In Saturday night’s debate, Michele Bachmann accused Newt Gingrich of having once supported a cap-and-trade program to address “global warming” concerns. Newt then accused her of not getting her facts straight again. But she was correct, and I don’t believe anyone has ever successfully challenged her on any of her positions, as far as making any factual errors or flip-flopping on any issue.
Here is the exchange from the debate:
MICHELLE BACHMANN: “If you look at Newt-Romney, they were for cap-and-trade.”
NEWT GINGRICH: “Well, Michele, a lot of what you say just isn’t true, period. I have never — I oppose cap-and-trade. I testified against it the same day that Al Gore testified for it. I helped defeat it in the Senate through American Solutions. It is simply untrue. … You know, I think it’s important for you, and this is a fair game and everybody gets to pick fights. It’s important that you be accurate when you say these things. Those are not true.”
(Source – CBS Minnesota)
Now, while Newt opposed a cap-and-trade bill that passed the House of Representatives and died in the Senate in 2010, he has made statements supporting other cap-and-trade plans. The CBS source cited above quotes him in a 2007 PBS “Frontline” interview saying, about a carbon cap and trading system, “Frankly, it’s something I would strongly support.”
But Newt appears to be trying to give some impetus to the Left’s attacks on Michele Bachmann as being factually challenged. However, every incident the Left has brought up against her, other than some minor things such as not knowing Elvis’s birthday, or other incidents that were clearly nothing more than the slip of the tongue sort of thing that happens to everyone, I have yet to find her significantly challenged on anything.
