New Gingrich: "If they want to change things, the first thing to do is fire Bernanke, who is a disaster as chairman of the Federal Reserve. The second person to fire is Geithner. The fact is, in both the Bush and the Obama administrations the fix has been in. And I think it's perfectly reasonable to be angry. But let's be clear about who put the fix in. The fix was put in by the federal government. If you want to put people in jail, I want to second what Michele said, you ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. And let's look at the politicians who created the environment, the politicians who profited from the environment and the politicians who put this country in trouble." 
 
 
 
 Charlie Rose, moderator: "Clearly, you're not saying they should go to jail?" 
 
 
 
 Gingrich: "Well, in Chris Dodd's case, go back to look at the Countryside deals. In Barney Frank's case, go back and look at the lobbyist who was close to Freddie Mac. All I'm saying is, everybody in the media who wants to go after the business community ought to start by going after the politicians who were at the heart of the sickness which is weakening this country and ought to start with Bernanke, who still has not been exposed for the hundreds of billions of dollars." 
 
 
 
 "I want to repeat this, Bernanke has in secret has spent hundreds of billions of dollars bailing out one group and not bailing another group. I don't see how anybody in the news media demanding the kind of transparency of the Fed that you would demand of every other aspect of the federal government. And I think it is corrupt and wrong for one man to have that kind of secret power." 
 
 ====================================== 
 
 By ALEXANDER BURNS, Politico 
 
 
 
 He attacked the idea that Wall Street bankers should go to jail for the economic crisis, calling out D.C. regulators – including former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank by name. 
 
 
 
 “If you want to put people in jail, you ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd,” he said, pointing to Dodd’s cozy relationship with the lender Countrywide and Frank’s relationship with Fannie Mae lobbyists. ||||| Is it a violation of Congressional decorum to call for your former colleagues to be thrown in jail? Newt Gingrich lobbed a bomb early in Tuesday’s Bloomberg/Washington Post debate by telling the audience that he would like to imprison Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), co-authors of last year’s financial reform package. The attack drew a fierce and immediate rebuttal from Frank, who slammed the “self-styled intellectual leader of the free world” for his “very odd” comments. 
 
 “If you want to put people in jail, you ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd,” Gingrich said in the debate. His remark came after the candidates were asked about the lack of criminal prosecutions of Wall Street officials in the wake of the financial crisis. 
 
 Moderator Charlie Rose offered Gingrich a chance to walk his remarks back, saying he surely didn’t mean they should actually go to jail. But Gingrich stood his ground, saying Dodd should be investigated for his ties to Countrywide Financial and Frank for his ties to Fannie Mae. 
 
 “All I am saying is, everybody in the media who wants to go after the business community ought to start by going after the politicians who were at the heart of the sickness that is weakening this country,” he said. 
 
 Frank said Gingrich’s anger over his and Dodd’s role in the financial meltdown was absurd given that Republicans were in charge of the House and — excerpt for a brief period — Senate, from 1995 to 2007.He noted that he worked on reform legislation on mortgage in his first year as chair in 2007. 
 
 “It’s interesting, the charge is failure to stop Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay from deregulating,” he said. “This notion we caused the problem that started while they were in charge even by Gingrich’s standards is very odd.” 
 
 Added Frank: “I wish I knew that he was willing to listen to my advice, I would have given him some: I would have told him not to impeach Clinton, I would have told his successors not to go to war with Iraq, and I would have told DeLay not to go on the dance show.” 
 
 Frank speculated that Gingrich’s comments were borne out of frustration with his campaign. 
 
 “He’s been having a bad year, you know — this self-styled intellectual leader of the free world struggling to stay ahead of Michele Bachmann in the polls is unsettling him so he talks even sillier than he sometimes does,” he said. 
 
 Benjy Sarlin Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
– Newt Gingrich has an interesting idea for resolving political conflicts: Jail Democrats. That was the former House speaker's surprising recommendation in last night's GOP debate. The suggestion came up as he expressed sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street movement, saying protesters have every right to be angry. But they should direct their ire at government officials, not Wall Street fat cats, he insisted. In fact, he added, top Democrats Rep. Barney Frank and former Sen. Chris Dodd, co-authors of financial reform legislation, should be jailed. "If you want to put people in jail, you ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. And let’s look at the politicians who profited from the environment and the politicians who put this country in trouble," said Gingrich, who also urged "firing" Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner. Frank later slammed the assignment of guilt by the “self-styled intellectual leader of the free world," reports Talking Points Memo. “This notion we caused the problem that started while they were in charge, even by Gingrich’s standards, is very odd," Frank said. Gingrich also divided Wall Street protesters into two camps: The clean, responsible Tea Party types, and left-wing "agitators," notes Fox News. The lefties "would be happy to show up next week on any other topic," he complained, while the other group consists of "sincere middle-class people who frankly are very close to the Tea Party people and actually care." The differences are obvious, he added: "The people who are decent, responsible citizens pick up after themselves. The people who are just out there as activists trash the place."