Gingrich Pushes Computers for Poor

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Thursday that he believes every American should enjoy the right to life, liberty--and laptop computers.

During an appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee--a freewheeling exchange in which he did not so much testify as think aloud for an hour--Gingrich suggested that the poor ought to be given a tax credit to allow them to buy computers so that they will not be left behind in the information revolution.

“If we’re moving into the information age, don’t we have to figure out how to carry the poor with us? Don’t they have every right to have as much access as anybody else?” he asked. “I’m just tossing this out . . . but maybe we need a tax credit for the poorest Americans to buy a laptop.”