Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Dems Walk Out of Gingrich Speech
> CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Two dozen Democrats walked out of
> the New Hampshire Legislature today during a speech by
> Newt Gingrich in which he criticized President Clinton
> as being passive in the face of wrongdoing in his
> administration.
>
> ``If a crime has been committed, the American people
> have a right to know,'' the House speaker told the
> GOP-dominated Legislature. He added that the president
> should take an active role in uncovering any wrongdoing
> in his administration.
>
> ``It's not enough to be passive,'' he said.
>
> Gingrich then criticized Whitewater figure Webster
> Hubbell, saying ``He had to resign and go to jail.
> Between resigning and going to jail, he got $720,000
> from 18 different sources, including $100,000 from
> Indonesians.''
>
> As the first of 20 to 30 Democrats in the 400-member
> House headed up the aisles, Gingrich reacted.
>
> ``People can walk out, but what I'm saying is a fact
> about a crime,'' he said. Republicans then interrupted
> him with loud and sustained applause.
>
> ``Let me just say how sad I am about the people who
> just walked out,'' Gingrich added.
>
> Rep. Ray Buckley of Manchester was among those who
> left.
>
> ``There is a time and a place for that sort of garbage.
> That is the way he runs Congress, not the way he speaks
> in the well of the New Hampshire Legislature,'' Buckley
> said.
>
> ``I believe he disgraced his position as speaker of the
> House and offended many.''
>
> Buckley said Democrats had discussed in advance the
> idea of a walkout if Gingrich gave a harshly partisan
> speech.
>
> State Republican Chairman Steve Duprey called the
> walkout ``incredibly rude,'' and said, ``It puts
> Democrats in the ridiculous position of defending Webb
> Hubbell.''
>
> Gingrich was making his third recent visit to the state
> with the nation's earliest presidential primary.
> Potential presidential candidates occasionally get a
> chance to speak to the Legislature about pending
> federal legislation and similar issues.
>
> The Democratic leader of the New Hampshire House stayed
> put, somewhat unhappily. Rep. Peter Burling said
> Gingrich had ``unceremoniously attacked, in the most
> partisan way, the head of my party and the heart of my
> party.''
--
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