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Newt Gingrich: Luxury Cruise Vacation Led To Better Understanding Of Greek Debt Crisis

The Huffington Post   First Posted: 11/14/2011 4:18 pm Updated: 11/14/2011 4:18 pm

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said his luxury cruise vacation through the Greek Isles in June gave him a better understanding of Greece's debt crisis.

While speaking at an event in Iowa, Gingrich said he was heavily influenced while visiting Greece with his wife Callista, according to MSNBC.

"An observation strategically about where we are ... was very much influenced when I visited Greece in June and talked to people what they were faced with in Greece," Gingrich said. "And I listened to them."

Gingrich's two-week vacation was a low moment for his then-budding presidential campaign, with his entire senior staff resigning en masse while he was away.

The former Speaker of the House persisted with his campaign despite the setback, and it seems the work is starting to pay off. According to polls released this week, Gingrich is experiencing a surge in Republican primary race as challengers Rick Perry and Herman Cain lose ground.

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09:51 PM on 12/03/2011
Newt is more expert on grease than he is on Greece. Fact finding on a luxury yacht hardly qualifies him to even comment on the problems in that country.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
l78lancer
Wisdom is the principal thing
10:59 PM on 11/16/2011
Newt recounting this story sounds more like a kid giving a class report about "what I did on my summer vacation."

How convenient; how implausable.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ethical Cat
10:26 PM on 11/15/2011
I was in Frankfurt when the Occupy Frankfurt demonstration gathered momentum. And it afforded me a better understanding of the whole European Union issue on social inequality and banking greed...
11:54 AM on 11/15/2011
This reminds me of Robin Williams' quip: "I can see San Quentin from my back yard; that doesn't make qualify me on prison reform."
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VirginiaDreaming
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent
10:17 AM on 11/15/2011
Something just occurred to me. If Newt is claiming that he studied the Greek economy on his trip, will he be able to charge the trip to his campaign? Is there anyone out there that can check on this?
Somehow, that seems like something he might try.
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VirginiaDreaming
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent
10:11 AM on 11/15/2011
Can we send Newt back to the Greek Isles on an extended fact finding mission. Ten years might be long enough.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
TEHelms
Still learning....
09:54 AM on 11/15/2011
OMG! I told everyone that at the least, Newt would be entertaining. I just didn't realize how entertaining he would be! My kids told more believable stories when they were five years old!
09:50 AM on 11/15/2011
This sounds a little like Palin's vast knowledge of Russian diplomacy.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
JoannainPA
Realtor, ABR
09:17 AM on 11/15/2011
Make it stop, please make it stop.
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Mac1000
My macro-bio ate my micro-bio.
10:09 AM on 11/15/2011
X2!!!!!!!!!
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
nana-anne
just trying to make sense of the senseless
09:12 AM on 11/15/2011
Consider the unifying core beliefs of the Republican Party, the areas which have audiences at their debates cheering.
War,
Torture,
Allowing uninsured citizens to die,
Carrying out death penalty regardless of new evidence,
Allowing a mother to die in childbirth,
Hatred for a soldier in battle because of their gender preference.
Making anyone who is NOT a straight white christian conservative suspect of being somehow less and worthy of hate.
YOU and you know who you are do not represent the principles of our Nation nor the right to be called "Christian"
09:08 AM on 11/15/2011
So a luxury vacation turns into a "fact finding mission?"

Newt must have had a conversation with his tax attorney.

I for one would like to see a list of who he had meetings with.......
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FalstaffsMind
"This isn't right, this isn't even wrong." - Pauli
09:04 AM on 11/15/2011
That's a bit like saying you visited Disney World and discussed Credit Default Swaps with the people there.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Greta42
Let's make the House tea-free in 2014
09:03 AM on 11/15/2011
Newt acquires his education by drive by, cruise by, and walk by excursions. He became an expert on credit card debt from his trips to Tif.fany's.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
LynnTTT
09:00 AM on 11/15/2011
Hubby and I went to Greece two years ago on our own. We were there three weeks and cruised around on the ferries, bought tickets on our own, spoke to locals, ate at inexpensive restaurants, etc. But somehow I still am not an expert on Greek economics. Go figure.
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Catherine Lynch Monks
If you don't vote don't complain
08:55 AM on 11/15/2011
I bet he had a wonderful chat with the steward when he came to bring fresh towels...