Newt Gingrich Under Fire For Comments On Blacks And Food Stamps, Freddie Mac Work

NEWPORT, N.H. — Working to reboot his presidential bid, Newt Gingrich is on the defensive in New Hampshire, under fire for a remark on race and facing fresh questions about his work for mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

That's pulling Gingrich off message just as he scrambles to build momentum after a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa's caucuses. The former House speaker is campaigning in New Hampshire in advance of the state's Jan. 10 primary, and he's already looking toward South Carolina, hosting a telephone town hall on Friday with voters in the state that will host the first Southern primary.

Gingrich came to New Hampshire with a singular mission: contrast himself with Republican front-runner Mitt Romney to undercut the former Massachussetts governor's conservative credentials while casting himself as the bold heir to Ronald Reagan. Instead, as he appeared at a gun manufacturer in Newport, N.H., reporters battered him with questions far off his script.

Gingrich drew a harsh rebuke from the NAACP and the National Urban League for a comment on Thursday at a senior citizen center in Plymouth, N.H., linking food stamps and African-Americans.

"Now there's no neighborhood I know of in America where, if you went around and asked people would you rather your children have food stamps or paychecks, you wouldn't have a majority saying they'd rather have paychecks," Gingrich said.

He has routinely criticized President Barack Obama as a "food stamp president" while predicting he would be a "paycheck president." He has also said in the past that, in a move toward inclusiveness, he'd attend the NAACP convention if he were invited. On Thursday at the senior citizen center, he merged those points.

"And so I'm prepared, if the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention to talk about why the African-American community should demand pay checks and not be satisfied with food stamps."

The remark trickled out in blogs Thursday and rapidly picked up steam. On Friday, Benjamin Jealous, head of the NAACP, issued a statement blasting Gingrich.

"It is a shame that the former speaker feels that these types of inaccurate, divisive statements are in any way helpful to our country," Jealous said.

Jealous also said Gingrich had been asked to attend the NAACP convention when he was House speaker and declined.

Marc Morial, of the National Urban League, called Gingrich's comment insulting and accused him of "dredging up the discredited racial stereotypes of the past."

Federal data shows that the majority of people using food stamps are not African-American. Gingrich's critics say he was perpetuating a stereotype that blacks rely heavily on government help.

Still, Gingrich wasn't backing down Friday, saying his words had been subjected to a "grotesque reinterpretation."

"I think you'd have to be nuts to read those two paragraphs and conclude anything except that I was saying that ... every young American deserves a chance to have a job. Every neighborhood deserves a chance to have paychecks instead of food stamps," he said.

Gingrich also faced questions Friday over whether he would release contracts with Freddie Mac, which he says earned two of his companies more than $1.6 million over eight years. He said he only pocketed about $35,000 a year himself.

Gingrich said he is "perfectly happy" to make his contracts with the mortgage giant public but the decision must be made by lawyers for the Center for Health Transformation, which he founded.

"I don't have any control over that," he said. "Because I don't work there, I don't own it, it's not my company."

There was no immediate comment from the Atlanta-based Center for Health Transformation about whether they would release the contracts.

Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said Gingrich sold his interests in the Center for Health Transformation in May 2010 as he prepared to enter the presidential race.

Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac has come under scrutiny because of its role in the housing meltdown. The former Georgia congressman was routinely quizzed about it at town halls across Iowa, where he was pounded by a barrage of negative advertisements.

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Follow Shannon McCaffrey: www.twitter.com/smccaffrey13

Comments

[Katie Colling]

06:23 PM on 01/24/2012

Who Gets Food Stamps?

The most recent Department of Agriculture report on the general characteristics of the SNAP program’s beneficiaries says that in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2010:

• 47 percent of beneficiaries were children under age 18.

• 8 percent were age 60 or older.

• 41 percent lived in a household with earnings from a job — the so-called “working poor.”

• The average household received a monthly benefit of $287.

• 36 percent were white (non-Hispanic), 22 percent were African American (non-Hispanic) and 10 percent were Hispanic (Table A.21).

