama's done and here it is:_____________________NOTHING!

OrangPuteh, you're right about one thing, Obama's finished.

******ELIMINATE UNIONS. PACK YOUR BAGS (WIFE TOO) OBAMA******

[arthanyel]

Obama isn't a socialist. You should actually understand the words you use.

Republicnas are so committed to attacking Obama they ignore when their own candidates are retreads and low quality. A good candidate that appeals to indepedents could topple Obama. But the GOP won't field one.