msnbc’s Lawrence O’Donnell has been waiting almost 20 years for an apology from Newt Gingrich for his false political predictions, but it doesn’t look like he’ll get one.
O’Donnell dug old skeletons out of the former House speaker’s closet while the two appeared on Sunday’s Meet the Press. He confronted Gingrich on his comments made back in 1993, when the speaker claimed that tax increases would cost jobs and launch the U.S. into a recession–talking points O’Donnell says Republicans are recycling for the fiscal cliff debate.
“Who said this? ‘The tax increase will kill jobs and lead to a recession, and the recession will force people out of work and onto unemployment, and actually increase the deficit.’ That’s Newt Gingrich, in 1993, on the Clinton tax increase,” O’Donnell said.
He followed up, “Those of us who were working on the other side of that tax increase, Newt, have been waiting for your apology for 20 years for being completely wrong about that.”
Rather than grant an apology, Gingrich called O’Donnell’s remarks “baloney.” “The fact is, if you look at all the indicators when I was elected speaker, virtually all of the economic growth occurs after the Republicans take control,” Gingrich responded, adding that the GOP should take credit for the increase in the stock market. “You did not reduce the rates, Newt,” O’Donnell fired back. “You said the rates would cause a recession.”
Amanda Sakuma Recommended
