(Image source: The New York Times)

BY ZACH TOOMBS

Never one to back down from a controversial statement, GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is taking backlash after singling out black welfare recipients. CNN has the video from a New Hampshire campaign stop.

“And so, I am prepared -- if the NAACP invites me, I’ll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.”

The response from the NAACP came back quickly and with some strong words. In a statement Friday, NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous said this:

"It is a shame that the former Speaker feels that these types of inaccurate, divisive statements are in any way helpful to our country. The majority of people using food stamps are not African-American, and most people using food stamps have a job.”

Speaking to CBS and the National Journal, a spokesman for the former House speaker sought to clarify Gingrich’s comments, saying:

“...the candidate wants Americans of ‘all backgrounds’ to ‘have the opportunity to earn a paycheck.’ Gingrich ‘believes that every American should have the opportunity to earn a paycheck, rather than be given a food stamp, and he is prepared to make that case in every neighborhood to all groups of all backgrounds in America.’”

This isn’t the first time Gingrich has drawn fire for his views on dealing with poverty.

Back in early December, the candidate made headlines when he said this at a campaign stop in Iowa. Fox News has it.

“Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash’... unless it’s illegal.”

Those comments came before Gingrich’s brief surge in polls. Now, after taking a nosedive in support in recent weeks, the former Speaker is looking for momentum in the Granite State primary Jan. 10.