mr. gingrich went on, quote, i see evil around me every day. quote, we're at the edge of losing this civilization. quoting from the "atlanta journal constitution." quote, like many of the larger than life figured he has admired, mr. gingrich says his destiny is to save modern american. after proclaiming his important role in keeping america free of nazi concentration camps and holding together civilization and what not, he went on to lead his party in a huge lopsided victory in that year's midterm elections and become speaker of the house in 1995. when he was reprimanded as speaker by the house ethics committee, one of the things the committee released in their report on him, was a note in mr. gingrich's handwriting that read in part, gingrich, primary mission. advocate of civilization. definer of civilization. teacher of the rules of civilization. and leader, possibly, of the civilizing forces. possibly. don't sell yourself short. when mr. gingrich decided to get into the 2012 presidential race, he told the "associated press," quote, it's goin

mr. gingrich agreed to pay that $300,000 fine. to pay it, he got a loan from senator bob dole, at the time. the irs eventually cleared mr. gingrich and his pac of wrongdoing and those charges. but newt gingrich would never again have to borrow money from bob dole to pay his fines, or to pay anything else. once he was free of congress, newt gingrich started building up his newt gingrich empire. ka-ching. he started the center for health transformation, to which drug companies and insurance companies paid tens of or hundreds of thousands of dollars to join. he founded american solutions for winning the future, and a pac by the same name, starting with a million bucks from a casino millionaire. 1.7 million voter and donor contacts, raising $32 million between 2009 and 2010. american solutions for winning the future was a big dollar operation. and, of course, gingrich productions. gingrich productions, which produces and markets dvds on energy and ronald reagan and the threat of radical islam. but really nothing else in newt gingrich'

gingrich's former wives was diagnosed with cancer. mr. gingrich has been through two divorces. mr. gingrich is the only speaker of the house ever forced to pay an ethics fine, a $300,000 fine. he was basically forced out of congress in disgrace after his time as speaker. and the worst two months of newt gingrich's life, he says, are when he he got made fun of for going on a cruise and buying jewelry. in the late 1990s in england the conservative party's prime minister, john major, was in the midst of a serious challenge from the labour party headed by tony blair. one story that went around after blair beat major, after blair was elected, was that when each of these guys was asked what was the best day of your life john major answered that was the birth of his first child and tony blair answered that it was the day he was elected leader of the labour party. now, that was a possibly apocryphal story but still a sort of defining one. in britain at the time about tony blair and his rise to power. about tony blair as a politician. he was seen ashthis incredibly effective, incredibly nim

and that lead that mr. gingrich -- that uncomplicated lead that mr. gingrich has jumped out to, that frankly explains this. >> i think people understand that i'm a man of steadiness and constant tann cy. i don't think you'll find anybody who's got more of that than me. i've been married to the same woman for 42 years. i go to the same church all my life. i worked for one company for 25 years and i left to go off and help save the olympic games. if i'm president of the united states i will be true to my family, to my faith, and to my country, and i will never apologize for the united states of america. >> i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. >> mitt romney was probably going to run as a family values guy anyway. they all do. but what better time to start the family values part of the campaign than when newt gingrich shoots by you in the polls with his third wife in tow? the thing that has democrats really excited about mitt romney today, though, is that mr. romney's newfound energy, the get up and go in his campaign that seems to be inspired by

gingrich's former wives was diagnosed with cancer. mr. gingrich has been through two divorces. mr. gingrich is the only speaker of the house ever forced to pay an ethics fine, a $300,000 fine. he was basically forced out of congress in disgrace after his time as speaker. and the worst two months of newt gingrich's life, he says, are when he he got made fun of for going on a cruise and buying jewelry. in the late 1990s in england the conservative party's prime minister, john major, was in the midst of a serious challenge from the labour party headed by tony blair. one story that went around after blair beat major, after blair was elected, was that when each of these guys was asked what was the best day of your life john major answered that was the birth of his first child and tony blair answered that it was the day he was elected leader of the labour party. now, that was a possibly apocryphal story but still a sort of defining one. in britain at the time about tony blair and his rise to power. about tony blair as a politician. he was seen ashthis incredibly effective, incredibly ni