[qtpeye46]

04:27 PM on 01/09/2012

Ok so let me get this correct.. its ONLY blacks that get food stamps?? Wow really? How about HUNGRY people get food stamps and FYI minimum wages will get a family of 2 food stamps so LETS RAISE MINIMUM WAGES EVERY WHERE!

[gwilson824]

01:55 PM on 01/09/2012

What is the % of African americans on food stamps?

[Livenak]

02:51 PM on 01/09/2012

African Americans make up 40% of welfare receivers yet they are only 14 % of total population.

[Katie Colling]

06:26 PM on 01/24/2012

Or if we want to tell the truth... "SNAP eligibility rules require that participants be at or below 130% of the Federal Poverty Level. Recent studies show that 49% of all SNAP participants are children (age 18 or younger), with almost two-thirds of SNAP children living in single-parent households. In total, 76% of SNAP benefits go towards households with children, 16% go to households with disabled persons, and 9% go to households with senior citizens.

According to demographic data, 43% of SNAP participants are white, 33% are African-American, 19% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian, and 2% are Native American."

http://www.snaptohealth.org/snap/snap-frequently-asked-questions/

[gwilson824]

01:54 PM on 01/09/2012

Could someone tell me what % of African Americans are on food stamps versus a % of Latinos and caucacians.

[Katie Colling]

06:28 PM on 01/24/2012

"According to demographi­c data, 43% of SNAP participan­ts are white, 33% are African-Am­erican, 19% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian, and 2% are Native American."

http://www­.snaptohea­lth.org/sn­ap/snap-fr­equently-a­sked-quest­ions/

[Tonydeeee]

05:53 AM on 01/09/2012

Newt is NUTS if he thinks I am going to be in the bleachers listening to an old white southern conservative politician pontificating about how to solve poverty in the African- American communities throughout America. No, thanks. He's been sleeping on his head again.

[jazzbruh]

12:24 AM on 01/09/2012

This is more of the same from Republicans, enabled by a segment of the population that seemingly has forgotten the serial disaster that was the Bush Administration. Does anyone seriously think that Barack Obama could ruin the entire fabric of this country in TWO YEARS. Get real.

[highfivesix]

10:21 PM on 01/08/2012

For a few weeks Newt bought into the illusion that he would be our nations next president. But his recent and sudden fall into obscurity was, for him, a bitter pill to swallow.
EVEN HIS OWN PARTY WANTS LITTLE OR NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM. Analyze his Numbers after his trouncing in Iowa. SO,I guess he has find someone or some group to lash out at in order to assauge his OVERLY INFLATED BRUISED EGO.
Just remember that Newt is very preditable, there will be many more deprecatory and valueless comments coming from him.

[mr whiteffolks]

08:16 AM on 01/08/2012

Newt needs a reality check ! He continues to spew his racist views using these ridiculous stereotypes ! Poor Newt !

[Kimberlee Sullivan]

01:34 AM on 01/08/2012

I find it interesting that in my neighborhood, which was Newt Gingrich's district, that in the grocery stores there are now tickets beside some food products that say WIC approved food! My neighborhood is nicknamed East Snob, I would not be one of those snobs, but before this past year these signs were never in any of these stores, so the logical scenario would be that there are people in this area on food stamps and this county is predominantly white! Newt has always been a racist, even in the light of the actual statistics of who is on food stamps showing that white people get more food stamps than any other group, at 13%!

[mr whiteffolks]

08:16 AM on 01/08/2012

I would guess your logic is correct !

[Debbie Dickey]

04:01 PM on 01/08/2012

Access is not the same as WIC, WIC is for women who are pregnant and for the health and growth of children,, For the most part working woman can recieve this program.

[paganmist]

12:28 PM on 01/09/2012

Working women can receive Access, also. In fact, most people who receive it work.

[Kimberlee Sullivan]

01:00 AM on 01/10/2012

My neighborhood is nicknamed East Snob, they don't put up any signs that have anything to a possible governmental program in the stores at all!!!

[Andrea in the City]

01:19 AM on 01/08/2012

He's such a joke its barely even worth the strength to type a response. I vote Republican more than Democrat but I NEVER considered him having half a shot and most people I know felt the same. The dumb media tries to make us believe these lunatics are real contendars just because they want ratings by getting attention for airing this garbage.

