>> tonight, a look at the reaction of senate democrats after the passage of a two- month payroll tax cut extension the statement from president obama. after that, republican newt gingrich at a town hall meeting in south carolina. today, the house and senate passed a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. after the measure passed, harry reid spoke to reporters on the hill. after his remarks, we will hear

from house democratic leaders. this is about 24 minutes. >> i am certain that most of you would rather be anyplace than here. i am glad you're here today. i will be relatively brief. the conferees i am going to appoint will be max baucus chairman of the finance committee, ben cardin, a member of the finance committee, no one in the senate has been more protective of federal employees then senator carden and when we were doing the negotiations, one of the places that people were looking to do some real difficult things for federal employees, ben will be fair but not punitive. nevada has had an unemployment very high for a long time.

a state that has been hit really hard by unemployment has also been rhode island. no one in the senate has been more protective of the unemployed than jack grade. the fourth will be bob casey. he is chairman of the joint economic committee and this is his bill, the payroll tax holiday extension is bob casey's legislation. i have talked to each of them and they will work expeditiously to come up with a long-term arrangement on the payroll tax, unemployment of course. i have great confidence in them and i also want to say that most everything we do around here is based on trust. that is how we get things done. i want everyone to understand how much i appreciate mitch mcconnell sticking by the

arrangement, the agreement we made. i have told that personally and i say that to all of you. when we come back next month, we will have important things to do. i have already talked about the payroll tax package. have to do that and we can pay for it in many different ways. we have to be somewhat invented. during the past few days i have had many calls from my congressmember's about ideas they have that would protect the people that need the extra few bucks each month but also save money in the long run unemployment, we have to figure out a way to extend that period this is the first time that we have paid for unemployment tax extension which i do not favor but a significant number of my own caucus did so that is something we had to do and we'll continue to fight for the long- term unemployed. i would hope that we can do something final to get rid of

this sgr, this doc fix so doctors to take care of senior citizens did not have to worry every few months that they are going to get paid the following month. those are some of the things we certainly have to do. a couple of other things that are paramount in my mind -- we have to get this done. we have a short-term extension. this involves the employment of a couple of hundred thousand new people. we have made many offers in the house and we have to get this done and forget about all the and deal with it. the same applies to a very good bill.

those are a few things that we have to do. i hope this congress has had a very good learning experience, especially those who are new. everything we do around here does not have to wind up in a fight. that is not the way things have to be. people wonder why the approval rating of congress is so low. i do not wonder. it seems that everything we have done this last year has been a knockdown, drag out fight. there is no reason to do that.

if there was a message received from this last thing we have been through, i would hope they would understand that legislation is the art of compromise. not trying to push through issues were you did not have the support of the american people. this institution relies on trust and goodwill to get work done. the american people need this institution to work effectively. there are enormous challenges facing our country. we have a new year coming very quickly. working families that we have hoped for a couple of months, that is not enough. they sent us to washington to find ways to make their life italy easier and give them the tools they need to try to get ahead.

they did not send us your to wage a partisan battles or settle ideological scores. i say to my colleagues, it is new year's. let's put those games aside and make its our top priority. it is not for political advantage, but to get things done. if we are able to get things done, there is a lot of credit to go around to everybody. if we do not get things done, there is criticism. let's show the american people that despite our differences, we can tackle the big challenges that stand before us. i would like to take questions. yes? >> looking forward to 2012, there are 21 democratic seats up for election. how does this tax cut extension communicated to voters in those seats that are up for election?

