Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Friday said the Republican establishment he said is trying to thwart his campaign includes the same forces who have failed to win previous presidential elections.
“That is why the Republican establishment, whether it's in 1996, or in 2008, can't win a presidential campaign,” said Gingrich, delivering remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “Because they don't have the toughness, they don't have the commitment, and they don't have the philosophy necessary to build a majority in this country.”
The onetime House speaker—whose campaign has flagged badly since winning South Carolina last month—focused his speech on describing himself as the antiestablishment candidate whose ideas, he said, are too dangerous for the party leaders. He criticized both the “Washington establishment” and “Wall Street establishment.”
“This campaign is a mortal threat to their grip on the establishment because we intend to change Washington, not accommodate it,” he said.
He drew applause with several of his proposals, including permanently eliminating the estate tax, abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency, and increasing U.S. energy self-sufficiency through greater domestic production.
"We want to ensure that no future president ever again bows to a Saudi king," he said.
Referring to the recent debate over contraception policy, he also said that if President Obama is reelected, he "will wage war on the Catholic Church the morning after."
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