On this Sunday's Meet the Press, Sen. Jon Kyl was asked what he thought of GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's statement that the Occupy Wall Street protesters should "Go get a job right after you take a bath" and Kyl wasn't willing to put an ounce of daylight between his views and those of the former Speaker of the House.
November 20, 2011

On this Sunday's Meet the Press, Sen. Jon Kyl was asked what he thought of GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's statement that the Occupy Wall Street protesters should "Go get a job right after you take a bath" and Kyl wasn't willing to put an ounce of daylight between his views and those of the former Speaker of the House.

Here he is doing his best Ayn Rand imitation talking about the "wealth producers" and going on to blame Democrats for the gridlock we've seen in Washington DC caused by Republican obstruction, which was naturally left unchallenged by host David Gregory. Heaven forbid he might have reminded him of the record number of filibusters we've seen from Republicans in the Senate.

GREGORY: I want to ask you this. The Occupy Wall Street movement and protests around the country have become a political issue. And as we talk about income inequality, we talk about America's debt, this was the scene in Northern California at UC Davis. Pepper spray being used on protesters. Newt Gingrich was very critical of this movement. I want to play something that he said and ask for your view on it. This was Newt Gingrich in Iowa.

(Videotape, last night)

GINGRICH: All of the Occupy movement starts with the premise that we all owe them everything. They take over a public park they didn't pay for, to go nearby to use bathrooms they didn't pay for, to beg for food from places they don't want to pay for, to obstruct those who are going to work to pay the taxes. Now, that is a pretty good symptom of how much the left has collapsed as a moral system in this country and why you need to reassert something as simple as saying to them, "Go get a job right after you take a bath."

(End videotape)

GREGORY: Do you agree with that?

KYL: Well, I think it expresses the, the attitude of a lot of these folks who somehow think money grows on trees and they're entitled to it. And they don't understand how wealth is produced in this country. It's produced by people who work and who invest, who take a risk in a small business, for example. They hire people, and that produces wealth to the government that they can then take advantage of. But it doesn't seem to me they have adequate appreciation of how our free market system works to produce the wealth that's really made us the envy of the world.

GREGORY: You're retiring from the Senate. Are you embarrassed at what Congress has been unable to do on the toughest issues facing this country and this government?

KYL: The frustration of the American people at our inability to tackle these tough problems is very real, and I absolutely agree with that frustration. It is--their representatives in Congress ought to do a better job than Congress has been, been able to do. And I'll just go back to this: When our democratic friends are unable to cut even $1 in spending without saying it has to be accompanied by tax increases, I think that tells you all you need to know about our runaway spending.

GREGORY: All right, we're going to leave it there. Senator Kyl, thank you very much.

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