>> that has been pretty well done by all of you in the last few days. >> you just won a battle with house republicans on taxes. how does this set you up for the battle in february? how does it set you up for the tough negotiations with the bush tax cuts? >> the first thing we will do -- we have work at hand. i of gone over some of the things on my mind. -- i have gone over some of the things on my mind. as i have indicated this morning, i would hope this experience will make us better legislators. >> i have instructed my staff

to get together with them sometime next week. we have senate democrats that will get together and there will be scheduled. we will come up with this schedule so that during the time we are out of session, will still of work to do. >> this bill will reduce the duration of unemployment by 20 weeks. is that something democrats are going to revisit? >> we have people that have spoken out loudly. this is something that we could not get done otherwise. we will revisit that. i want someone that works every day to understand the plight of people who do not have jobs. i of not seen anyone who was

more in tune and -- i have not seen anyone who is more in tune with that than jack grade. i have instructed in my telephone calls, there is nothing off the table. everything is on the table. i have talked to senate republicans who think there should be a fairer tax on rich people. there are stories written about it. you have seen the stories. i am glen to make sure -- i am going to make sure that it could be part of what we're trying to do. we will see what happens. >> [inaudible]

we will see a number of people who have already been through these discussions as part of the super committee. is there any reason to expect a boy -- different conclusion this time? -- expect the board -- different conclusion this time? >> the reason i went to some length to describe -- i want to make sure that everybody understands that this is a new day. i am very disappointed that the conferees that the house has appointed have already spoken out prior to being appointed against extending the payroll tax cuts. that is why i spend a lot of time this morning indicating that this is a new day. i would hope that prior statements will not prevent us from getting something that is good for the american people.

>> a few days before the senate voted on this bill, you had a meeting with john boehner and mitch mcconnell. was there room for confusion about [inaudible] could you shed some light? >> i understand everybody's curiosity. we did about was right for the country. thank you, everybody. have a good christmas, hanukkah, at new year's.

>> good morning, we are very pleased today that the anxiety and fear that americans had has been resolved. we are pleased that this agreement. i have talked to leader nancy pelosi and she already has appointed conferees. senator harry reid is doing the same. we're looking forward to assuring in the 01-year extension that everybody said they wanted. we're looking for to make sure

the unemployed are not put at risk by falling off the rolls and we are very pleased that 48 million seniors will have the confidence that their medicare will continue to compensate their doctors said they will be available for them. this is a good day for the american people the american people's voice was heard their concerns were heard and we have responded i also want to congratulate president obama who showed great leadership in this effort. they articulated to the american the people and what was at issue. i am pleased that we have come together to make this agreement.

we will go forward understanding that our work is not yet done and we intend to do it in a constructive, a bipartisan fashion. i want to yield to the vice chairman of our caucus. >> i know i speak for each and every one of the members of the democratic caucus when i say that this will be a much better christmas, much better holiday season for all americans but certainly 160 million working americans. i know that most people were concentrating on the other things. in this case, we can tell those folks that they can continue to focus on buying those last- minute presence cause we did

our work and we can now move forward. a big cheer up to a guy named barack obama, the president of the united states. he started this campaign a long time ago to really press the urgency of middle-class americans and it took months to make clear how important this issue was. we are moving forward and we want to say to each and every american who helped with their stories, with their commitment to try to push this across the finish line, thank you very much for letting us and 2011 on a good note. >> this is a victory for the american people. i want to thank all of the people who spoke up.

we received over 400 stories from the unemployed telling us how hard they work looking for work, how difficult it was. now we can>> can go on and solve the larger issues that relate to a full one-year extension. i want to say to the president, but you said enough was enough. but we did today was to come here and say, enough was enough. we are ready to move on. >> a want to thank the american people for calling on us to do the right thing and we want to make sure we extend a payroll tax cuts for the full year as the president called for.

merry christmas to the american people. it is time for congress to get right back to work. i want to introduce the dean of the congressional delegation. >> congratulations to you. merry christmas to the american people. this is a small when but it is a big one. as i look behind me, i see the statue of will rogers. what has happened today in the last few days would be something that would give him some wonderful opportunities for some rather funny but acerbic comments about the congress of the united states. this is something which i am hoping is a sign of good things to come. i hope we can expect that my republican colleagues will learn to work together in a

bipartisan fashion in the best tradition of the house of representatives. i am hoping that they will also learn to follow their leader, mr. boehner, who established the beginnings of some good working relationships and i am hopeful this will lead to the congress now proceeding to deal with the nation's business in a proper way in which we have the necessary and proper respect and cooperation and bipartisanship. congratulations to all, merry christmas to all, and at this time, a very good night. >> thank you very much. we're also joined by steve cohen. did you want to say a few words? >> i appreciate the opportunity with all this leadership, i feel like tiny tim. it is a special time. i did not stay here for this purpose. i stayed here to watch the university of memphis played

