Newt Gingrich Face The Nation Voters will permit GOP to fix Medicare TEXT TRANSCRIPT VIDEO

FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT: May 22, 2011

This is a rush transcript provided for the information and convenience of the press. Accuracy is not guaranteed. In case of doubt, please check with FACE THE NATION - CBS NEWS (202) 457-4481

BOB SCHIEFFER: Today on FACE THE NATION, Newt Gingrich is with us live after a week in which he announces for President and his own party goes nuts.

SARAH PALIN: That we all have a right to ask Speaker Gingrich what in the heck did you mean that Paul Ryan’s budget plan is radical?

RUSH LIMBAUGH: The attack on Paul Ryan, the support for an individual mandate in-- in health care? I-- I-- folks don’t ask me to explain this.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Headlines in conservative newspapers were no kinder. Gingrich to the House GOP: Drop Dead, noted the Wall Street Journal, nor was it any smoother when Gingrich got to Iowa.

MAN: You’re an embarrassment to our--

NEWT GINGRICH (Republican Presidential Candidate/Former House Speaker): Well--

MAN: --party.

NEWT GINGRICH: --I’m sorry if you feel that way.

MAN: Why don’t you get out before you--

NEWT GINGRICH: I’m sorry-- I’m sorry--

MAN: --make a bigger fool of yourself?

NEWT GINGRICH: --sorry.

BOB SCHIEFFER: This morning, he’s here to talk about all of it. And it’s all ahead on FACE THE NATION.

ANNOUNCER: FACE THE NATION with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer. And now from Washington, Bob Schieffer.

BOB SCHIEFFER: And, good morning again. Newt Gingrich joins us live in the-- in the studio here. And, Mister Gingrich, let’s just start with the overnight news. Mitch Daniels, the one that a lot of Republicans, establishment Republicans and especially a lot of people who had supported George Bush last time out were really putting pressure on him to run for the Republican nomination. He said last night he’s simply not going to do it. What do you make of that and what--

NEWT GINGRICH (overlapping): Well--

BOB SCHIEFFER: --what is the impact of that on the race.

NEWT GINGRICH: I’d-- I’d-- I mean, Mitch has his own reasons for not running. But he is one of the great reform governors in this country, he’s one of the hopes that you can get things fixed. His educational reforms are remarkable. He’s done a great job of bringing jobs to Indiana. His privatization program on highways is really a benchmark for the country. He has a great future
and I think will play a major role in designing the platform and a major role in helping other people learn that you actually can govern and you can actually be creative. And I think the Scott
Walkers, the John Kasichs, even Chris Christies all of them learned something from I mean--

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Why-- why--

NEWT GINGRICH (overlapping):--his governorship.

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): --do you think he decided not to run?

NEWT GINGRICH: You’d have to ask him. But he’s-- he’s a terrific talent. He would have been a very formidable competitor. I mean, I really thought he would be in the frontrunners from day one if he had decided to run.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, let’s talk about your campaign.

NEWT GINGRICH (overlapping): Okay.

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): You heard at the top of this broadcast, we kind of laid it out there. You began your campaign last week on Meet The Press with what I have to say was just
withering criticism of the plan passed by the Republican House to replace Medicare with government subsidized private insurance and-- and you heard them. You’ve heard them all week. Republicans from Rush Limbaugh to Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina to Paul
Ryan himself cried foul. Then you backed off and said you made a mistake. But you sounded pretty certain. And I just want to go back and-- and let’s listen to what you said--

NEWT GINGRICH (overlapping): Yeah.

BOB SCHIEFFER: --last week.

DAVID GREGORY (May 9, 2011): Do you think that Republicans ought to buck the public opposition and really move forward to completely change Medicare, turn it into a voucher program where you give seniors--

NEWT GINGRICH (overlapping; May 9, 2011): Yeah.

DAVID GREGORY (May 9, 2011): --some premium support and so that they can go out and buy private insurance?

NEWT GINGRICH (May 9, 2011): I don’t think right wing social engineering is anymore desirable than left wing social engineering. I don’t think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate.

BOB SCHIEFFER: So then, you go on television and you just totally retract that. You said I’ve made a mistake. Well, you sounded awfully certain when you said it. What happened here?

NEWT GINGRICH: Look if-- if you go back and replay what David Gregory asked.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, I did.

NEWT GINGRICH: Yeah. No, I’m just saying. If you listen to his words, he doesn’t say how do you feel about Paul Ryan? I like Paul Ryan. Didn’t even say how do you feel about Ryan’s budget? I would have voted for Ryan’s budget. He said should Republicans pass an unpopular plan? And I made the mistake of accepting his premise. I wasn’t referring to Ryan. I was referring to a general principle. We, the people, should not have Washington impose large-scale
change on us. Paul Ryan has begun a process-- he and I’ve talked about it several times this week. And we go back many years. Paul Ryan has begun a process. It’s an important process. This is the third time we’ve seen a Medi-scare campaign by the Democrats against Reagan and--

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Well--

NEWT GINGRICH (overlapping): --now just listen-- but--

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): --go ahead.

NEWT GINGRICH (overlapping): --but-- my context was we Republicans have to go to the country, we have to explain what we’re trying to accomplish to save Medicare, how we would save Medicare. The country has to have time, the American people have to have time to ask us questions, to modify the plan if necessary, to get to a point where people are comfortable with it and that was my point. I-- I probably used unfortunate language about social engineering. But my point was really a larger one that neither party should impose on the American people something that they are deeply opposed to. FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT in PDF FORMAT

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