we actually balanced the budget after reducing taxes and bringing in welfare reform and cutting and eliminating programs. he had a remarkable record in those four years that he was speaker. that s why i supported him. i know he has the ability to turn the messed up government of ours and today. but there were his detractors because of his management styles. no doubt about it. and it was a hot and heavy campaign, and whatever newt said about governor romney, governor romney gave back four or five fold or maybe tenfold. the ads that were played against newt after iowa and in florida were just incredible, and of course there were about 20-1 in terms of dollars. so newt didn t have much of a chance in this primary. but he is concentrating on one thing, and that is the need to replace barack obama as president of the united states this time, not in four years. all right. as you talk about the fact he may not have survived this primary in the role he wanted to
anyone truly by a gingrich endorsement of his former rival. joining me now is bob livingston, who backed newt gingrich and his bid for the presidency. great to have you here. thanks. some would look at that and think with friends like these who needs enemies. is there any way newt gingrich can convince fellow republicans he does, in fact, support mitt romney s full candidacy as the republican nominee? actually, newt doesn t have to convince anybody. you have president obama has done it already. he s convinced every republican and most independents that he is not fit to be the president of the united states for another four years. and as a result, newt gingrich and rick santorum will be joining forces with mr. romney, governor romney, and will be trying to convince all of those people, a majority of americans, that governor romney should be the next president. well, newt gingrich did give the media a plethora of sound bites to really revel in and to
ultimately get, he has raised his relevance and his political standing within the republican party itself. where do you think that newt gingrich goes from here? you know, we played that moon colony comment. that s something he feels passionately about. do you think he ll work on that as well as keeping a vocal and active voice within the republican party moving forward? he is a visionary. i mean, newt has always shown that he thinks out of the box. frankly, when we make great advances in space, it s going to be after we end up going to the moon and putting the colony thereupon. it s going to happen sooner or later. it may happen in 20 years or 50, but it s going happen. newt wanted to do it sooner. i think that newt could play a very valuable role in the cabinet if governor romney chooses to appoint him in just about any capacity. he could be he could head up the united nations delegation on behalf of the united states. he could do a number of things. he is a very talented guy.
miss psyched for coming out here. may still not get you to the oval office. we will suspend our campaign effective today. but if you go down, you might as well go down in style. amazing thing that sweater vest. turned out i gave a pretty good speech that night. the twitter verse went wild saying it must be the sweater vest. it s the right to bear arms. there you go. still in the race, newt gingriching had trouble writing a $500 check. this is one of those goofy things. that check was drawn in december. it wasn t a question of money. that particular bank account was closed. then again, fiscal discipline was never his forte. congressman newt gingrich bounced checks for more than 26 grand. more than a few paces behind, newt doesn t seem to know whether the finish line is ahead of him. i m still here and i m still campaigning. or behind him. i m glad i did this. mitt romney has always been fueled by deeply held beliefs.
kennedy and signing this health care bill. i am so surprised. you brought this up earlier, through this entire crazy republican process, that one candidate i certainly would have done it. i was shown the picture of mitt romney, this isn t the shot. mitt romney turning smile at ted kennedy and i would have played it over. that s what everybody predicted would happen. nobody had the messaging discipline to do that against mitt romney. clearly, in retrospect, they were so involved in mutual loathing, each campaign that they never even got to that. like you, i thought that picture, even the clip that we showed coming into this segment about governor romney talking about working with senator kennedy would have been run over and over and over in iowa and new hampshire and elsewhere. an exclusive first look at the new issue of time requesti the new issue of time requesti . magazine. keep it right here on morning