georgetown last night by sore a more experienced team beat a younger team. hopefully my team will improve and hopefully the tea party will learn from that so we will not be in march madness, a comeback. they will learn from their mistakes and get better. that was a game and this is real life and this was a great day for america. >> thank you very much and i want to say in closing that we had much work to do. there is no more important job which faces the congress of the united states and growing our economy and creating the jobs that people meet which frankly brought us to this point. we'll come back from our break in january focused on doing that and we hope that we will be able to do so in a bipartisan way so that the economy will have the certainty and the success that we want it to have. are there any questions?

>> mr. dingell? what are you looking for two or the next two months? will you address the millionaire surtax? and also the pipeline? >> now was not the time to get into the specifics of the negotiations. as chris van hollen was very clear about yesterday when he said there are differences between the two parties which is why this extension was necessary we will obviously have to deal with those details. the conference committee will be convened i believe after the holidays and will be working on those issues. >> their republican colleagues are talking about reforms to unemployment insurance and things like urine tests and shortening the duration of unemployment benefits. >> again, there'll be time to

get to the specifics. those specifics and the others that mr. van hollen mentioned yesterday are differences between the two parties and i will have to be addressed. this agreement we have reached today gives us the opportunity to do that which was the intention of the senate and why we were so supportive of adopting the senate bill and why i am pleased we did that. >> can i briefly comment? you mentioned many of these issues are within the ways and means committee. we will sit down at a conference table to try to work out differences. those differences have been expressed before they are some bigger ones that need to be worked out. >> the three of you were appointed as conferees. when will you be starting negotiations? >> right away. >> senator harry reid and

leader nancy pelosi have indicated they are prepared to move forward immediately following the holidays which means the first week in january. >> you have been here an awful long time, >> i don't like the way you say that. [laughter] >> i have been here a productive period of time. [laughter] >> john dingell said that i hope the tea party and the members will follow john boehner. rarely have we heard such a firestorm like this. your said it was critical of what was going on and factions within the republican party. what is your observation on what that means for what is ahead in the new year for the republicans? >> i will end with this -- as

we have had a good day -- 160 million people are confident they will get their tax cut, the first paycheck in january. 48 million seniors are confident they will be able to see their doctors and 2.2 million americans are pleased they will not lose their unemployment insurance. there will be time to talk about the other matters as we go forward i think the american people's voice was heard very loudly. they want us to work together in a productive, positive, constructive way. i am hopeful that we will do that. thank you very much. have a great holiday.

>> president obama spoke to reporters after signing the extension. during his remarks, he commands lawmakers for coming to an agreement. -- commends lawmakers for coming to an agreement. >> good afternoon, everybody.

i know you are looking forward to spending time with your families over the holidays, but >> we did have one last piece of business to finish up. i said it was critical for congress not to go home without preventing a tax increase on 160 million working americans and i am pleased to say they got it done. i want to thank all the members of congress for ending the stalemate and making this happen. because of this agreement, every working american will keep their tax cut, about $1,000 for a typical family. that translates into an extra $40 or so and every pay check. vital unemployment insurance will continue for millions of americans who are looking for work. when congress returns, i urge them to keep working without drama and without delay to reach an agreement that extends this tax cut as well as unemployment insurance through all of 2012.

last week, i said they should be a formality and that is still the case. let's make sure that we extend the tax break and unemployment insurance for a full year for families but also for our economy. it is the right thing to do because more money spent by more americans means more business as hiring more workers and that is a boost for everybody and a boost that we very much need right now. finally, i want to take a moment to thank my fellow americans for bringing their voices to this debate. i met with several here at the white house yesterday. i really think it takes courage to believe that your voice can make a difference. i promise you the american people that your voice has made a difference on this debate whether you tweeted or called or wrote, you're reminded people in this town with this debate and all of our debates should be about. it is about you. it is about your lives, it is about your families, you did not send us to this town to play partisan games and see who is up and who is down.

