Gingrich: McCain Should Make Bailout 'Obama-Bush' Plan

Newt Gingrich says Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to bail out Wall Street is “a really bad idea” that, come Election Day, will “break against anyone who votes for it.” 

That includes, in the mind of the former Republican House speaker, John McCain. |

At a press conference Tuesday, Gingrich said the bailout proposal is a “watershed event” that puts the credibility of the GOP presidential nominee on the line. If McCain plays the maverick card, Gingrich said, the bailout will become the “Obama-Bush plan.” 

Gingrich said that if the “stupid” plan doesn’t clear Congress before the weekend, it will die in its crib because voters “who are already very dubious,” will have a chance to assess it more fully and make their views known to the lawmakers. 

If, however, the plan is enacted, then, in addition to being a “dead loser” on Nov. 4, it will damage its congressional proponents even more severely in 2010 -- once Americans see it as “the kind of corrupt scheme that could have been designed by [Russian prime minister] Vladimir Putin,” Gingrich said. 

Gingrich, who holds a doctorate in political science, advised President Bush to forge a backup “Plan B” should the Paulson approach fall through. But, as of now, he said, it still stands an 80 percent chance of passage in light of warnings from Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that if the lawmakers fail to act quickly, “The whole world will end.”