Gingrich had a good debate, a very good one, on the few occasions when he was allowed to talk. But there was one bit of rank demagoguery in an otherwise excellent answer. I agreed with almost every word he said when criticizing Ben Bernanke’s policy choices at the Federal Reserve. But he began the answer by saying he would “fire Bernanke tomorrow.” Gingrich knows darn well he can’t do that. The Fed Chairman is not fireable by the president. He serves a fixed term of office unless he chooses to resign or unless he is forced out on some ethics charge. A president, by himself, absolutely has no constitutional power to fire him. For Gingrich to say so was out of bounds.
