Lou Dobbs: Gingrich’s climate ad with Pelosi ‘hurts him’ — will prove ‘more difficult than any charges about his personal life’

 

GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is facing more scrutiny about his 2008 global warming ad for Al Gore with former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. [See Gingrich/Pelosi video here.] [Update: May 16: Gingrich tries new spin, claims he used word he never used.]

On the May 13, 2011 edition of ‘The O’Reilly Factor’, host Bill O’Reilly and guest Lou Dobbs mocked and ridiculed Gingrich’s climate ad with Pelosi and warned it could single-handedly derail his presidential bid. [Note: Gingrich has refused to apologize or recant the ad and instead now claims it was a ‘debate’ with Pelosi.]

Watch Bill O’Reilly and Lou Dobbs discuss Gingrich here.

O’Reilly presented the Gingrich political ad and then quipped that Gingrich and Pelosi “looked natural.” “A regular Sonny and Cher out there. aren’t they? ‘I got you Babe,’” O’Reilly joked.

Former CNN anchor and current Fox Business host Dobbs agreed. “Absolutely. They were made for each other,” Dobbs said.

Partial Transcript Follows:

O’Reilly: ‘Does this hurt Newt Gingrich?’

Dobbs: ‘Without question. If he had said nothing Bill — just sitting next to Nancy Pelosi.

O’Reilly: ‘Just on the couch with her…’

Dobbs: ‘Especially that couch — he would be in real trouble. This is going to be more difficult than any charges about his personal life. This is more difficult, in my judgment, for him than anything else…Gingrich is talking about climate change, he is making clear the implication that climate change is the responsibility of a Republican Speaker and a Democratic Speaker. It is not a smart choice on his part.

O’Reilly: ‘You think people will remember it and hold it against him?’

Dobbs: ‘Without question. And conservatives who are his natural allies, are going to be offended by this [Pelosi] ad.’

Watch O’Reilly and Dobbs discuss Gingrich/Pelosi ad here.

Related Gingrich/Pelosi Gore Ad Links:

Newt lies?! Claims he said word he never used! : ‘If you read what I said on the couch. I said this is a topic worth debating. We should be able to find ‘incentives’, the specific word I used, to lower amount of carbon in atmosphere’

Update: Gingrich on radio (Begins at 14:20): ‘I am for incentives for bio-fuels such as ethanol which have a much lower impact on the environment’

Climate Depot Response: ‘Wrong again, Mr. Gingrich. You never once uttered the word ‘incentive’ or implied it was a ‘debate’ on that couch with Pelosi. Please improve your inaccurate spin, instead of continuing to insult our intelligence.’

Gingrich’s spokesman says Newt is ‘a fan of Morano’s [Climate Depot] blog and reads it often’ Politico: Gingrich’s ‘love seat’ predicament with Pelosi — ‘just won’t go away’ — Newt Digs In: ‘I don’t know what we’d apologize for’

Barf Bag Flashback 2008: Gingrich Out-greens Al Gore! Newt ‘slams so-called ‘anti-environmental politicians; as ‘out of step with the American people” and the ‘patriotic worldview’

Gingrich, the militant greenie? Newt’s book exalted Sierra Club founder John Muir. Gingrich blithely mentioned Muir’s martial law-like view favoring use of the military to enforce environmental law. Disturbingly, Gingrich moved on without ever disapproving the policy’

‘Hogwash, says prominent global warming skeptic Marc Morano’

Media Coverage Grows: Politico Covers Newt’s Epic Failure: Climate Depot’s Morano: ‘How stupid does Gingrich think American voters are?’

Gingrich claims Pelosi ad for Gore was a ‘debate’: Morano Responds: ‘Gingrich is spinning the Pelosi ad in ways that defy the English language’

Both Ways Newt — Which is it? Gingrich in 2007: ‘We have now passed the tipping point…the evidence is ‘sufficient’ to show that [global warming], to a major degree, is man-made’

Presidential Candidate Gingrich in 2011: ‘The truth is the people who say there’s global warming don’t know. The truth is people who say there isn’t global warming don’t know’

Newt Gingrich on why he sat on sofa with Pelosi in Gore ad: ‘My point is conservatives ought to be prepared to stand on the same stage and offer a conservative solution’ – ‘Unlike Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich makes no apologies about his past advocacy on climate change’

Climate Depot Response to Newt: ‘Please spare us the explanations for your gullibility and poor political calculations. What ‘solution’ does anyone need to ‘offer’ to the alleged problem Gore presents? Please stop trying to spin your low IQ moment with Pelosi and Gore — it is embarrassing’

Update May 11, 2011 — Climate Depot ImpactUK Guardian: Gingrich’s presidential bid clouded by his belief in climate change — Newt ‘put on defensive’ after Climate Depot ‘demanded he apologize for appearing in Gore ad’ — UK Guardian: ‘Now Climate Depot, the website run by a former aide to the arch-denier, Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, is trying to force Gingrich to issue a public apology. The web site sent out an email blast on Gingrich’s ideological transgressions on cap-and-trade on Wednesday and demanded: ‘Will Gingrich recant and apologize for appearing in the ad with Pelosi?’:

Update May 13, 2011: Newt Responds to Climate Depot! A Love-Fest is Now Called A ‘Debate’?! Gingrich now claims sitting on cozy sofa with Pelosi in Gore climate ad was actually a ‘debate’

Newt redefines the English language!? Spokesman: ‘Gingrich’s attempt to work with Pelosi is another testament to Gingrich’s willingness to debate his conservative solutions with liberals’

Climate Depot Response: ‘Mr. Gingrich, your obfuscation is simply stunning. In 2008, you sat on a love seat with Pelosi and agreed that man-made global warming was a serious threat that required we ‘must take action to address.’ You gave legitimacy to Gore’s version of climate science. Now you claim you were actually ‘debating’ the issue with Pelosi and Gore. Just how stupid do you think the voters are?’

