Quotes from Newt's speech to Maryland GOP

In a speech at the Maryland Republican Party fundraiser Thursday, Newt assailed President Obama's foreign policy. From Kendra Marr:

He told the audience that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, and challenged the notion that the Libyan rebels have America’s best interests at heart. He said political correctness is inhibiting the fight against Islamist terrorists. Gingrich also charged that Obama has been “strangely quiet” about Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and that the president no longer cares about Israel’s safety.

“I’m not very comfortable that Egypt is going to work out well,” he said. “I’m not very comfortable that Tunisia is going to work out well. I’m not very comfortable that Libya is going to work out well.”

Gingrich ended his speech with a few solutions. He proposed that Congress force the president to make foreign policy decisions at home, not through foreign organizations like the United Nations, and revamp the Intelligence Act so that American can have “real effective spies.” He also called for the firing of Attorney General Eric Holder, who Gingrich charged with undermining American security.

From ABC's Arlette Saenz:

"Is the tide of war receding or is there a potential tsunami of violence building offshore?" Gingrich repeatedly asked the crowd.

"I want to challenge the president to withdraw the phrase because it totally misleads the American people and it represents a delusion of the real world."

Also from Saenz:

Prior to his speech, Gingrich held a roundtable fundraiser for his campaign. Earlier this week, two top fundraisers for the campaign quit.

The Gingrich campaign is planning fundraisers as they head into the final week of the fundraising quarter.

"I ask everyone I can for money. I’d love to have your support," Gingrich told reporters.

Newt still has "a half dozen people on the staff" raising money

From Kendra Marr of Politico:

Gingrich spokesman RC Hammond confirmed that fundraising director Jody Thomas and consultant Mary Heitman had left the team this morning. But he stressed, “There are still a half dozen people on the staff who are dedicated to helping us raise money on different platforms.”

“They’re professionals and we wish them the very best,” Hammond told POLITICO.

Today Gingrich is attending a fundraising luncheon in Savannah with prospective donors. And Hammond said Gingrich’s “number one tactic” is aggressively working the phones.

“Newt spends the majority of his awake time on the phone with potential donors,” he said.

The initial news of two staff departures threw me back on my heels a bit, but after reading reports of Newt hosting another fundraiser and "dialing for dollars" -- which some of the staffers who quit two weeks ago said he did not do -- it makes me more optimistic after the future finances of the campaign.

The media claims Pawlenty was the first to unveil an economic plan

In a speech yesterday, Tim Pawlenty outlined his economic plan. It is quite good -- though much of it is similar to the one Newt gave a speech unveiling on May 13. Notice the date Newt released his plan -- May 13, almost a month ago -- because the media obviously doesn't notice the date.

The mainstream media, even some mainstream conservative outlets, spent yesterday and this morning talking about how Pawlenty was the first Republican to have a plan on the economy. As should be expected, Newt's camp wanted to set the record straight.

Newt's spokesman, Rick Tyler, tweeted that one of the members of the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Stephen Moore, was at the very speech in which Newt laid out his nine-point plan.

POLITICO:

"Apparently, according to the Journal, its editorial board neither looked at nor has seen Gingrich’s jobs and prosperity plan, even though one of its members was present when he revealed it," Tyler told POLITICO. "It’s posted on our website and it’s been distributed to hundreds if not thousands of political reporters."

Kendra Marr: "Though the Journal apparently hasn’t been impressed, Investors Business Daily’s editorial board gave Gingrich an “A” grade for the plan, calling it “one of the most laudable economic plans in memory.”

Marr doesn't mention it, but as I have written about, Peter Ferrara has called it the best reform plan of any of the candidates.

Art Laffer, vital to the Reagan economic policies and the man who hosted the speech Newt laid out his plan in, said of the plan: "The combination of pro-growth tax reform, spending restraint, and sound money will restore robust economic growth with low unemployment and low inflation."