Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is considering a run for president, has some strong words in reaction to President Obama’s re-election campaign announcement, and Obama’s widely-reported goal of raising $1 billion: That it constitutes extortion.
CNN reports:
“Here’s a president who 18 months before the election is going to use his office to extort contributions on a scale we’ve never seen before,” Gingrich said in New Hampshire where he addressed the Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College in Manchester. “He’s in effect trying to create a Chicago style machine for the whole country with a billion dollars.”
And The Hill reports:
“With their announced goal of raising a billion dollars in order to drown out their opposition, one thing is certain: it begins and ends with political extortion,” Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler said in a statement reacting to Obama’s announcement.
TPM has e-mailed Tyler for an explanation of how Obama’s reported lofty fundraising goals would constitute extortion. We have not received an immediate reply as of this writing.
