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Gingrich And Paul On The Stump

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

And now to the most repeated words on the campaign trail, what the candidates say in their stump speeches. All this week, we'll hear from the Republican presidential candidates through some of their own words and ideas on the campaign trail. First up, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. In one speech in Columbia, South Carolina, last week, after praising the food, Newt Gingrich moved on to what he said he will do to create jobs. His plan, he says, is based on the economic ideas of Ronald Reagan.

NEWT GINGRICH: His program for job creation was four things: one, cut taxes; two, cut regulations; three, favor American energy; four, praise the people who create jobs. Now, what's the Obama model? 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 new jobs. In August of 1983, we created 1,300,000 new jobs.

The unemployment rate dropped from 10.8 percent to about 5.6 percent during the Reagan years, kept coming down. I became speaker. What was the Gingrich jobs program? Well, look, I believe in imitating. I mean, if you've got, like I just had a good lunch here, if I want to cook that particular dish, I'd come to him and say can I have your recipe? I wouldn't go out on Friday and invent my own recipe. I don't know if they'd give it to me, but still, the idea is right.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

GINGRICH: I promise I wouldn't open up a restaurant across the street. But here's the point: When you get a good recipe, you cook with it. Obama's recipe is so messed up, he thinks you get a hard egg by putting them in the freezer.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SIEGEL: That was Newt Gingrich on the stump last week in South Carolina. And last week in Dubuque, Iowa, we heard Ron Paul's view on how to fix Washington.

REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL: You know, the economic policies that we have followed, the spending and the deficits and our involvement around the world, the end results were most likely to be what we have today. And the real tragedy is is we're bankrupt. And the real problem, though, is the people in Washington who's supposed to be taking care of this problem won't admit it, and they're not dealing with it. They're pretending it really doesn't exist. They talk a little bit about it. But if they thought it was one-tenth as bad as I think it is, they wouldn't be continuing to do the same things over and over again.

And nothing seems to change. They - we got into trouble because our government spent too much money. They borrowed too much money. They taxed too much. They regulate too much. And then, they printed too much money and then tried to cover all the bills. So when the crisis hit, which was predictable four years ago, what did they do? They spent more money. They kept borrowing more money. They kept regulating more money. And they ended up printing more money.

And they thought that was the solution. But, obviously, that is not the solution. The solution is a little less complicated. The solution is not difficult to figure out. We got into this mess because we have too many people in Washington for too many years that did not follow the rule of law. They did not follow the Constitution. I believe we can get back on our feet again if we just have people in Washington who will follow the Constitution and live within the confines of the Constitution.

(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)

SIEGEL: That's Ron Paul, an excerpt from his stump speech last week in Dubuque, Iowa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.