Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is live-blogging right now on the Washington Post’s Web site about his book, A Contract With the Earth. You’ll find the chat here. You can e-mail a question if you like. So far it has included this exchange between Gingrich and a questioner from South Dakota (emphasis is mine):
Huron, S.D.: Sir, with Congress and the current president barely able to negotiate a bathroom break, and the promise of Republican payback looming if the Democrats take power in 2009, what leads you to believe that this issue will be any different than so many others as important? This issue is critical to our survival, but has been prioritized by our country as only a middle layer of the onion yet to be peeled. Who has to give what, and how much?
Newt Gingrich: The reason we founded American Solutions and the reason we developed the Platform of the American People (containing items supported by a majority of Democrats, independents, and Republicans) was to find issues that bring us together so we can have a red, white, and blue dialogue instead of a red vs. blue debate.
One of the things we should propose to our politicians is that they spend 3 days a week working on items they agree on, and 2 days a week on items they know they will disagree on.
Anyone who says they can’t find things we agree on should be fired, because it is simply not true. In the end, we get the elected officials we tolerate.