newt gingrich senior aide to newt gingrich. mr. gingrich's spokesman telling "the new york times" mr. gingrich did not want to be identified as himself to avoid the impression that he was getting into a fight with the romney camp. which, of course, he was. you wouldn't want to sound negative. at least not with your own name attached to it. better to lob the bomb anonymously. the other reason for the collapse of the smiles everyone, smiles, idea, is the entry of mr. gingrich himself into the top tier of the presidential race is bringing out the best i negativity from all over the right wing. the newt gingrich pile-on is already a who's who of the republican establishment. "the new york times" conservative columnist david brooks calling gingrich out for narcissism, self-righteousness, intemperance. peggy noonan saying people who know newt gingrich, quote, are mostly not for him. karl rove writing of mr. gingrich, quote, when a man of his self-confidence begins to feel on top of the world, bad things often happen. former republican se

and that lead that mr. gingrich -- that uncomplicated lead that mr. gingrich has jumped out to, that frankly explains this. >> i think people understand that i'm a man of steadiness and constancy. i don't think you'll find anybody who's got more of that than me. i've been married to the same woman for 42 years. i go to the same church all my life. i worked for one company for 25 years and i left to go off and help save the olympic games. if i'm president of the united states i will be true to my family, to my faith, and to my country, and i will never apologize for the united states of america. >> i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. >> mitt romney was probably going to run as a family values guy anyway. they all do. but what better time to start the family values part of the campaign than when newt gingrich shoots by you in the polls with his third wife in tow? the thing that has democrats really excited about mitt romney today, though, is that mr. romney's newfound energy, the get up and go in his campaign that seems to be inspired by newt g

gingrich's former wives was diagnosed with cancer. mr. gingrich has been through two divorces. mr. gingrich is the only speaker of the house ever forced to pay an ethics fine, a $300,000 fine. he was basically forced out of congress in disgrace after his time as speaker. and the worst two months of newt gingrich's life, he says, are when he got made fun of for going on a cruise and buying jewelry. in the late 1990s in england the conservative party's prime minister, john major, was in the midst of a serious challenge from the labour party headed by tony blair. one story that went around after blair beat major, after blair was elected, was that when each of these guys was asked what was the best day of your life john major answered that was the birth of his first child and tony blair answered that it was the day he was elected leader of the labour party. now, that was a possibly apocryphal story but still a sort of defining one. in britain at the time about tony blair and his rise to power. about tony blair as a politician. he was seen as this incredibly effective, incredibly nimble

newt gingrich senior aide to newt gingrich. mr. gingrich's spokesman telling "the new york times" mr. gingrich did not want to be identified as himself to avoid the impression that he was getting into a fight with the romney camp. which, of course, he was. you wouldn't want to sound negative. at least not with your own name attached to it. better to lob the bomb anonymously. the other reason for the collapse of the smiles everyone, smiles, idea, is the entry of mr. gingrich himself into the top tier of the presidential race is bringing out the best in anythi negativity from all over the right wing. the newt gingrich pile-on is already a who's who of the republican establishment. "the new york times" conservative columnist david brooks calling gingrich out for narcissism, self-righteousness, intemperance. peggy noonan saying people who know newt gingrich, quote, are mostly not for him. karl rove writing of mr. gingrich, quote, when a man of his self-confidence begins to feel on top of the world, bad things often happen. former repub

