Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) - Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich appeared to stand by his controversial stance against certain laws governing child labor Thursday saying his previous comments were "spun out of control" by "the left."
"Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works," the former House speaker told an audience at the headquarters for Nationwide Insurance.
He then seemed to imply that a young, poor individual's only likely source of possible income would be from breaking the law.
"They have no habit of 'I do this and you give me cash'–unless it's illegal."
Gingrich added that most successful businesspeople he knows started work "early" and made some kind of money when they were kids, whether it was by babysitting or mowing lawns.
Almost two weeks ago Gingrich called laws preventing child labor "truly stupid" and suggested students take the jobs of many janitors.
"What if you paid them part time in the afternoon to sit in the clerical office and greet people as they came in? What if you paid them to work as the assistant librarian? And I'd pay them as early as is reasonable and practical," he said Thursday.
"Then we get down to the janitor thing," Gingrich continued, in reference to his previous comments. "(I received) letters written that said janitorial work is really hard and really dangerous and this and that. OK, fine. So what if they became assistant janitors and their job was to mop the floor and clean the bathroom. And you paid them."
Gingrich's comments on the issue came in response to a Nationwide Insurance employee's question in which he asked for some clarification from the candidate.
The Republican holds two more events in the Des Moines area Thursday.
From CNN Politics
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You can't make this stuff up.
Of course it has nothing to do with getting rid of unions...
That is such a raciest comment. But what do you expect from Newt. He is a by product of Ronald Regan
Thank you Newt for again reminding us you and the Republican/Tparty stand for EXPLOITATION: workers, woman, seniors, the sick, and even children. So much for family values. Ever occur to you that spending more on education, preschool and child care makes more sense? Oh I forgot, your from the south and want to go back to the days of slavery.
Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works,"
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Here we go. Here's the Lizard we all know and love. Here's the Great White Hope of the GOPeeing Teatards already shooting himself in various body parts.
There are plenty of poor people in this country and abroad whose parents, siblings friends and family members bust their hump for sub-par wages. So no Lizard your irresponsible, stupid, and insulting assumption could not be further from the mark. Allow me to submit that you might just find the people with the highest work ethic amongst those very poor that you're demeaning, whereas amongst your lot of useless politicians you would find the biggest thieves.
Moron.
newt, he #1 hypocrite, liar and cheat
See? Just keep pushing microphones and cameras in his face until he pops. He just loves to rattle of those orignal phrases of his like "radical right wing social engineering." Let him have some breathing room and feel comfortably at ease. Please, don't make him stand. Allow him to set down, take a load off, sip of water. That is when he is at his best with those snide remarks.
This guy is need to think before he speaks. If we go with his plan. How does that help move up in education? Instead of improving the quality of studying time. He wants them to work while students in other country have time to dedicate to their studies.....that has got to be one of the stupidest thing I have heard for a solution to education.
Yeah! Who needs a childhood anyway? Kids can be forced by their parents to go to work after school and then come home, go to sleep, and repeat. Just like the good ol' days!
Personally, Newt, I think the kid would be much better off reading a book than pushing a mop. I guess that thought never crossed your mind. Like most every consevative, it is *always* all about the money and never about The People.
Poor kids get picked on and made fun of enough as it is. Could you image what the regular and rich kids will say when they see these kids pushing around a mop and bucket? "Hey, looks like you're already preparing for your future job!" "Yo mamma is so poor, she can't afford to pay attention, so you had to get a job to help" "When you're done sweeping the floor, don't forget to pick up your dignity!"
I mean really- this is just a problem of interpretation by "the left"? Come on Newt, there are Child Labor Laws on the books. They are there for a reason. Never mind the GOP/TP goal of creating an indentured class out of what used to be the middle class. You guys have assailed unions, passed so-called right-to-work laws (the right to be underpaid); you are attacking unemployment compensation; allowing business to cut benefits and retirement packages for workers. The list goes on and on. Meanwhile, you lavish the richest 300,000 Americans with tax breaks and benefits they don't need, and go after every social safety net.
Sure, misinterpretation. Republicans at wor with America.
" I'd pay them as early as is reasonable and practical"
Which is what we're already doing.
The economy's bad, the job market's in the toilet and Gingrich's solution is to take more jobs away to, what, teach kids a lesson about employment?
