The Charleston Post and Courier's assistant editor, Frank Wooten, talks about Newt Gingrich's recent visit to the newspaper -- when the conversation veered to Newt's famous, environmentally-themed commercial with Nancy Pelosi.
Gingrich told us Friday: "I meant exactly what I said in that commercial."
He added that though "nobody knows" every cause of every climate change -- past, present and future -- for sure, "What I said was, 'As a matter of prudence, conservatism ought to involve caution.' "
That being said, Newt's not exactly green in the Pelosi-sense.
Gingrich told us he will soon propose "a new model for an Environmental Solutions Agency to replace the Environmental Protection Agency," which he blasted as "anti-business, anti-economic growth."
.... He lamented the "tragic mistake" of Republicans who neglect environmental concerns. He recommended creating "an innovative, market-oriented, incentive-led, conservative environmentalism that's directly competitive with the Sierra Club and that can do a better job than the Sierra Club."
Here's the 2008 ad, whose 30 seconds Newt will still have trouble putting away in political, if not policy-oriented, terms.
