Newt Gingrich on Brody File: Partially Defends Romney on Massachusetts Healthcare Law

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The Brody File:

Newt Gingrich, who is a strong candidate to run for President in 2012, offered at least a partial defense for Mitt Romney's healthcare initiative that he signed into law as Governor of Massachusetts.

Romney is expected to run for President and has come under criticism from staunch conservatives over his support for the plan. Watch Gingrich's answer below along with a transcription.

By the way, in terms of Gingrich running for President, he hasn't announced yet but he may have slipped in a little clue when he said the following about the coming GOP presidential primary debate about Romney's healthcare plan.

"That will be part of the dialogue," he said. "People will talk about my record and they'll talk about Mitt's record and if others get in - Palin, Huckabee, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty. I mean, it could be a pretty big crowd.

Newt Gingrich will be part of next week's Brody file show. Also on the show: Live in studio with George Allen and Tim Phillips, the President of Americans for Prosperity.

Newt Gingrich: Governor Romney's made very clear that he favors absolute repeal of Obamacare and that he believes it's not accurate and not fair to try and compare the two. And I think you have to start with that. and I also think, in all fairness to Governor Romney, that he vetoed many provisions that the liberal Democrats in the Massachusetts state legislature added to the bill. and they overrode his veto.

So I think if you're going to go back and look at the original Romney bill you'd have a much better bill and a much more practical bill than what the liberal Democrats did to the legislation because they literally overrode his veto on a whole series of items.

David Brody: And so it's not as clear cut as people make it?

Newt Gingrich: Yeah. I think it's not, but that will be part of the dialogue. People will talk about my record and they'll talk about Mitt's record and if others get in Palin, Huckabee, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty. I mean it could be a pretty big crowd, Rick Santorum.

Everybody's record will be up for grabs and it ought to be up for grabs. You don't pick the person to represent your party for the leadership of the most complex, most powerful, and most prosperous country in history just out of a grab bag. You ought to have a chance to ask that person virtually anything. And then you render judgment. You decide, 'Look, is this the person I think can do that?'
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Video at the link. Whomever can offer the best solutions for the economy will become the next President of the United States. Of course, I expect certain usual suspects to start calling for Newt's head now.