Tell you what, Newt, let's follow the same line of thought, what say we open up the borders and just let illegal immigrants work these jobs? By and large, many of them would accept the same pay rate as these kids and you don't even have to insure them because they're in the country illegally!
Man, I should run for the Republican nomination, I've got just the right level of business savvy and moral ineptitude to pull it off!
I can smell it not from far Gingrich is about to blow himself up!
MTATL67 wrote
This guy is need to think before he speaks. If we go with his plan. How does that help move up in education? Instead of improving the quality of studying time. He wants them to work while students in other country have time to dedicate to their studies.....that has got to be one of the stupidest thing I have heard for a solution to education.
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You have the wrong perspective. Your liberal mind hears it as an appalling "solution to education". His conservative mind views it as a brilliant budgetary solution, which is in fact, the exact context in which he brought it up.
Don't forget that he would also like to see an end to minimum wage, 40 hour work weeks, paid vacations, government safety regulations, and regulations on big banks and wall street.
what does Newt Gingrich personally know about "poor" neighborhoods? that is a gross blanket statement to make about something he knows NOTHING about!
Really rich children in really rich neighborhoods have no one around them who (really) works.
Why don't we put them to work mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms?
There's nothing wrong with children working a few hours per week.
Like working a few hours will screw up their grades.
Give me a break.
This blog has little to do with education and mostly about Newt Haters
Look up the word "Elitist", I'm sure you'll find a picture of Newt. What a sick, fat, arrogant piece of garbage he is.
Quite so Rudy. I hope he pontificates himself into such a corner that people will forever after remember why his own Party got rid of him. And quite frankly standing or sitting his diarrhea of the mouth will provide us with allthe nails we need to seal this political vampire's coffin once and for all. His smugness will be his undoing,and if he is unlucky enough to be the last turd floating in the GOTeatard's bowl Obama will deliver the final "flush" to end his presidential aspirations.
Remember, this is someone who, as Speaker, felt that orphanges were a good thing and pointed to the movie " Boystown" as proof: an movie from the 1940s that showed an idealized version of orphanages. The man takes what could be a valid point about teaching responsibility and destroys it with some wierd spin, then blames the Left for misinterpreting it. No, Newt, we understand you all too well: its you who misinterpret reality.
And he's the Republicans' top pick right now. How low are these creeps going to go before America wakes up? Or will America wake up? How much abuse and total disgregard are we going to subject ourselves to at the hands of the GOP? Good God, enough already.
How would it save money if you still had to have janitors for the dangerous stuff? I am all in favor of a jobs program for youth but maybe teaching poor kids to sweep and mop is not the place to start. How bout a program designed for low income kids to become jr software developers, math tutors, lab assistants (in non-dangerous labs of course).
This would be funny if it were not serious. It's pretty frightening...
In the spirit of Christmas the republican party lead by Newt reminds me of a A Christmas Carol were "Dickens wrote in the wake of British government changes to the welfare system known as the Poor Laws, changes which required among other things, welfare applicants to work on treadmills. Dickens asks, in effect, for people to recognise the plight of those whom the Industrial Revolution has displaced and driven into poverty, and the obligation of society to provide for them humanely. ANd the republican party still has not learned the lessons taught by Dickens.
I don't see what the problem is either. It gives the poor a head start on their careers. If they're really good at their job then it will propel them in life faster. And then, one day, maybe, they could end up in the White House, cleaning their toilets. Is that, not, the American dream?
"Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works,"
***************************************************************************************
Has this guy ever spent any time in a poor neighborhood? There are plenty of people in poor neighborhoods that work – and work hard – and try to do the right things. Yes there certainly are examples of people who do otherwise, but his comments include ugly, false, negative stereotypes that do not conform to reality. This lack of understanding of the reality of the majority of poor people in the United States explains a lot of the stupid comments frequently made by conservatives. I guess if you're totally ignorant, you always think you're right.
Is the Grinch competing with Gov. Death on who's better at blabbing out without thinking first? What comes out of these guys' mouths is priceless for the Democrats.
Yes some childern started work at six of seven years old and went to school half day early fall and early spring while other went full time and did not work untile they were fully grown. Some people wont go back to those days with hundreds student one and half dictory fifty books in libary no city or county liberary. The first to say welfare. Said enough.
I understand that Newt Gingrich is supposed to play Scrooge in the remake of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. I also understand that this new version has an alternate ending-Scrooge refuses to see the error of his ways and burns in Hell because of how he continued to treat the poor among him.
