Gingrich Rips U of Iowa Hecklers as '1%'

Newt Gingrich was silenced for several minutes by hecklers at the University of Iowa yesterday during a speech on the importance of brain research. Protesters slammed his "callous and arrogant attitude toward the poor" before Gingrich's supporters started shouting back. "Why don't you go back to the liberal arts building?" said one. As security hauled off the hecklers, Gingrich slammed "this kind of irrational opposition that we’re going to face."

He added: “I appreciate that 95% of you, maybe even 99% of you, want to have an intelligent discussion, and I won’t be drowned out by the 1%.” After the speech, Gingrich took questions from the crowd. A few asked him about brain research, but some anti-Newt audience members were still there. "You seem to have a Ph.D. in cheating on your wife," one man said. Gingrich called it a day shortly afterward, the New York Times notes. (More Newt Gingrich 2012 stories.)