Gingrich, Clinton-era GOP was demonstrably wrong

>>> the problem for boehner is, i oppose tax rate increases because tax rate increases cost american jobs . that gives you no room to give on rates. it is, by the way, not an original thought. who said this? the tax increase will kill job and lead to a recession and the recession will force people out of work and on to unemployment and actually increase the deficit. that's newt gingrich in 1993 on the clinton tax increase and those of us who were working on the other side of that tax increase, newt, have been waiting for your apology for 20 years for being completely wrong about that.

>> i don't agree with you.

>> but the economy soared. no one lost a job because of that tax increase. there was no recession.

>> baloney.

>> there was no recession.

>> lawrence o'donnell on "meet the press" this weekend enjoying a long delayed accountability from former speaker of the house , newt gingrich . the reason that feels good to watch is because it's so rare and so satisfying to have real historical context and accountability on these self-serving power play of the moment. that is usually what they talk about. that was a substantive point about the knowable evidence of what happened the last time we tried this thing that we are now considering trying again. the fight is over whether to keep all of the bush tax cuts or whether the rates for the highest income can go back to what they were under president clinton ? and as lawrence said, the first year of his presidency, he created taxes. he created a new bracket for the highest income and the corporate tack rate. newt gingrich really was a leading voice in a republican chorus predicting that if clinton got his way, the country would crumble. it did not crumble.

>> i believe this will lead to recession next year. this is the democrat machine's recession and each one of them will be held personally accountable.

>> it's going to slow the economy, put people out of work. i've been saying for the last week, the person that i feel the worst about in all of this is the person filling out a job application because it's a tight job market now and it's only going to get tighter.

>> the proof will be in the pudding. we're going to come back here next year. there will be higher deficits, there will be more spending, it will continue to have a very slow economy, people aren't going to go to work.

>> that takes me back. you have to remember the great recession of the clinton administration , the double-digit unemployment, the bread lines? yeah. i don't remember that either.

>> think about it, there probably have never been better times than these when so many people are doing so well and in an economy that just gets stronger and stronger. the latest measure are the numbers that are in for the end of 1998 and they are sensational.

>> the numbers are astonishing. the economy growing at the fastest pace in more than two years.

>> there's a job for everybody who wants one. interest rates are incredibly low and there's hardly any inflation.

>> more good news, paychecks growing at the fastest clip in five years. up almost 3 1/2% last year alone.

>> the disastrous result of the clinton tax rates . there's no shame in being wrong. people get stuff wrong all the time. when you do get stuff wrong, though, it's worth in thing so you can stop being wrong about that thing if it ever comes up again. now that we are considering using clinton 's policies again, it's important to remember who was wrong and what the effect will be of those policies. if they are making the same arguments that proved to be wrong the last time we tried this, well, then the role of the media should be able to.that out loudly, even on sunday morning, which happened this weekend on "meet the press" because lawrence was there. and now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell, which you should watch. have a great night.