The Political Interest

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In fact: The states have proved they can better handle many governmental functions, but Gingrich's example supports a different conclusion: the states can also learn from Washington. Gingrich spoke of Massachusetts' success in cutting in half its $200 million-a-year program that supports disabled welfare recipients. "The first thing they said is, you have to go to a doctor before we approve you," Gingrich reported. "The following month 25% of the people dropped off the program, because they knew if they went to see a doctor they wouldn't be approved, and that doesn't even count the ones doctors turned down."

Gingrich missed the key point. "We finally got smart," says an aide to Massachusetts Governor William Weld. "Before we changed, it was like Lucy -- 'The shrink is in for 5 cents.' All people had to do was come in with a note asserting a disability. Now claims are reviewed by a panel of doctors. We modeled our program on the one used by the feds; it works."

THE SHOCKING TRAGEDY: Aping Reagan's fondness for Hollywood history, Gingrich restated his support for orphanages. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, he said, should "rent Boys Town," the uplifting but highly idealized movie about the Nebraska home run by a priest who insisted "there are no bad boys." Declaring that orphanages were better than Dumpsters, Gingrich claimed that in Washington alone, 800 babies a year were left in the trash.

In fact: Not quite. According to the district's human-services department, there are currently 1,200 children in foster care, wards of the city because their parents neglected them. There are currently only nine "border babies," infants born to drug-addicted mothers unable to care for them. In just four well-publicized cases were kids actually placed in Dumpsters this year, which is shocking enough. Yet because of liberal policies, Gingrich said, "we say to a 13-year-old drug addict who's pregnant, 'Put your baby in the Dumpster; that's O.K.' "

THE ATHEIST SACRILEGE: In support of his call for a constitutional amendment permitting prayer in schools, Gingrich asserted that "most people don't know it's illegal to pray. When they learn that a 10-year-old boy in St. Louis was put in detention for saying grace privately over his lunch, they think that's bizarre . . . That's what we used to think of Russian behavior when they were the Soviet Union."

In fact: Only organized prayer is prohibited in schools. Kids can pray privately all they want as long as they don't disrupt student activities. St. Louis school officials are contesting the case in court. They deny the allegation and imply the child was disciplined for behavioral problems unrelated to praying.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS: Mixing Reagan's enthusiasm for supply-side economics and Ross Perot's love of visual aids, Gingrich offered a chart to support the no- pain fiscal proposals he says will balance the budget by 2002 without draconian spending cuts. "We're never, ever talking about cutting spending," Gingrich said. "We're talking about a slower rate of growth."

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