you sent us here to serve and make your lives a little bit better, to do what's right. unfortunately, that is how this week ended. this is some good news in the nick of time for the holiday spirit i want to be clear though, we have a lot more work to do. this continues to be a make or break moment for the middle class in this country and we will have to roll our sleeves together, democrats and republicans, to make sure the economy is growing and to make sure that more jobs are created. we have an economy that is showing some positive signs. we have seen many consecutive months of private sector job growth but it is not happening as fast as it needs to. that means that we've got to redouble our efforts working together and it means we have to make sure we are rebuilding an economy where if you work hard that work will be rewarded,

the kind of economy where everyone is doing their fair share and everybody plays by the same set of rules, everybody has a fair chance, and everybody is acting responsibly including those in washington there will be important debates next year, some tough fights i am sure in the years to come but that is the kind of country i am fighting for, one where everybody has a fair chance and everybody is doing their fair share that is the kind of country i think the american people deserve and the kind of country that american people want. i want to wish everybody a merry christmas, happy holidays, a happy new year to you and your families and that includes everybody here in the press corps. i know you guys have been working hard and your families will be happy to spend more time with you over the next few days. i also want to make sure to send the warmest holiday wishes to all the men and women in uniform for serving overseas who may not have a chance to see their families this holiday season.

we are grateful for everything you do. thank you, guys, aloha. >> happy new year, sir. >> surely after briefing reporters, president obama headed to hawaii. he will join his wife and daughters on the island of oahu. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> sunday on "newsmakers"

congressman chris vann hollen on the debate to extend the tax cuts and unemployment insurance. that's at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. tonight on c-span, republican presidential candidate newt gingrich at a town hall meeting in south carolina. then an overview of the 2012 presidential campaign and later, c-span's series "the contenders accounts" with a look at the life of charles evans hughes. >> sunday, christmas morning, first lady michelle obama weather military families to the white house to see the deck railingses. later, gonzalez on his experiences in the george wmplets bush white house.

and talk about the new book "political corruption in washington," and monday, the dedication of the martin luther king jr. national memorial. and at 7:00 p.m. eastern, google's executive chairman on mobile telecommunications. go to c-span.org for the complete weekend schedule. >> republican presidential candidate newt gingrich held a town hall meeting in columbia, south carolina today. this is his prior campaign stop prior to the christmas holiday. he's scheduled to resume campaigning on tuesday, december 27, in iowa in preparation for the state's january 3 caucuses. the south carolina republican primary is scheduled to be held on saturday, january 21. this is a little over an hour. [applause] >> how are you?

good to see you. how are you? hello, hello, hello! hello, hello, hello! hello! all right. all right. ok. that's very funny. >> let me have your attention for just a moment, please. my name is bill dukes and i'm from columbia and i own the blue marlins and i hope that you enjoyed your dinner or lunch today -- well, thank you, thank you -- let me just move ahead because i know you didn't come here to listen to me, ok? i want to introduce also mary louise from harvest hope. oh, here she is right here and i will ask you this -- if you have not contributed anything, canned goods, nonperishables or money, please, please empty your

pockets with mary louise before you leave. we have a very difficult situation. we have four -- three out of every four children that go to bed at night in south carolina go to bed without a nourishishing meal. that's enough for you to think about it moving on. i'm here to introduce billy wilkins. he was the first federal judge in the nation a-- appointed by newly elected president ronald reagan. billy is known for playing a pivotal role from the location in south carolina. he now holds the rank of retired brigadier general. he and his wife deborah are here as co-chairs for newt's campaign in south carolina. at this time i'd like to introduce billy wilkins. flaws applause -- applauds

applauds -- [applause] >> join me from expressing my appreciation for bill's generous hospitality. [applause] >> and i want to welcome everyone here and tell you i'm delighted that you're willing to become part of the passion and action of our time. under his leadership as speaker of the house -- get this. the federal budget was balanced for the first time in over a generation. [applause] under his leadership we experienced well fair reform and taxes were cut significantly. newt has the experience, the knowledge, the intellect, and the strong work ethic to get america growing in the right direction again. in naming him man of the year,

