Mitt Romney came ready to take on Newt Gingrich in Monday night’s debate. And for one moment at least he really seemed to throw over the Florida frontrunner in a conversation about lobbying.
Gingrich’s GOP opponents have attacked him for months now over the work he took on after leaving the House, accusing him of being a lobbyist. Gingrich has responded by saying he was just an extremely well-paid former politician companies hired to help them do business with active politicians.
Gingrich has tried to dance that dance for a while now, but during the debate Monday, he finally seemed to trip up.
Romney went after Gingrich hard on the topic, first dismissing Gingrich’s claim that he was a historian for Freddie Mac.
“They don’t pay people $25,000 a month for six years as historians,” Romney said, referring to the fees Gingrich’s consulting firm was paid by the mortgage giant. “They weren’t hiring you as a historian.”
Gingrich referred to those attacks as “unnecessarily personal and nasty.” He swore once again he’d never been a lobbyist, even saying an expert had come to his firm and helped draw a “bright line” between what a person can do as a private citizen, and what would qualify a person as a lobbyist.
Then Romney went after Gingrich for his advocacy on behalf of Medicare Part D, the Bush-era program that Republicans now hold up as a chief example of how their party went wrong the last time it controlled the White House and Congress.
“We have Congressmen who say you lobbied them with regard to Medicare Part D,” Romney said.
That led to a bit of a Gingrich brain freeze — before a lot of Gingrich indignation. He swore that when it came to Medicare Part D, he was just a private citizen stepping up and saying his piece.
“I have always publicly favored a stronger Medicare program,” Gingrich said.”I wrote a book in 2002 called Saving Lives And Saving Money…I’ll say this in Florida. I’m proud that I publicly advocated Medicare Part D. It saved lives. It’s run on a free enterprise model, includes health savings accounts and includes Medicare alternatives which gave people choices.”
There’s just one issue with that logic, Romney said. “Here’s why it’s a problem,” Romney said. “If you’re getting paid by health companies [while talking up Part D.]”
The idea that Gingrich’s K Street consulting firm never lobbied is something of a tough sell in any circumstance, and Romney came prepared. But after his momentary lapse Gingrich seemed to bounce back with his customary ebullience, and seemed light on his feet through the remainder of the debate. After the South Carolina debates the zeitgeist settled on certain segments for constant TV replays, helping to craft a narrative in the media. Last time that narrative was about Gingrich’s powerful moments (indeed, he even put out a TV ad titled, “The Moment.”) This time he’ll be hoping the moment that lives on is not the one that you can see in the video below.
