Gingrich Says 2006 Climate Change Ad He Starred In Was 'Misconstrued'
Back in 2006, Newt Gingrich was a Man Of Ideas. And one of the ideas he had was that he would appear in a PSA with Nancy Pelosi, paid for by the Alliance for Climate Protection, which was founded by Al Gore. In that PSA, Gingrich said things like: "We do agree, our country must take action to address climate change," and "if enough of us demand action from our leaders, we can spark the innovation we need."
Now, most of America saw this ad from Al Gore, climate change champion, and surmised that what Newt was trying to say was that "our country must take action to address climate change," and "if enough of us demand action from our leaders, we can spark the innovation we need." According to Gingrich, however, most of America was wrong!
"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."
Obviously, we totally misconstrued what Newt Gingrich was driving at that time he appeared in a commercial for an organization that considered the debate over climate change to be a settled and non-partisan concern, in which he said words to that effect in the English language clearly and audibly for the entire world to hear, on the teevee.
Since then, of course, Gingrich has teamed up with White House Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Al Sharpton (who, like Gingrich, is an alumnus of those 2006 Alliance For Climate Protection ads), as a part of a campaign to "push cities to fix failing schools." This team-up came about as a result of a "meeting they had with President Obama in May at the White House." Gingrich said, at the time, that he thought that Obama had "it exactly right, that education has to be the No. 1 civil right of the 21st century and I've been passionate about reforming education," that Obama showed "real courage on the issue of charter schools," and that he "strongly believe[d] that when you can find common ground, we should be able to put other differences aside to achieve a common goal."
I look forward to a future announcement from Newt Gingrich that everyone "misconstrued" his involvement with Obama and Duncan and Sharpton, and that what he was trying to do was "make a point that we shouldn't be afraid to debate the left, even on education."
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First Posted: 07/26/11 05:55 PM ET Updated: 09/25/11 06:12 AM ET