"time" magazine said this, and i quote -- leaders make things possible. compensational leaders make them inevitable. newt belongs to that category of exceptional. end quote. [applause] well, it give me great pleasure to welcome the next president of the united states. [applause] >> thank you all very much for that warm welcome. first of all, thank you for coming out just two days before christmas. let me start with saying merry christmas to all of you. i'm delighted to be here and hope you have a wonderful

christmas. judge, the you and deborah for helping. billy, thank you for hosting us over here. it was a great lunch. it was really, really wonderful to have a chance to have some south carolina cooking and i appreciate it very much as a georgian. i really really glad to be here and i want to talk about a couple of key things and then we'll take questions. please be seated, you guys. let me start in talking about what just happened in washington and i don't know how we get this message across -- across to both parties, but there's something profoundly wrong in this economy with the problems around the world threatening to make it worse to have the presidents and the congress think that they've accomplished something by passing a two-month extension of one item. [applause]

and my dear friend former congressman, the judge is here. we were able to work a with a democratic president to get things done. we got well fair reform done. we got the first tax cut in 16 years done. we had the largestest capital gains tax cut in history, done. four consecutive balanced budgets, done. what happened? unemployment went down to 4.2%. think how much better a christmas we'd have right now if unemployment were at 4.2%. so let me talk for a minute about creating jobs and i'm talk specifically about south carolina. south carolina is going to be one of the great opportunities in all of america for job creation, if we have the right policies. the boston consulting group came out with a study that said by

2014, when you take total costs, it will be less expensive to manufacture in south carolina than in the coastal region of china. [applause] now, they did not take into account the obama national labor relations board effort to destroy right to work states but nonetheless that effort for the moment has been pushed back. what does it mean to think that we would be competitive head to head in south carolina with the area around china? it means we have a chance in the world market to create manufacturing jobs right here selling worldwide. what does that off-season it means we have to modernize the port of charleston. [applause] and it also means part of that process that we have to modernize the port a little bit north in georgetown. people have known this for

years. our red tape -- and this requires a fundamental reform of the army corps of engineers, which is why i've worked with the people at strong america now who want to apply the strong manufacturing to government that we apply in our manufacturing companies. it takes longer tooed to plan the modernization to have port of charleston than it's going to take to modernize the pan ma canada. that is amount of bureaucracy that's ground down. we taught the entire second world war from 1941 to victory over japan in august of 1945. it is three years and eight months in 44 months, we defeat nazi germany, fascist italy and

imperial japan. it recently took 23 years to add a fourth runway to the -- airport. this is humanly created in competence. i'm running for president to cut through the red tape to get a lean, effective corps of engineers, second to set some priorities. everybody talks about how to create jobs. nobody has much of an idea to do it. if you have a radical sitting in the white house talking about jobs, he has it exactly backwards. i know this both as a historian but somebody at a practical level in 1980 i worked with rond reagan, jack kemp, all of us developed an idea called supply side economics. governor reagan campaigned on it.

his program for job creation was cut taxes, cut regulations, favor american energy, praise the people who create jobs. now what's the obama snoled the exact opposite -- raise taxes, increase regulations, be against american energy and attack the people who create jobs. it's exactly backwards. what was the result of the reagan approach? we created millions of null jobs. in august of 1983 we created over a million new jobs. the unemployment rate dropped from 10.8% to about 5.6% during the reagan years. kept coming down. i became speaker. what was the gingrich jobs program? look, i believe in imitating. i just had a good lunch here. if i wanted to cook that dish i'd come to him and say can i have your recipe?