With all the time he is wasting on calculating statisics why doesn't he use that energy to come up with ways to prevent ALL Americans from being in a position where they need to rely on public assistance.

[egal]

02:23 AM on 01/09/2012

Because the GOP end goal seems to be to make only those people with money qualify as Americans, thus automatically making all Americans not need public assistance.

[l78lancer]

12:53 AM on 01/08/2012

"Gingrich came to New Hampshire with a singular mission: contrast himself with Republican front-runner Mitt Romney to undercut the former Massachussetts governor's conservative credentials while casting himself as the bold heir to Ronald Reagan."
--------------------------------------------------->

He completely accomplished that regarding this issue. Whether Mitt thinks the same as Newt or not, he has been able to at least keep his mouth shut about it. Newt's grandiosity, pomposity, and arrogance permits him to believe he can re-father the blacks of America because he knows what better for them than they for themselves.

He continues to be his own worst enemy and his continual slide in the polls towards obscurity reflects this.

[amd02148]

12:51 AM on 01/08/2012

So I guess telling the truth won't your comment posted either.

[tjdwill02]

11:17 PM on 01/07/2012

Telling the truth will never get you elected, Newt, not as long as over 60% of the country receives more government aid while shouldering almost none of the cost.

[amd02148]

12:42 AM on 01/08/2012

tjdwill, he wasn't telling the truth and he knows it. He's not a moron he knows more white people receive food stamps than black people. He says this to his uneducated and uniformed base to get them to vote for him. He would get all of the blacks off of welfare and give them paychecks. That excites the people who would vote for him. Less taxes and less government spending. Don't be fooled, Newt doesn't give a damn about less spending, he really doesn't give a damn if the whole world is on food stamps. He doesn't care if you have a job or not. He wants the power that comes along with the presidency, he'll just finish off the job that Bush started. So go right ahead and vote for Newt.

[tjdwill02]

10:11 AM on 01/08/2012

knows more white people receive food stamps than black people******** relative to their population, blacks by far out number whites collecting food stamps.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/28/us/20091128-foodstamps.html

[mr whiteffolks]

08:18 AM on 01/08/2012

Newt lied just the way he did when he co-wrote that "Contract On America" crap ! There's far more people today receiving assistance than in the past ! There's also far more "working people" receiving aide because they do not earn enough to make ends meet !

[tjdwill02]

09:19 AM on 01/08/2012

Newt lied ????? Hardly. Every issue was brought to the floor of the house and debated and voted on as promised.

[MyNameIsJames]

10:35 PM on 01/07/2012

Newt Gingrich is a Southern Conservative - what do you expect? He has the moral capacity of his Southern environment. The land of Jim Crow and the Confederacy. Gingrich and his SOUTHERN roots have absolutely no credibility.

[mr whiteffolks]

08:20 AM on 01/08/2012

Not to mention he's part Irish, German, Scottish and English ! That's a recipe for a redneck racist if ever there was one !

[fabuloush2s]

10:17 PM on 01/07/2012

Newt and Santorum are sadly misinformed as they both want to misguide and quickly blame the Afro-American community for hand-outs.. for years this race has taken unduly heat from the republicans as they will say the dems take the race for granted and yada yada blah blah, trying to hide the facts and apply mixed messages. The community of Afro-Americans where some are forced to seek as others have and do, assistance when necessary. The constitution is for We the People, not just one race... but being held back made to pay higher interest rates, beat down for homeownerships... deprived an equal opportunity for education and living in a fair market definition, does not exist and if these repubs have their way, by lying.... they will continue to belittle and destroy Afro-Americans and move on to include others in there motives... be mindful about these liars and agenda seeking clowns!!!

[mr whiteffolks]

08:23 AM on 01/08/2012

Yeah well if the truth was ever told, they would know more Whites receive aide than anyone else in American and we won't even mention the "corporate welfare" that take millions of dollars of government money to line the pockets of some of this country's wealthiest businesses with money grants, tax breaks, or other special favorable treatment on corporations or selected corporations.

Of course Newt won't criticize corporate welfare because he's D.C. lobbyists and that's what they do !

[fabuloush2s]

10:31 AM on 01/08/2012

Exactly