here's an idea why mr. newt gingrich, mr. d.c. insider, might be the new tea party darling. take a look at this. in polling out last week, the folks at public policy polling noted mr. gingrich's strength in florida, for example, quote, points to his appeal to senior citizens. as public policy polling notes in handy chart form, mr. gingrich is polling better with older voters than he is overall in at least five states and nationally. newt gingrich has disproportionate support from old people. and here's an underappreciated thing about the tea party movement. it tends to be made up of old people. we know it's conservative people, right? we know it's not the most racially diverse thing in the world. but in a pronounced way it's also senior. in the new book "the tea party and the remaking of republican conservatism," harvard government and sociology team who studied the tea party movement found active participants in the broader circles of tea party supporters come from similar social backgrounds. although not every active tea partyer is a senior citizen, most are middle-aged an

i think this is quite a problem for mr. gingrich. basically he's got a charity that was set up allegedly for a charitable purpose but it isn't actually engaging in any charitable activities. instead the main purpose of the charity seems to be fundraising and preparing a mailing list for newt gingrich and paying gingrich communications money and buying books from newt gingrich. really it's a private benefit. >> what's wrong with them paying -- if mr. tyler from gingrich communications was temporarily working for a year or two running real, what's wrong with him earning a salary? >> there's nothing wrong with him earning a salary. but they should have listed on the organization's 990 the fact that gingrich communications was a related entity to real and they were in fact paying that money to gingrich communications. and neither of those things is included in fact on the 990. knowing and willful miss statements on your 990 is in fact a crime. >> for you the biggest issue that this charity promoting judeo christian values and educating p

limbaugh for mr. gingrich. >> he's done. he didn't have a big chance from the beginning, but now it's over. calling the republican plan which all but four republican members of the house have now endorsed and will be running on, calling it radical and right wing social engineering is deadly. >> republican senator roy blunt of missouri had this to say about mr. gingrich today to abc news. >> yinz the radical, right wing social engineering comment and i suspect he wishes he hadn't described it that way. >> beyond even that former congresswoman dick army and a handful of house republicans voiced the displeasure via politico. mr. army says quote, it fits mr. gingrich's track record of being confused and conflicted on health care policy. a congressman from oklahoma says quote, typically you'll find people running against another party rather than his own party. congressman campbell from kale saying quote, i was not thrilled with those remarks. >> congressman cole saying i'm not inclined to support somebody who makes our job harde

gingrich. i will join with us in putting those millionaires in jail for getting those food stamps. >> and please throw in the booth waiting to the flight to hawaii. if i catch one person with a food stamp credit card paying for their ticket, i'll send them over to justice to you two. this is amazing, disrespectful, making ra mockery of everyday working poor that the numbers have gone up, according to the u.s. census. most of them working every day. >> this is a sad, sad moment in american history that a person who could actually go to the white house -- i don't think he will, but at least technically he could go to the white house, has launched an attack on poor people in this country, people who -- in most cases can't defend themselves. that's why i'm glad you're on the air, and that's why i'm glad the country knows what mr. gijs rich is saying about poor people. i think eric holder needs to be notified today that mr. gingrich has information that millionaires are getting food stamps. i can as

asked on friday where it was that mr. gingrich would be vacationing, mr. gingrich's spokesman would not say. that was before mr. gingrich was spotted among the guests aboard a luxury cruise ship sailing between greece and turkey with stops on islands like meekenos and rhodes. after the tiffany's thing he never quite could answer does the newt gingrich for president campaign want to spend a whole new campaign day talking about their luxury cruise through the greek islands? no, they do not. and now they don't have to thanks to congressman anthony wiener. the exciting thing about expecting a thank you gift from newt gingrich is that there's always the possibility that it will come in a really fabulous famous light blue box. joining us now is howard fineman. howard, it's great to see you. thanks for being here tonight. >> hi, rachel. >> in terms of the overall republican presidential politics right now, the thing that is still the most important thing is the fate of mitt romney. mitt romney standing alone is the only major candidate who has not committed himse