i wouldn't try and invent my own recipe. i don't know if they'd give to it me. but the idea is right. ill wouldn't open up a significant across the street. obama's recipe is so messed up he thinks you get a hard egg but -- by putting it in the freezer. [applause] now, so what do we do when i was speaker? we cut taxes, including the largest capital gains tax cuts in history. we cut regulations, we strengthened american energy and we worked with the people who create jobs. in the four years i was speaker not only doiled we balance the budget and pay off our dealt, we balanced it for two straight years. two when i was speaker and two in the immediately following years based on the policy we established. in addition to all that there

were 11 million new jobs created. so we know it works. we have two classic studies. let me talk about how it ought to work here. it's a combination of taxings -- zero capital gains tax, hundreds of billions of dollars will pour into the country. -- 4.5% corporate tax rate. we have eliminate billions in money locked up overseas. and at 12.5%, general electric would actually pay taxes. at 35% they hire a lot of tax lawyers but at 12.5% they'd fire the lawyers and pay the tax. 100% financing for all new equipment. you're a farmer, factory, restaurant. if you're a business and you buy new equipment you write it off

in one year. why does that matter? because we want american workers to be the most modern, motives productive workers in the world with the best equipment. [applause] and the gingrich jobs and economic growth plan, we eliminate permanently the death tax. it is an immoral tax. [applause] it's both costly wrong and it's economically wrong. it's clurlly wrong because the fact is -- culturally wrong, if you work and do all the right things all your life, by what right does a politician take half your money when you die? it's wrong. but if you have somebody who's smart and effective, you want to spend the last 15 years building new better jobs and creating new better companies. it's a better approach.

for individuals under the gingrich plan, we also create an optional 15% flat tax so that anybody who wants to, you can either keep the current system with all of its deductions or write down this is what i earn, when this is my dependents. hong kong has a two-phase plan. they've had it for a generation and it works. how do you build on the tax policy? deregulation. one, repeal obama care immediately. [applause] two, repeal the dodd-frank bill immediately. [applause] three, repeal sarbanes-oxley immediately.

every one of these steps creates more jobs. it lib rates small banks, moves in the right direction. i do think you need some health reform right after you repeal obama care. we need to reform some financial services after we repeal dodd-frank but this system is guaranteed to be crument and wrong and it is crippling the american economy. now, a couple more stems. we need to replace the environmental protection agency with a brand-new -- [applause] we need a brand-new environmental solutions agency. i would not transfer anybody from the current agency. this is an institution which has grown so radical, so lacking in common sense and so dedicated to crippling american business and dictating to local communities that it needs to be replaced bay

common sense pracks -- practical organization that focuses on innovation and developing new and better approaches and not punishment and dictating to the whole country. i am for a 21st century food and drug administration, which is in the laboratory, understanding science and accelerates getting it so that you get it as fast as possible. the biggest market in the 21st century is going to be health care. as people get wealthier they want to live better. i would like america to be the leading producer of health products in the world. those are high value-added jobs with high profit margins. we wants them to be here in america. not in china, not in india or europe but here in america. [applause] now, let me talk brief -- briefly about energy. there's an estimated $29 billion-plus in natural gas just

offshore. you set a standard so it's far enough offshore it doesn't affect tourism or the fishing industry. that's thousands of high-value jobs. in louisiana that industry averages $80,000 a year. it also produces royalties and i like a bill introduced by two democratic senators. webb and warner of virginia. it says that for virginia, thebling they can develop offshore. 50% of royalties go to the federal government 37.5 demro go to the commonwealth of virginia. the other goes to land conservation. you would regenerate enough money to get the rail and road structure to create the necessary jobs. you create jobs in the

infrastructure energy. that improves the chance to export, creates jobs in manufacturing. suddenly you dramatically expanded the job base of south carolina and you put people back to work. we have today the finest, most effective fooled stamp president in american history. no one has ever put as many people on food stamps at barack obama. i would like to become the best paycheck president in american history. [applause] two last things and then i'm going to take questions. first, i'm going to tell you, i'm not going to ask any of you to be for me. because if you're for me you're going to vote and go home and say i sure hope newt fixes it. i can't fix it by myself, even as president. i need your help.

