The attacks on Newt Gingrich by the Romney campaign are coming fast and furious today. The latest goes after the former Speaker for some of his wackier policy proposals over the years.
“Speaker Gingrich’s attack on the Ryan plan as ‘right-wing social engineering’ is not only wrong, but also hypocritical,” Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said in a statement. “Over parts of five decades in Washington, Speaker Gingrich has consistently promoted an active, expansive role for government.”
According to the campaign, Gingrich “has a long and varied history of proposals that could be described as ‘social engineering.'” The emphasis here is on plans that come off as particularly intrusive or “big government” to conservatives.
Among them: universal and confidential DNA testing to boost health care, a $20 billion prize to whoever can complete a manned mission to Mars, and paying students in poor families to take math and science classes in order to produce more engineers.
They also included a quote from this year in which Gingrich proposed requiring Americans pass a history test before they can vote.
The idea drew criticism at the time from Rep. Allen West (R-FL), one of the party’s most prominent African American lawmakers and a Tea Party favorite, who noted its resemblance to literacy tests used to prevent blacks from voting under Jim Crow.
The takeaway? The Romney campaign is clearly trying to portray Gingrich as more than just inconsistent or a closet liberal, they’re trying to attack him as out there on policy as well. It’s not a coincidence that they’re picking his more “wacky” policies here as opposed to more traditional left/right splits like immigration.