I know a lot of poor, working poor and lower middle class folks who work far harder in a day than Newt does in a month. And most kids I know start working at age 13 or 14 after school and on weekends. Want hard? Try picking up turkey eggs for 14 hours on Saturday, which means you are fending off really angry mama turkeys most of the day while you take their eggs. Let Newt try that for a couple of weekends.
As long as Republicans continue to talk like this and as long as they continue to force the poor to carry the load, President Obama has little to worry about, His second term is assured.
Interesting choice of words from the man whose wife is herself running around the country promoting her own .... wait ... wait for it .... book for children. One assumes her book tour doesn't include "poor" neighborhoods?
Mitt the Flipwit Hypocrite will probably come out and try to one-up Newter by claiming he (Mittens) supports indentured servitude.
Just hearing his smugness makes me want to go buy more ammunition.
Do we need a clearer example of which century the tighty righties want to "take the country back" to? 17th, I'd say.
I clearly remember when I was little, early to mid 70's, the kids that got free or reduced lunch at school had to clean the cafeteria at the school that I attended; instead of going to recess. It stuck me like a knife that they were singled out, and I was maybe 7-10 y/o at the time. How could an adult want to stigmatize children like that? And an earlier poster was dead right, the poorest among us are some of the hardest workers I have had the priviledge of knowing.
There is a line in the play where Oliver asks "Please sir, I want some more".... referring to the near starvation diet of gruel.
How the Gingrich Stole Christmas!
I think we all know that "poor children" know a whole lot more about working hard than Newty-boy EVER will!!! I teach college & it's the RICH kids who have no idea what hard work is! They feel they're entitled & don't need to work! Their parents are even worse – actually DEMANDING that their COLLEGE-AGED kids get the grade they feel they're entitled to – not the one they earned!!! Newt is so WRONG it's scary!
As if Newtie is an expert on the poor. This is the most crazy idea I've ever heard!
Bwahahaha...good good good. Stand by it Newtered. Freekin brilliant. Yes...he's oh-so-smart and a "historian" and looky what an intellectual he is. C'mon CNN, you can do a better job smoothing this over and sweeping it under teh rug for him...you might want to consider just pretending he never said these things like you're pretending he never exhibitted extreme moral terpitude and chauvanism in his marital relationships.
Now we know: the musical selection for the "Anyone But Mittens" game of musical candidates was a funeral march.
RIP GOP.
How is this a racist comment? My loosening some of the tough child labor laws, the ones not protecting a child's safety, would allow some kids who enter gangs or commit crimes to actually earn a paycheck. I am an employer who will never hire anyone under 18 years of age becasue of the strict laws governing minors. Somebody said here that it takes away from study time. Are you serious? Do you think all of these kids are studying after they get out of school?
Steve
Really rich children in really rich neighborhoods have no one around them who (really) works.
Why don't we put them to work mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms
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Indeed Steve. Except of course their under-paid maids, gardeners, nannies, and other poor household help looking to support their families.
I agree it is a raciest comment and Newt Gingrich knows it !
Newt is spot on! The welfare society Democrats created benefits nobody, breaks up families and is killing these poor kids.
Keep talking Lizard. The wingnut/teabagger trainwreck implosion continues full speed ahead.
I pity those who buy into this right wing garbage. Newt is not just about destroying the middle class, but also making sure children from the poor and middle class families never make it. According to this master plan, enslave the poor an middle and give the rich tax breaks and free benefits paid on the backs of the poor. This the best the right can offer.
You guys (and gals) need to learn how to articulate your thoughts.
Misuse of "your" when it should be "you're".
>> Oh I forgot, your from the south and want to go back to the days of slavery.
This one slays me.
>> This guy is need to think before he speaks.
Really. Really?
Let me guess...not one Republican in this list of reponses. How about silly child labor laws that do not allow a farmer's kid to work on the farm until he is 16?
The Child Labor laws are federal laws and not an Amendment. First introduced June 2, 1924 and is still pending before some state lawmakers. Only 28 states have ratified the Amendment. Another 10 would be needed for it to become an Amendment. It was meant to put a stop to sweat shops exploiting children! No one wants to stop kids from mowing lawns or having a paper route.
What's next Newt, repeal of the 13th Amendment?
That's reight Newt, absolve the parents of all resposnibility. If there were JOBS for low income families then they might be able to provide their children with the example and guidance that you refer to.
