Todd may be stupid, but Gingrich is an imbecile

Newt Gingrich was on Meet The Press on Sunday, where he voiced strong opposition to Paul Ryan's Medicare proposals:

"I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering," Gingrich said. "I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for free society to operate." 

And man, did he take some conservative heat for that! So Wednesday morning, with his presidential aspirations in jeopardy, he said the following to Greta Van Susteren during an interview on Fox News:

I want to make sure every House Republican is protected from some kind of dishonest Democratic ad. So let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood. Because I have said publicly those words were inaccurate and unfortunate, and I’m prepared to stand up and -- when I make a mistake -- and I’m going to, on occasion -- I want to stand up and share with the American people: “That was a mistake.” Because that way we can have an honest conversation.

Breathtaking: Any ad which accurately quotes what I said on national television three days ago is a falsehood, because I've recanted since.

So that's Newt's idea of "an honest conversation"? This gives pandering a bad name. Stewart? Colbert? Or is that just too easy?

Click here for the video clip.

UPDATE: The Gingrich campaign responded to media ridicule with the purplest of prose:

“The literati sent out their minions to do their bidding,” Tyler wrote. “Washington cannot tolerate threats from outsiders who might disrupt their comfortable world. The firefight started when the cowardly sensed weakness. They fired timidly at first, then the sheep not wanting to be dropped from the establishment’s cocktail party invite list unloaded their entire clip, firing without taking aim their distortions and falsehoods. Now they are left exposed by their bylines and handles. But surely they had killed him off. This is the way it always worked. A lesser person could not have survived the first few minutes of the onslaught. But out of the billowing smoke and dust of tweets and trivia emerged Gingrich, once again ready to lead those who won’t be intimated by the political elite and are ready to take on the challenges America faces.”