Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich just criticized ethanol subsidies, among other things, as tax code loopholes that implicitly Gingrich thinks should be eliminated. Gingrich scored points with the debate audience by framing the critique as a broader indictment of President Obama’s green energy subsidies, which are a sacred cow on the left. In front of other audiences, though, Gingrich has displayed a soft spot for ethanol subsidies.
While on the stump in corn-dependent Iowa, for instance, Gingrich criticized “big-city attacks” on ethanol subsidies, according to the Wall Street Journal. Gingrich even impugned the ethics of those who would criticize ethanol subsidies, saying “obviously big urban newspapers want to kill it because it’s working, and you wonder, ‘What are their values?'”
Gingrich’s support for ethanol subsidies was so emphatic – and his claim to be “an historian” so pretentious – that the WSJ dubbed him “Professor Cornpone.”
That Gingrich can flip-flop so effortlessly on an issue that has led him to attack the character of that issue’s opponents makes you wonder, what are his values?