Give the children a chance to grow and learn the proper way, and not let the corporations take advantage of children. Give their parents some self respect by creating jobs for them, not their children!
it is quite disturbing to think that someone would actually vote for this arrogent SOB over president obama. now you know how people end up in cults. they will believe whatever you tell them and not think for themselves. the GOP reminds me of that.
Here is a man, that pointed fingers at Climton, and bashed him none stop , when in fact he was doing the same if not worse. This guy now attacking the food stamps , again pointing fingers at obama, Has anyone seen the size of this Man? maybe he should try living on food stamps and just maybe he might avoid a heart attack, this guy who has a 500 thousand cridit at a famous jewlery store lmao. this guys face probably outweight me, I get sick of politicians who never take a look at themselves and blame others for this countrys problems, I will never vote for this tub of lard, he lives in a totally different world then most, and its a world of fatcats . This country needs to revolt, like in roman and other countrys and force these typ-es of peopole out , also this country is in for a shock, There will be a war rright here in the US, this countrys people are now formaing and going to protest like in other countrys and tople there own US government, why? cause this country , the regular people in it are sick of it, totally sick and things will change may not be what all want but there is going to be a war right here with US citizens
I am proud to say that my children learned to work early. When my oldest soon was 14, I dropped him off at 6:00am at a local farm to help the farmer milk cows. He worked summers at the farm bailing hay and milking cows. Then at 18 he started to work for a small excavating business where he became forman of the crew. He is now about to head off to work on a contract in Afghanistan making $88K per year, plus free room and board. Newt has it right!
I'm still looking for that Contract With America to be upheld
Sounds like he's advocating a massive expansion of government employees. That's not going to go over very well with "The Base"
career politicans are in the habit of writng laws to favor corporate that will employ politicans after their political careers are over, take newt himself, their should be a ten year wait imposed, not to mention insider trading, trent lott resigned early to lobby
I had to read this twice. what is wrong with this guy
Please don't put Gingrich under the microscope – yet. I would like to wait until he's the man for Obama to beat.
Yes, yes because Newt has such experience with being economically downtrodden. I mean didn't Tiffany's cut back on his $500,000 line of credit for jewelry for his Mannequin, er Wife?
The comment was NOT racist as there are poor in every race in every part of the world. It was, however, most undeniably insulting, condescending, and demeaning to poor people everywhere.
It would only be viewed as racist by someone who thought that he was referring to poor Blacks only, for example. That would denote your own ingrained sterotypes and biases,not Gingrich's. He's an equal opportunity hater.
Gingrich is right. I've had a job since I was 12. Before I was 18 I was delivering newspapers, working in a candy store, and then waiting tables. The result: I learned the value of honest work and today I'm a self-made member of the top 5% thanks to the values I learned as a kid.
I wish I had put it in writing so I would have the proof that I was right in my hands at this moment, but I actually predicted republicans were going to go after child labor laws way back in march when they were attacking unions.
I know these [expletive deleted]’s too well.
Newt is not to be trusted he seem like a evil old man
Yes Newt, and there are really rich children in really rich neighborhoods who have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So, exactly what is your point? Perhaps these really rich children should try being janitors. Perhaps YOU should try being a janitor!
i am a rich kid (trust fund is well over 90 million). i spent my younger years partying and never had a job so when i turned 18 my parents deided to teah me some life lessons and cut me off. within a week i went from a multi million dollar condo to being homeless and had to get a job for the first time ever. i got a job in about a week making 8 an hr at starbucks but had no place to live and none of my rich friends would take me in. finally a coworker said i could stay with him...his whole family made less in a year than my father makes in a week, their whole house was as big as my bedroom and it was def in the hood. but you know what? i have never met a harder working kinder family in my life 5 ppl in the house (mom dad grandma two kids ) and then myself making 6 and noone was ever hungry or unhappy....just because ppl are poor doesnt mean they are lazy or worthless ... the only person who is worthless here is you newt you old money d bag.
Get those kids in the mines for an 80 hour work week already. Ahh the good old days of robber barons – -American exceptionalism at its finest according to the lizard.
The GOP (guardians of plutocracy) are at it again. Do Americans really want to do away with child labor laws?
NO we DONT
"Do you think all of these kids are studying after they get out of school?"
