Eye of Newt, and Toe of Frog: Gingrich Calls for Treasury Secretary's Resignation

Update, Tuesday, 4:34 p.m.: Looks like Newt is always going to stir up trouble, whether he's in Congress or not. According to this breaking news report from ABC News:

Gingrich Denies Whipping Against Bailout

September 30, 2008 4:00 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis, Arnab Datta, and Rigel Anderson Report: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Tuesday that he did not personally urge members of Congress to vote against Monday's failed Wall Street bailout bill, disputing a report made earlier in the day on MSNBC by correspondent Andrea Mitchell.

"MSNBC is just wrong," said Gingrich. "And it is probably wrong deliberately. It is a stunningly dishonest network." 

It's been a hard two weeks for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. And now, an attack from Newt? 

No, its not Macbeth, it's ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

ABC News' Tahman Bradley and Arnab Datta Report: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., on Sunday described Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's request for billions of dollars to buy debt from struggling Wall Street financial firms as "un-American" and said the secretary should have stepped down.

Gingrich even expressed concern with Paulson's connections to Wall Street.  The treasury secretary served as the chairman of a major global investment banking and securities firm before joining the Bush administration.

"You have the former Chairman of Goldman Sachs asking for 700 billion dollars, and in his initial request, asking for it in such an un-American way that I think he should have resigned," said Gingrich. "I think Paulson has terminally misunderstood the nature of the American system. Not just no review, no judicial review, no congressional accountability. Give me 700 billion dollars, 700 BILLION dollars! 'I'll be glad to spend it for you.'  That's a centralization of power that is totally un-American."

Were defiant House Republicans channeling former U.S House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich when many of them voted against the Bush bailout legislation today, a move that sent the Dow plunging and the Bush Administration scrambling?

Apparently not. Gingrich admits that while he didn't like the Bush bailout, if he were still in Congress, he probably would have voted for it because of a lack of alternatives.

You never know where Newt will pop up next. For now, watch him here: