In his first response during NBC’s Monday night debate, Ron Paul weighed in on a discussion among the other candidates about Newt Gingrich’s tenure as speaker and the circumstances under which he left the House. The gist, says Paul, is that Gingrich didn’t become speaker for another two years because “He didn’t have the votes.” Here’s a rough transcript:
I do want to address the earlier discussion that you had about 1997. I had been out of congress for 12 years. I went back in 1996 and arrived in ’97. It was chaotic, let me tell you. It was a mess for 12 years. Newt had a big job on his hands but he really had to attack the conservatives. He did it boldly. Quite frankly, I think the reason — he didn’t not run for speaker, you know, two years later. He didn’t have the votes. That was what the problem was. So this idea that he voluntarily reneged and he was going to punish himself because we didn’t do well in the election. That’s not the way it was.
