Gingrich: Obama's Decision On Keystone Pipeline Is "Utterly Irrational"
Cavuto: Alright candidates. I want to move on, if we can, to energy issues and Speaker Gingrich, I’d like to begin with you. As you know, the President, sir, has rejected any efforts to tie a payroll tax cut extension with the Keystone pipeline and to re-open it and to explore re-opening it. He says that any other way to connect the two would be akin to adding an extraneous issue. Given his opposition and that the Keystone issue could be up in the air for a year or more, how do you recommend Republicans deal with this to force the issue?
Gingrich: You know Neil, I sometimes get accused of using language that is too strong, so I’ve been standing here editing. I’m very concerned about not appearing to be zany. But I want to paint a picture for all of us. The Iranians are practicing closing the Strait of Hormuz. The Canadian prime minister has already said to the American president, ‘if you don’t want to build this pipeline to create 20,000 American jobs and bring oil to the largest refinery complex in the world, Houston. I want to put straight west in Canada to Vancouver and ship the oil direct to China. So you’ll lose the jobs, you’ll lose the through-put, you’ll 30-40 years of work in Houston.’
The President of the United States cannot figure out that it is -- I'm using mild words here -- utterly irrational to say I'm now going to veto a middle class tax cut to protect left-wing environmental extremists in San Francisco, so that we are going to kill American jobs, weaken American energy, make us more vulnerable to the Iranians and do so in a way that makes no sense to any normal, rational American."
Cavuto: No offense sir, but you didn’t answer my question. What would you do to try to move on this within a year?
Gingrich: What should Congressional Republicans do? They should attach it to the middle-class tax cut, send it to the president, force him to veto it, send it a second time. We had to send welfare reform to President Clinton three times. He vetoed it twice, by the third time the popular outrage was so angry, 92% of the country wanted to have welfare reform, he decided to sign it, it happened to be an election year. I’d say to the president, ‘you want to look like you’re totally out of touch with the American people? Be my guest, but I’m not backing down when we’re right and you’re totally wrong.’
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