Brian Snyder, Reuters / Landov
Current GOP presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich was interrupted during a speech on brain science at the University of Iowa on Wednesday when more than a dozen protesters cried out, “Mic check. Mr. Gingrich, we are here to protest your speech today.” The disruption delayed his speech by about five minutes, after which Gingrich responded with a cheeky reference to the Occupy movement, saying he appreciated the “99 percent” who wanted to have an “intelligent discussion” without being “drowned out by the 1 percent … trying to make noise.” The former speaker of the House was also asked to address Mitt Romney’s attacks earlier in the day in interviews with The Washington Post and The New York Times. “I think a brain-science initiative is the way of helping human beings … I’ll let him decide if it’s zany,” Gingrich said in response to Romney having called him “zany” in the Times interview.