Watch Now: This is what Newt now claims was actually a ‘debate’?! Gingrich & Pelosi in Gore Ad: Newt declares: ‘We do agree, our country must take action to address climate change’

Fox News: Gingrich Feels the Heat for Appearing in Global Warming Ad With Pelosi — Newt has ‘a doozy in his closet’ — Climate ad will ‘come back to haunt him’

Morano: ‘Newt Gingrich is arrogant enough to believe that he doesn’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else’

Fox News: ‘Morano has devoted his blog Climate Depot to lambasting Gingrich’

Rolling Stone Mag.: ‘Deniers Hit Gingrich on Flip-Flop’: ‘Key players in the Climate Denial Machine, such as web spinner Marc Morano, are holding Gingrich’s feet to the fire’

More Media covering the story: Gingrich, a ‘committed warmist,’ faces rising climate criticism — Pelosi ad is ‘exploding through conservative circles’ — Could ‘derail his political comeback’

Morano: ‘In 2007 and 2008, Gingrich actually believed that not only was global warming going to be a, ‘winning issue’ … but he actually believed the GOP base was going to accept this. Those are two horrible miscalculations’

Larry Sabato: Gingrich’s views on climate ‘went well beyond Republican orthodoxy. Joining forces with Pelosi will not prove popular with the GOP base’

Newt’s Presidential Bid Getting Trashed, And It’s Due To His Self-Inflicted Green Idiocy: How He Can Recover

Newt Gingrich: Global Warming Guru — ‘He claims to be a conservative firebrand, but when it comes to global warming, he’s almost as liberal as Jon Huntsman’

Wash. Times Cites Climate Depot’s Morano: ‘Mr. Gingrich, please stop trying to spin your low IQ moment with Pelosi and Gore. It is embarrassing’

Bravo! Anti-green group derides Gingrich’s likely ‘Democratic’ presidential bid: Newt is ‘Al Gore hiding under a Phil Donahue wig’

Watch Video Now! Pelosi-Newt Climate Ad for Gore: ‘Why Newt Gingrich Will Not Be Elected President — Professor reacts to ad by ‘throwing out my quite full barf bag’ — Skeptical Prof. Unloads: ‘Newt -you’re dead to me. You won’t get my vote. Period. Go ask Nancy to vote for you. Good luck and good riddance!’

Will Gingrich recant and apologize for the Pelosi Climate ad?

Flashback 2007: Sen. John Kerry and Gingrich Hugging Trees — & (Almost) Each Other — Gingrich folds like pup tent in alleged ‘debate’ on AGW — ‘Positions himself as a tree-hugging green’

Wash. Post: ‘Before Sen. John Kerry got a word in, Gingrich conceded that global warming is real, that humans have contributed to it and that ‘we should address it very actively.’ Gingrich held up Kerry’s new book, and called it ‘a very interesting read.’ — Kerry gushed: ‘I frankly appreciate the candor.’

Newt’s Candidacy, D.O.A.? Pelosi’s Buddy – The Big Green, Big Ethanol, Big Spending, Big Govt Republican — ‘Newt Gingrich is literally unfit for office, specially the Oval Office. He is the wrong man, at the wrong time’

‘Poor Newt. The preemptive spanks came early and hard’ — Climate Depot’s Morano ’emailed a blistering missive [on Gingrich] to everyone in his rolodex’

Flashback 2007: Newt supported cap-and-trade: ‘I think if you have mandatory carbon caps combined with a trading system… that’s very, very good. And frankly, it’s something I would strongly support’

‘Newt Gingrich’s environmentalism problem’

Gingrich’s ‘personal baggage and Pelosi video — present him as compromised — rendering him as damaged as Greek mythological hero’

Global Warming Non-existent in Newt’s Home State of Georgia

Hot Button Issue! Fox News article on Climate Depot & Newt Gingrich has generated 2430 comments so far! (Despite having to register to leave a comment)

Morano calls out Gingrich for climate hypocrisy: CFACT’s Rucker: ‘Politicians like Gingrich saw climate change as a chance to repair their damaged images by pandering to the mainstream media’

Rucker: ‘Now that the threat is widely known and the propaganda widely debunked, it is very difficult for the Gingrich’s of the world to wiggle away from past opportunism’

Gingrich: I know it looked and sounded like I was spooning with Pelosi in that ’08 global warming hoax ad, but I was actually debating her

Gingrich’s climate & energy view: ‘If enough of us demand action from our leaders, we can spark the innovation we need’

Counter to Gingrich: ‘Yep, the untold billions already being spent developing a (real) ‘alternative’ energy source to replace those that work just isn’t enough. No, it takes the collective wisdom of a team of the best and the brightest — oh, and Congress — to gently minister to unforeseeable breakthrough technologies. Seems so 1960s’

GOP Pres. Candidate Tim Pawlenty ‘did a lot more than ‘flirt’ with global warming and cap-and-trade. He got into bed with it and carried on the affair for years’

GOP Presidential Candidate Jon Huntsman, once a climate hawk, now disses cap-and-trade like all the other Republicans

‘Morano over at Climate Depot has been beating up on Gingrich unmercifully in recent days for the latter’s inexplicable dalliance with the despised Pelosi…It’s a hoot’

‘And Newt deserves every swat…He’s no less deserving of ridicule today. In the words of some really smart guy: What was he thinking?’

Gingrich Announces Doomed Campaign