So your answer is "well, as long as they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, why bother trying to find a way to get them to do what they're supposed to be doing...what would improve their quality of life the most and their earning power and our workforce the most...when we can just put them to work scrubbing toilets instead? And hey, the added bonus is killing more union jobs!"
Garsh, yes! Put them stuped kids too work! They's cain't larn nuthin' in shcool, anyhows! Stuped teachers dont teach 'em nuthin, 'cept mebbe how to put on a condim! All they's ever larn is all that Darwan ape-man monkee bizness noncents! Then you get kids humpin' each other like bunnys, write their in the shcool hallways! Its sick, is what it is! Put 'em to work out in the tomatoe fields! That'll teach 'em! HAR!
"The comment was NOT racist as there are poor in every race in every part of the world. It was, however, most undeniably insulting, condescending, and demeaning to poor people everywhere."
Exactly. Their classism is color blind.
Is the GOP trying to lose on purpose? Can they really be that out of touch? Stunningly poor field.
Be a school janitor at the age of 9!
Who needs to "spin this out of control"?
Just reporting on what this idiotic moron said, just the facts, folks!
Joe
Gingrich is right. I've had a job since I was 12. Before I was 18 I was delivering newspapers, working in a candy store, and then waiting tables.. The result: I learned the value of honest work .....
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No one here is arguing against that. You have entirely missed the point.
Newt is arguing "stupid" child labor laws. Current laws allow you to do those things. Current laws limit the numbers of hours per day a child may work, the hours of the day when a child may work, the types of jobs a child may perform, etc. Newt has called those laws "stupid".
He's too proud to admit that his position means that it is okay for a child to work the graveyard shift in a coal mine 6 days per week. By defending him, you are arguing for the same type of abuse and child endangerment.
What will the GOP do now? Every clown in that car has been at the wheel at one point or another only to crash in a nanosecond. November 30 was the cutoff date to submit the paperwork to run on the GOP ticket so they can't throw another clown in the car. It is to laugh!
"Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works,"
Wow, talk about painting with a broad brush! Let me guess, their parents just sit around "drinking beer and watching the widescreen waiting for their handouts" as well.
With such obvious bigotry and racism, who needs to spin anything, there it is in black and white!!!
"Gingrich is right. I've had a job since I was 12. Before I was 18 I was delivering newspapers, working in a candy store, and then waiting tables. The result: I learned the value of honest work and today I'm a self-made member of the top 5% thanks to the values I learned as a kid."
I have worked since I was 15 (at which point, ironically, I was a janitor at my school) I haven't been without a job since. I learned the same values of hard work as you did. However, I am a federal government employee who your man Newt wants to downsize and who his party wants to freeze the pay for. Not everyone is going to own their own business. Why should I have to have my pay and job, which I have worked hard for, cut because someone, somewhere has the incorrect notion that I do no work and should instead be out starting my own business?
It is time people grow some common sense.
Of course it is a good thing to instill a work ethic in children and rightly compensate / reward them for their hard work. Do you think a kid who has never worked a day in his / her life is going to graduate from college and suddenly know how to be productive in a work environment?
I have been working since I was 12 doing whatever I could find to do from cleaning office buildings to paper routes. Those jobs helped shape my work ethic and learn the value of money. When I was young I hated it that I had to wait until I was 16 to get a "real job".
I get that you folks want to tear Newt apart on anything and everything but pick your battles – he is absolutely right on this issue.
Sometimes (rarely) I find myself agreeing with the republican party on a few issues but comments like these make me realize just how truly racist they are. This entire remark is leveled at minorities (blacks especially). Mr. Gingrich needs to vist my family and find out we are not ALL on welfare. We have professional employment, pay taxes, have no criminal records and love God. It is really a disgrace he made these remarks although I have come to expect nothing less.
I think Newt is a lobbyist for the the U.S clothing firms overseas that are paying pennies a day for child labor and want the same over here.
Folks will get to know the Newt that got ousted BY HIS PEERS from Congress in 1998 when he held the 3rd highest office in our government. This is the tip of Newt. More to come, much more. Newt - "what a dumb person thinks a smart person is".
Yeah, why pay an adult a living wage and benefits from a full-time job where they have access to collective bargaining powers when it comes to getting fair compensation from their employer when you can pay a kid under the table at poverty wages in an unofficial manner so they can get hurt on the job and you can just deny you even know them when the doctor bill comes?