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Newt Gingrich said Tuesday that any lawmaker who votes for the Bush administration’s $700 billion bailout proposal, a package he called a “dead loser,” will face defeat in November.
The former Speaker of the House said the bailout has the potential to turn the election — particularly the presidential race — on its head depending on what Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama decide to do if the plan comes to a vote.
The Georgia Republican, talking to reporters at a lunch, added that he expects Democratic presidential candidate Obama (Ill.) to back the plan. He predicted that if McCain (R-Ariz.) ends up opposing the administration proposal, that would give the Arizona senator a chance to truly grab the mantle of reform and rewrite the current election narrative.
McCain can prove, Gingrich said, “much the way he did with picking [Alaska Gov. Sarah] Palin, that, in fact, he’s a genuine maverick and he genuinely defends the taxpayers and this is a terrible bill.”
“If the latter happens, I think you will see overnight the emergence of the McCain reform wing of the Republican Party, and you’ll see House and Senate members siding with McCain by overwhelming margins,” Gingrich said.
On Tuesday, McCain and Obama continued to push the need for oversight in whatever plan Congress comes up with.
Obama echoed McCain’s belief from Monday that $700 billion is too much taxpayer money to entrust to one person in the federal government.
After McCain said over the weekend that “Trust me” is not enough of an oversight plan, Obama said in remarks in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday that “the power to spend $700 billion of taxpayer money cannot be left to the discretion of one man, no matter who he is or which party he is from.”
“I have great respect for Secretary Paulson, but he cannot act alone,” Obama said, backing McCain’s earlier call for an independent oversight board.
Obama, in his remarks, once again pushed for the proposal to include caps on what the heads of endangered companies can receive as compensation.
“You are stewards for workers and communities all across our country who have put their trust in you,” Obama said to the CEOs. “With the enormous rewards you have reaped come responsibilities, and we expect and demand that you to live up to them. This plan cannot be a welfare program for Wall Street executives.”
The McCain campaign hit Obama for “simply following in John McCain’s footsteps while he tried to respond to this financial crisis.”
“Again, Barack Obama has shown indecision and a lack of leadership at a time when the American people need certainty,” McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.
Both candidates have been cautious to embrace the Bush administration’s plan as the chorus of concern on Capitol Hill has grown to near-deafening levels despite a full-court press from administration officials Tuesday.
For his part, Gingrich predicted that every elected official on Capitol Hill has reason to worry if he or she supports the bill.
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