good news for mr. gingrich there as well. a new poll out of south carolina which holds one of the nation's first primaries shows gingrich in a 16 point south carolina lead. in iowa, more good news from mr. gingrich. in iowa, he now holds a 15-point lead over mitt romney and ron paul who are tied for second place. the iowa caucus is exactly four weeks from today. and newt gingrich is leading by 15 points. december 6th, 2011, turning out to be an awesome day to be newt gingrich. but if you happen to be within shouting distance of mr. gingrich today and mentioned today's date, december 6th, you may see his brain perk up a little bit. you may see him thinking, i know that date and not in an "oh that's somebody's birthday kind of way." on this date 16 years ago the house select committee on ethics voted to initiate a preliminary inquiry into the allegations concerning representative newt gingrich and the misuse of tax exempt organizations. december 6th was the start of newt gingrich's collapse in political life in 1995. >> the com

here's an idea why mr. newt gingrich, mr. d.c. insider, might be the new tea party darling. take a look at this. in polling out last week, the folks at public policy polling noted mr. gingrich's strengths in florida, for example, quote, points to his appeal to senior citizens. as public policy polling notes in handy chart form, mr. gingrich is polling better with older voters than he is overall in at least five states and nationally. newt gingrich has disproportionate support from old people. and here's an underappreciated thing about the tea party movement. it tends to be made up of old people. we know it's conservative people, right? we know it's not the most racially diverse thing in the world. but in a pronounced way it's also senior. in the new book "the tea party and the remaking of republican conservatism," harvard government and sociology team who studied the tea party movement found active participants in the broader circles of tea party supporters come from similar social backgrounds. although not every active tea partyer is a senior citizen, most are middle-aged a

limbaugh for mr. gingrich. >> he's down. he didn't have a big chance from the beginning, but now it's over. calling the republican plan which all but four republican members of the house have now endorsed and will be running on, calling it radical and right wing social engineering is deadly. >> republican senator roy blunt of missouri had this to say about mr. gingrich today to abc news. >> the radical, right wing social engineering comment and i suspect he wishes he hadn't described it that way. >> beyond even that former congresswoman dick army and a handful of house republicans voiced their displeasure politico. mr. army says quote, it fits mr. gingrich's track record of being confused and conflicted on health care policy. a congressman from oklahoma says quote, typically you'll find people running against another party rather than his own party. congressman campbell from kale saying quote, i was not thrilled with those remarks. >> congressman cole saying i'm not inclined to support somebody who makes our job harder. nick

i think this is quite a problem for mr. gingrich. basically he's got a charity that was set up allegedly for a charitable purpose but it isn't actually engaging in any charitable activities. instead the main purpose of the charity seems to be fundraising and preparing a mailing list for newt gingrich and paying gingrich communications money and buying books from newt gingrich. so really it's a private benefit. >> what's wrong with them paying, if mr. tyler from gingrich communications was temporarily working for a year or two running real, what's wrong with him earning a salary? >> there's nothing wrong with him earning a salary. but they should have listed on the organization's 990 the fact that gingrich communications was a related entity to real and that they were in fact paying that money to gingrich communications. and neither of those things is included in fact on the 990. knowing and willful misstatements on your 990 is in fact a crime. >> to you is the big issue that this charity, which was about promoting judeo christian val

gingrich. mr. gingrich's stepfather, with him on the family trip in france at the time, said newt never mentioned anything about that trip was all that important to him at the time. "he never said anything about it. he never discussed it." regardless, that's the myth now. this whole my political career started when i was in france on vacation at the age of 15. that is part of newt gingrich's myth making, building himself up into an important seeming, serious seeming guy. buy my book. he's also told other origin myths about himself like the one where he only ended up in politics reluctantly after abandoning his long held dream to be a zoologist. that's another newt gingrich origin myth he tells whenever he's photographed near adorable animals. or when he was trying to sell himself as an environmental. one of his two dozen books has that environmentalist title. it's called "a contract with the earth." you can get an autographed copy of "a contract with the earth" at gingrichproductions.com for $9.99.

