Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Newt Gingrich & Herman Cain: Occupy Wall Streeters Jealous, Uneducated
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 9, 2011
Modified Oct 20, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 9, 2011
Modified Oct 20, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
2012 GOP presidential candidates Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich are positive that this whole Occupy Wall Street thing is overblown. This is because they represent all of the everyday millionaire pizza moguls and Tiffany's marketers/serial adulterers who know that these nurses, students, union members and other "people" are just jealous. "Part of it is jealousy…My parents never said that we hope the rich people lose something so that we can get something," Cain said at a joint appearance on Face the Nation, presumably forgetting that time he left a flaming bag of poo on John Schnattner's doorstep.
Gingrich can see the jealousy angle (who isn't jealous of Newt Gingrich?) but it's moreso that the protesters are uneducated:
We have had a strain of hostility to free enterprise and frankly, a strain of hostility to classic America starting in our academic institutions and spreading across this country and I regard the Wall Street protesters as a natural outcome of a bad education system teaching them really dumb ideas.
Newt knows a lot about "dumb ideas" because it's his job to come up with them. And while commie pinko/"intellectual" Slavoj Žižek may have spoken in support of the protesters at Zuccotti Park for an hour today, the author of Hegel and the Infinite: Religion, Politics, and Dialectic is no match for the wordsmith behind Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less and Divorcing Your Wife on Her Deathbed For Dummies.
Not to be outclassed, Peter King, speaking on non-racist Laura Ingraham's radio show, called the protesters a "ragtag mob" and noted, "The fact is these people are anarchists." He's right: look at how disordered and nihilistic this food they prepared was put on the plate! He continued:
“We have to be careful not to allow this to get any legitimacy,” he said, adding “I’m taking this seriously in that I’m old enough to remember what happened in the 1960s when the left-wing took to the streets and somehow the media glorified them and it ended up shaping policy. We can’t allow that to happen.”
If King wants America to un-learn the lessons of Vietnam, Feminism, and the Civil Rights movement, we're waaaayyyy ahead of him.
Tagged
2012
elections
gop
greed
herman cain
newt gingrich
obama
occupy wall street
republicans
wall street
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Police arrest man in Queens stabbings that ended with officer shooting woman
The arrest stems from a reported home invasion and stabbings on Friday.
By
Ryan Kost
Published Oct 27, 2026 at 12:06 p.m. ET
Early Addition: It's been a while since it rained
Because it's dry, here are your early links: McCarren Park teens love the mayor, Long Island castle being auctioned off, an update on the 1 a.m. dining scene and more.
By
James Ramsay
News
Early Addition: It's been a while since it rained
Because it's dry, here are your early links: McCarren Park teens love the mayor, Long Island castle being auctioned off, an update on the 1 a.m. dining scene and more.
By
James Ramsay
Ex-boyfriend of woman found in shallow grave in Queens charged with murder, NYPD says
By
Brittany Kriegstein
ICE used a warehouse in NJ. Locals are ‘frustrated’ by Sherrill’s response.
By
Mike Hayes
NY Gov. Hochul once resisted a data center pause. Now it’s central to her campaign.
By
Jon Campbell
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .