Newt. Ugh.

Newt Gingrich is a mendacious wad, and the latest in his decades-long involvement in professional mendacious waddery is disputing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's assertion that food stamps have a stimulative effect. Last night, Gingrich made an appearance in his natural habitat, Fox News, to blink naively and profess not to "understand how liberal math turns $1 into $1.79."

Well, you know, I carry around a bumper sticker that says 2 plus 2 equals 4. So I'd be very curious how a dollar given to somebody becomes a $1.79. And I think if we could get that to work with the U.S. Treasuries, so if people gave the Treasury $1,000, it became $1,790, we could pay off the federal debt and never worry about spending or anything. I mean, I — you know, somehow, I don't understand how liberal math turns $1 into $1.79.

As Ben points out at Think Progress, "the Wall Street Journal explained this alleged 'liberal math' that Gingrich doesn't understand."

Money from the program — officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — percolates quickly through the economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture calculates that for every $5 of food-stamp spending, there is $9.20 of total economic activity, as grocers and farmers pay their employees and suppliers, who in turn shop and pay their bills.

While other stimulus money has been slow to circulate, the food-stamp boost is almost immediate, with 80% of the benefits being redeemed within two weeks of receipt and 97% within a month, the USDA says.

Gingrich, of course, understands this principle perfectly. He's just counting on the fact that most of the people watching Fox News won't.