asked on friday where it was that mr. gingrich would be vacationing, mr. gingrich's spokesman would not say. that was before mr. gingrich was spotted among the guests aboard a luxury cruise ship sailing between greece and turkey with stops on islands like meek knows and rhodes. after the tiffany's thing he never quite could answer does the newt gingrich for president campaign want to spend a whole new campaign day talking about their luxury cruise through the greek islands? no, they do not. and now they don't have to thanks to congressman anthony wiener. the exciting thing about expecting a thank you gift from newt gingrich is that there's always the possibility that it will come in a really fabulous famous light blue box. joining us now is howard fineman. howard, it's great to see you. thanks for being here tonight. >> hi, rachel. >> in terms of the overall republican presidential politics right now, the thing that is still the most important thing is the fate of mitt romney. mitt room knee standing along as the only major candidate who has not committed

in what is perhaps a reaction to the challenge from mr. gingrich, mr. romney, his ads used to end like this, with this image of mitt romney standing stiffly behind a podium in new hampshire. now mr. romney's ads end like this. mr. romney hand in hand with his lovely wife. mr. romney also featuring his wife in a softball interview with "parade" magazine this week playing up his family values bonefides. he was asked by "parade," how do you like to spend your sundays when not campaigning? quote, in the afternoon we'll watch a football game, tell stories, wrestle. wrestle? mr. romney goes on to explain how at their mansion in new hampshire they like to spend time playing on their private manmade beach. it's hard for mitt romney to seem like a regular joe, but at least they are finally trying, right? at least they paired him up with his wife and family and trying to show him as a human being who one might conceivably relate to. the campaign also unveiling a grab a bite with mitt promotion online today. donate $5 and win a chance to join mitt for a meal. the

less than two weeks ago mr. gingrich said this. >> exercise no-fly zone this evening. do it. get it over with. >> now that mr. obama has done just that, mr. gingrich thinks that is a horrible idea. >> i would not have intervened. i think there were a lot of other ways to effect gadhafi. >> same guy, same libya. luckily there's facebook where this afternoon mr. gingrich sought to clarify his positions on libya. after being super in favor of it, until obama did it, then super against it once he did, mr. gingrich clarified today on his facebook page that he was against intervening. but when president obama said gadhafi has to go, he should intervene, but since he did intervene, he totally supports the mission.

gingrich. in that biography mr. gingrich's stepfather, who was with him on that family trip in france at the time, said that newt never mentioned anything about that trip was all that important to him at the time. quote, he never said anything about if it. he never discussed it. this whole my political career started in france on vacation at the age of 15. that's part of newt gingrich's myth-making? building himself up into an important guy by the book. he told other orthopedic engine myths about himself where he ended up in politics reluctantly after abandoning his dream to be a zoologist. that's what he tells when he's photographed near adorable animals or when he was trying to sell himself as an environmentalist. do you remember when he was an environmentalist? one of his two dozen books has that title. it's called "a contract with the earth." you can get one for 9.99. newt gingrich will tell you whatever story you like to hear about him. whatever is most likely to motivate you to buy one of his books or dvds. ri

limbaugh for mr. gingrich. >> he's down. he didn't have a big chance from the beginning, but now it's over. calling the republican plan which all but four republican members of the house have now endorsed and will be running on, calling it radical and right wing social engineering is deadly. >> republican senator roy blunt of missouri had this to say about mr. gingrich today to abc news. >> yinz the radical, right wing social engineering comment and i suspect he wishes he hadn't described it that way. >> beyond even that former congresswoman dick army and a handful of house republicans politico. mr. army says quote, it fits mr. gingrich's track record of being confused and conflicted on health care policy. a congressman from oklahoma says quote, typically you'll find people running against another party rather than his own party. congressman campbell from kale saying quote, i was not thrilled with those remarks. >> congressman cole saying i'm not inclined to support somebody who makes our job harder. nicky halle telling cnn