One can always count on Newt Gingrich to say the darndest things. He's kind of like a big child.
GINGRICH: President Obama is the most successful food stamp president in American history. [...] I would like to be the most successful paycheck president in American history.
Swell guy isn't he?
As ThinkProgress points out, Newt Gingrich was the king of pork spending while he was a member of congress:
[Gingrich] represents Cobb County, a prosperous jurisdiction that ranks third among suburban counties in federal dollars returned per resident. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the federal government spent $4.4 billion in Cobb County in 1994, some $10,000 per resident, or nearly twice as much per capita as it spent in New York City.
Oh glorious Big Federal Government Cash™
Aside from the glaring hypocrisy, I believe Mister Gingrich is under the impression that the tired old "welfare queen" argument, which he parroted in the 90s, is going to work again. It won't.
It's true that record numbers of people are currently receiving food stamps, but that wouldn't be necessary if not for the dung-heap of an economy Gingrich's own party left behind for Democrats to clean up.
Newt Gingrich is an official contender for the Republican nomination now, so I say keep going! You're doing great!