Newt Gingrich is not even a little interested in entertaining the notion that some of his rhetoric has ruffled racial feathers.
At the Fox News debate in South Carolina Monday, co-moderator Juan Williams asked Gingrich about concerns from some that his rhetoric on the stump has been racially insensitive.
Williams, from a rush transcript (added emphasis):
Speaker Gingrich, you said black Americans should demand jobs, not food stamps. You also said poor kids lack a strong work ethic and proposed having them work as janitors in their schools. Can’t you see that this is viewed, at a minimum, as insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans?
Gingrich was not interested in that line of inquiry.
“No. I don’t see that,” he said to cheers from the audience.
Later, Williams pushed the point. And the crowd booed him:
I have to tell you my Twitter account has been inundated by all races, who are asking if your comments are not intended to belittle the poor and racial minorities. You saw some of this reaction dug your visit to a black church in South Carolina. We saw some of this during your visit to a church in South Carolina where a woman dad’s asked you why you referred to President Obama as the food stamp president. It sounds as if you are seeking to belittle people.
“Well, first of all, Juan, the fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history,” Gingrich shot back. “I know among the politically correct you are not supposed to use facts that are uncomfortable.”
