Newt Gingrich claims he never lobbied Congress. Oops. He lied @andrewbreitbart #p2 #tcot

from http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/17/1037477/-Newt-Gingrich-claims-he-never-lobbied-Congress-Oops-He-lied?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29

Presenting the most talented housing historian in the history of humanity:

Newt Gingrich testifies before a Senate subcommittee on June 21, 2006
in his capacity as head of The Gingrich Group's for-profit Center for Health Transformation.
 

Those screenshots are relevant because earlier today, Newt Gingrich took his Freddie Mac defense to a whole new level: Now he says he has never, ever lobbied Congress on behalf of any of the clients of The Gingrich Group or its for-profit offshoot, The Center for Health Transformation.

JOHN McCASLIN: Did you ever lobby for Freddie Mac or any other client?

NEWT GINGRICH: No. Zero. Period. We have a standard understanding, which we've said over and over, I do no lobbying. I will not contact the Congress on behalf of clients. I also, I will not change any of my positions on behalf of clients, because I wasn't a lobbyist. I was a strategic adviser.

Obviously, the sight of him testifying in his capacity before Congress in support of obscure changes to CBO accounting rules related to health information technology puts the lie to those words. Since Gingrich hasn't revealed all his clients, I don't know if he specifically mentioned any them by name in his testimony. Nonetheless, I'd bet my last dollar his clients stood to benefit from the policy recommendations he delivered at the hearing.

After all, despite Gingrich's rhetorical efforts to make The Center for Health Transformation seem like a philanthropic foundation, The Gingrich Group's own website acknowledges that both entities "are corporate for-profit organizations."

When you're paid money to urge Congress to change federal law, every honest American knows you're a lobbyist. And no matter how many words you use, any claim to the otherwise is making a distinction without a difference. So when Newt Gingrich says he never lobbied Congress on behalf of his firm, he's flat out lying.

And I'll guarantee this isn't the only example. I found it in about five minutes of research. Just imagine how many more must be out there.