republican party. let alone the list of credible presidential contenders. after he criticized the paul ryan kill medicare plan this weekend on meet the press. mr. gingrich now says he was the victim of a gotcha question and the liberal media is attacking him and taking his words out of context. if it were the liberal media criticizing mr. gingrich that would probably be good for his chances in the republican primary. in fact, the criticism of him is coming from the right and it is an avalanche. the wall street journal editorial page saying quote, this reveals mr. gingrich s weakness as a candidate and especially as a potential question to wit his odd combination of partisan divisive and poll driven policy timidity. the national review online leaves some people wonder which party s nomination he is running for.zf there was the conservative talk radio host rush limbaugh reaction. i am not going to justify this. i m not going to explain this. the attack on paul ryan, the
conservatives. last night, he went on fox, his former employer, to apologize. 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. the washington post s dan balls joins us now for more on newt s botched campaign rollout. let s have an honest conversation. what was he thinking? clearly to me this was no accident. he came on meet the press, no gotcha questions, he was asked straightforward questions by david gregory and clearly seemed to be wanting to move himself more toward the middle. it is inexplicable. this was not a gotcha question. he s called it a baloney hypothetical question, which certainly was not. it was a totally fair and very straightforward question that david asked him. and his answer harkened back to
i always read what nate says. let me go to michael. the whole question here, is he chopping up the gop by driving everyone out of this business? i think right now he s having a lot of fun. newt gingrich is dying. he s grabbing the headlines. sarah s gone. no one in the republican primary is really running yet. and in that vacuum, he has stepped in, and every day, he s throwing new bombs in new directions and grabbing the headlines and getting people were you surprised he wouldn t engage in pop quiz with you when you asked him how many members of the congress are there? it was a gotcha question. but that s why he set up so easy, because he should know it. he should know it. he claimed to me he did know it, but he said, i m not answering those questions. you re trying to do to me what they did to sarah palin. but why do that? that s a good question. it was in the context. it s a citizenship question! it s what you ve got to know to be an american. he s saying ob
stepped in, and every day, he s throwing new bombs in new directions and grabbing the headlines and getting people were you surprised he wouldn t engage in pop quiz with you when you asked him how many members of the congress are there? it was a gotcha question. but that s why he set up so easy, because he should know it. he should know it. he claimed to me he did know it, but he said, i m not answering those questions. you re trying to do to me what they did to sarah palin. but why do that? that s a good question. it was in the context. it s a citizenship question! it s what you ve got to know to be an american. he s saying obama s not an american. it was in the context of me saying, look, why can t an entrepreneur do well in washington, you know there are different rules there. he acknowledged that. i don t think that was a trick question, by the way. sort of basic. michael, he told you in your interview in time magazine, quote, i can make this country great aga
were you surprised he wouldn t engage in pop quiz with you when you asked him how many members of the congress are there. it was a gotcha question. but that s why he set up so easy, because he should know it. he should know it. he claimed to me he did know it, but he said, i m not answering those questions. but why do that? that s a good question. it was in the context. it s a citizenship question! it s what you ve got to know to be an american. he s saying obama s not an american. it was in the context of me saying, look, why can t an entrepreneur do well in washington, you know there are different rules there. i don t think that was a trick question, by the way. sort of basic. michael, he told you in your interview in time magazine, quote, i can make this country great again. this country s not great. this country s a laughingstock for the rest of the world. i don t think we re a laughingstock. i ve seen numbers, some people resent us for the usual reason, jealousy.