Two weeks ago, Newt Gingrich endorsed the House Republican budget plan, including provisions to end Medicare. Over the weekend, he reversed course, calling the Paul Ryan agenda “radical change” and “too big a jump” for Americans. A day later, he reversed course again, saying the media misunderstood and there’s actually “little daylight between Ryan and Gingrich.”
And then Gingrich reversed course once more, telling the Wall Street Journal the Ryan plan is the wrong way to go.
In an interview with us yesterday, Mr. Gingrich conceded that he “probably used too strong language” on TV but that “I have thought about this for a long time and I am very, very worried.”
He explained that he was trying to articulate “a political strategy for long-term, sustainable change” and that Mr. Ryan ought to have focused on “incentives rather than punishments” and “the right to choose versus being forced to choose.” He added that “I think it would be politically catastrophic to pass the bill in its current form” at a moment when conservatives have an opportunity “to break the left for the first time since 1932.”
For those keeping score, that’s four positions on the issue in two weeks, and three positions in two days.
As it turns out, the right isn’t especially impressed by Gingrich’s antics. Trying to explain his bizarre comments, Rush Limbaugh said of Gingrich, “I’m as befuddled as anyone else.” Charles Krauthammer added, “This is a big deal. He’s done. He didn’t have a big chance from the beginning, but now it’s over.”
Remember, all of this is unfolding just a few days after the disgraced former House Speaker launched his campaign.
This guy’s chances of being elected president next year are about as good as mine.
