Gingrich praises House GOP energy protest

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) on Tuesday applauded the House Republican energy protest, calling it the first “serious energizing revolt we’ve seen since the early 1990s.”

“I’m very proud of House Republicans,” Gingrich told a group of GOP activists gathered for a state and local summit organized by GOPAC, a Republican political action committee he once headed.

{mosads}Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) has taken on the House GOP mantra of “drill here, drill now, pay less” and is using it on the presidential campaign trail, and the message stands in stark contrast to Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) advice to consumers to combat high prices at the pump by making sure their tires are inflated properly, Gingrich said.

Obama’s message translates to “inflate here, inflate now, avoid reality,” he remarked.

Gingrich plans to meet with House Republicans Wednesday morning to discuss their continued protest of Democratic leaders’ decision to recess Congress without holding a vote on legislation expanding drilling.

House Republicans’ mock sessions on the House floor, which they’ve been holding without microphones or C-SPAN coverage since Congress officially adjourned last week, have made national headlines. And Republicans have pledged to continue the floor speeches on energy throughout the week and possibly up until the Democratic convention later this month.

Gingrich referred to a new poll conducted by Dave Winston that found that three out of four Americans believe that Congress should vote on a bill expanding drilling.

He also blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for adjourning Congress and shutting down the power to the microphones on the House floor instead of allowing Republicans to speak out about the need for more drilling.

He said that decision shows that she is running a “petty dictatorship.”

“During the energy fight, she cut off the energy to the House floor so [members] couldn’t talk about energy,” he said.

Pelosi sent a letter to Boehner on Tuesday dismissing the Republican protest as little more than a ragtag effort and deriding Republicans for failing to support Democratic energy packages that included calls to open the strategic petroleum reserve and forcing oil companies to drill on federal lands where they already had leases or lose the lease, the so-called “use it or lose it” Democratic bill.

“While a very small band of your colleagues remain on the House floor to discuss gas prices, their constituents deserve to know why their representatives in Congress have failed to support serious, responsible proposals,” she wrote.

Gingrich encouraged Republicans to keep pounding on the energy issue and expose a “huge split” in the Democratic Party between “the-out-of-touch wing and the let’s-get-something-done wing.”

Although Gingrich acknowledged that he and McCain have had many differences over the years, he said the nominee’s “maverick streak” is perfect for the political climate right now.

“The uniqueness of his personality and the discipline he showed in going to New Hampshire and resurrecting his campaign after it had fallen apart…the idea that this guy is going to be George Bush’s third term? You can’t make it stick,” he argued.