Gingrich: Political consultants ‘destructive’

If you’re a full-time political consultant, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich doesn’t think very highly of your profession. But according to the 2012 presidential hopeful, the rise of the consulting class is apparently to blame for the dark side of the country’s political discourse.  
In an interview Tuesday with a New Hampshire radio station, Gingrich said the tactics espoused by most political consultants lead to a politics that’s “destructive of the American system.”    
“I think political consultants have some uses in some ways to do some things,” Gingrich said in an interview with WGIR radio host Paul Westcott. “But I think they’ve led to an overly negative 30-second attack ad, negative phone call model of politics, which I find, frankly, destructive of the American system.”    
Earlier this year, Gingrich’s top campaign staffers quite en masse, citing strategic differences over the direction of his 2012 bid. Several of them, including Gingrich’s former campaign manager Rob Johnson, are now on board with Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign.  
 
To be sure, Gingrich has never been kind to the consulting class. He’s called political consultants stupid–more than once–though we can’t recall him suggesting they’re destroying the American political system.
Listen to the audio below: