Watch: Glenn Beck Grills Newt Gingrich About Health Care, Government Spending [Video]

Glenn Beck had a special guest on his radio show this morning. Newt Gingrich called into the show and the two had a pointed conversation over the GOP candidate’s stance on health care.

With Gingrich building steam toward the GOP ticket Beck found it necessary to voice his concerns about Newt running for president. Before the interview, Beck said:

“I have serious concerns with Newt Gingrich… I truly, deeply care about the country just as much as Newt Gingrich does but we differ on the answers, I believe. I’d like to have him convince me that I’m wrong. I would love to have him convince me that I’m wrong.”

Beck grilled Gingrich about his support for an individual mandate to buy health insurance, for his ideas on climate change, and for his stance on the expansion of Medicare.

Here’s the first part of Glenn Beck’s interview with Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich maintained throughout the interview that his views were consistent. When pressed about his support of expanding Medicare in 2003, Gingrich said:

“My position is very straightforward. If you’re going to have Medicare, which was created in 1965 and it was created at a time when drugs didn’t matter, there weren’t many breakthroughs at that point. But to take a position that ‘We won’t help you with insulin but we’ll pay for your kidney dialysis’ is both bad at a human level and bad at a financial level.”

Beck also asked Gingrich if he believed in ‘The Inconvenient Truth?’

Gingrich said:

“Well, I never believed in Al Gore’s fantasies.”

Gingrich then talked about how he voted against the cap and trade bill and explained how the left had used the environment as an excuse to get control of the economy.

Here’s the second part of the interview.

At the end of the segment, Beck applauded Gingrich for agreeing to have the interview with him. Beck said:

“Newt, I have to tell you… obvious it was very clear in advance and I hope my staff made this very clear that this isn’t going to be an easy interview but I think you’ve… you know, there was no gaffes here by any stretch of the imagination. I didn’t expect any. But I appreciate the willingness to come on and answer the tough questions, and I wish you the best.”

What did you think of Glenn Beck’s interview with Newt Gingrich? Do you think Gingrich did a good job of handling Beck’s question?