i'm going to ask you to agree to be with me for the next eight years and i want you to be with me first of all to stand side by side to remind the congress, the governor, the state legislature, the county commissioner, the school board, this is the direction america is going to go in because we're going to get america back on the right track and we need your help doing it. it takes citizen power to get elected officials to do the right thing. second, i'm going to ask you to be with me because of at a practical level, if you have as many changes as we need to get back on the right track, we're going to make mistakes. when we make mistakes, i want you to tell us. this isn't working, we have a better idea. the world has changed. it's important that we recognize no 537 people in washington can

possibly understand enough to see all the different things that need to be fixed. we're going to build using social networks, for people to stay in touch and really understand and be able to say this is an improvement. you have to fix that there's a third reason i want you to be with me. if we apply the 10th amendment and shrink the government in washington, we have to grow citizens back home, because you have to fill the vacuum we're creating. so i am going to ask you to be with me. lastly, what i've begun to outline for you here is a huge choice. do we go with a model of your petersen socialism or do we go wlt declaration of independence, and us being citizens not subjects and the government should serve us, we don't serve the government. [applause]

this is possibly the biggest choice in over 100 years. which direction do we go with? eight years of barack obama will wreck this country on a scale that will make it almost unrecognizable. and therefore we need to win not just the house, not just the senate, not just the presidency. but we need to win the argument about the nature of america and the nature of solutions that will work. that's why, if you help me, and i believe if i win south carolina i'll be the nominee -- [applause] if you will help me, as the nominee i will challenge president obama to seven three-hour debates in the lincoln-douglas tradition of a timekeeper and no moderator -- [applause] to be fair, i will concede in

advance that he can use a teleprompter. after all, let's be honest -- if you had to defend obama care wouldn't you want a teleprompter? [applause] now people think that he's not going to accept. but i believe he will for three reasons. first, he announced in february of 2007 in springfield, illinois quoting lincoln. second, it's a question of ego. he's a graduate of harvard law school, the editor of the harvard law remove. the finest -- review. the finest orator in the democratic party. how does he look in a mirror and say he's afraid to debate somebody who taught at west georgia college?

but finally, as many of you know, i study history, and unlike the president, i study american history. [applause] in 1858 abraham lincoln had been out of office for 10 years. he'd served one term in the u.s. house, before that a state legislator. when he announced he was announcing against the most powerful senator in the country. he said there are 105 days left in this campaign. let's debate every day. douglas said i don't think so. so lincoln adopted a policy wherever douglas went lincoln would show up the next day. after about three weeks, douglas fouled out the newspaper coverage was lincoln's rebuttal of douglas's speech. douglas said, i'll agree to the debates. i'll debate you seven times.

those seven debates, each one was covered by the newspapers across the whole country. lincoln had it published as a book in 1859 and it was a major factor in his emergence as a presidential candidate. if you help me become the nominee, in tampa, in my acceptance speech, if the president has not yet accepted, i will announce that as of that night, the white house will be my scheduleler. wherever the president goes,ly show up four hours later and i will answer his speech. now, in the age of talk radio, social media, 24-hour capable television news, i don't think it will take very many weeks for them to decide that having gingrich answer each speech is a dead loser and the debate is a

lot better gamble. so i think the odds are very good we're going to end up with seven three-hour debates. one of them it be -- can be on obama care. one of them can be on job killing. we'll have a contest later on to figure out what the seven topics are and it will be a lot of fun and it will be a good experience. somebody wrote me the other day and said the president's charges challenges -- we ran last time with the slogan "yes we can," and he's going to run next time with the slogan "why we couldn't." [applause] again, i'm thrilled you'd come out just before christmas. i think we have two microphones in the all of a sudden. so if you'll hold up your hand a microphone person will come to you. this gentleman right here.

and then we'll come to you. here you go. >> mr. speaker? when you become president, will you be in a position to actively campaign to get rid of pelosi and reid? >> oh, sure. i mean, pelosi is pretty hard because she represents san francisco and she actually may be a more conservative person than her district. >> hopefully they will is seed by that time. another short thing, sir, i know the amendment free speech and also, but is there any way to hold the media accountable for the lies and the misrepresentation? >> sure, don't watch them. >> gotcha. >> my view is there are certain channels that i refuse to watch because i know they're not in touch with reality. several which could be called the science fiction channel news.