Newt Gingrich speaks to Stafford Republicans

FREDERICKSBURG — Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told local Republicans on Thursday that America would bounce back from its problems when its prepared to be honest about them.

“Your job is to spread the word,” said Gingrich, the keynote speaker at a fundraiser held for Stafford and Spotsylvania Republicans.

The dinner, which cost attendees $75 per ticket, drew approximately 500 area Republicans into a full ballroom for the second annual Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner at the Fredericksburg Expo and Conference Center.

Hosted by the Stafford Republican Committee, the event was a who’s who of area Republicans that also featured speakers Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell and Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor, Republican Whip from the 7th District.

Both spoke briefly to an excited crowd before Ginrich took the stage.

The opinionated former House Speaker sprinkled his speech with humor, garnering applause from an amused crowd.

“I am delighted to be here,” said Gingrich in his opening remark. “First of all because Speaker of the House Bill Howell made it quite clear that I would be here,” he said drawing laughs.

But when he expressed his opinion, he did not hold back, offering criticism of a $789 billion stimulus package — a package that President Barack Obama has called an important step in turning this country around from the financial difficulties it faces.

Although he called the Obama campaign an “impressive achievement,” he said that the Obama presidency already has some problems.

Obama’s victory against Arizona Sen. John McCain in November was the first time the state turned blue in more than 40 years.

“…I didn’t set out a month ago to find myself this consistently critical of the new administration,” Gingrich said. “…What you are watching, no matter how pleasant the president may be, no matter how much he talks about bipartisanship, is the most systematically deliberate partisan, one-sided operation in modern American history since Richard Nixon left the White House."

Ginrich, for instance, spoke about Republican New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, who on Thursday withdrew his name from consideration as Obama’s Commerce Secretary.

But Ginrich also served to rally fellow Republicans, letting them know that despite his feelings on the current state of the country, it is not his or their job to critique the administration. Instead he said, it’s to find a better way.

Gingrich spoke fondly of former President Ronald Reagan, whom he said brought the country back when it faced tough challenges.

He spoke about what he believes is a better plan to create jobs for Americans than the stimulus package will provide. The capital gains tax should be abolished, he said, as well as the estate tax, while the business tax rate should be reduced. He also spoke about the possibility of creating a flat-rate tax — a plan that would affect 90 percent of American workers.

Gingrich, a former Congressman from Georgia, resides in Virginia with his wife Callista. He is known for the “Contract with America” that led the Republican Party to victory in 1994. The party then obtained the majority in the U.S. House for the first time in 40 years. After Gingrich was elected House Speaker, Congress passed welfare reform, the first balanced budget in a generation and passed the first tax cut in 16 years.

When speaking of the federal stimulus package, Gingrich scoffed at approximately $30 million set aside to study a mouse in the San Francisco Bay area. The money is reportedly for wetlands restoration that the Obama administration plans to use to restore a mouse habitat in the Bay, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Gingrich, who serves as the General Chairman of American Solutions for Winning the Future, said that many of the ideas he spoke of are on the American Solutions’ Web site (americansolutions.com). On the site, there are 12 American Solutions for Jobs and Prosperity.

He spoke about ways to better the country, such as, learning how to control spending.

Simply, he said: “Say no.”

Gingrich said he thinks the death tax should permanently be abolished.

“I’d add a simple slogan,” he said. “It is wrong to be required to go to the IRS and the funeral home in the same week. It’s wrong to work all your life and be ripped off by the government.”