EL MONTE, CA — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich became visibly agitated with reporters while fielding questions about his struggling campaign after a Hispanic Leadership Event at the Cielito Lindo Restaurant.
While the Speaker often uses his admonishment of the media as a personal strength, it’s clear that the continued questions over the legitimacy of his candidacy following a string of primary losses (and his third place finish at the symbolic CPAC straw poll) have started to take their toll on Gingrich.
The Speaker fended off questions on his earlier calls for Rick Santorum to drop out of the race, reversing previous comments that the former Pennsylvania senator should bow out. When asked if his comments toward Santorum meant that he himself should now get out of the race, Gingrich replied, “He decided that that wasn’t a good idea and he was right.”
When asked about the National Review’s latest piece, which asks Newt to drop out, the Speaker responded:
“The National Review wanted me to drop out in June. Look, you guys go running around picking up the same people who said I was dead in June. Who then said I was dead after Iowa. You know, twice I’ve led in the Gallup polls. Now that strikes me as a fairly real candidacy and I did both of them spending radically less money than Mitt Romney. I’m very happy to be competing. We are going to be compete on things like $2 gallon gasoline. We’re going to compete on getting unemployment back to four percent. We’re going to compete on balancing the federal budget. We’re going to compete on having a personal social security savings account for young people. I think on every one of those I am bolder and more willing to outline a better future than either Santorum or Romney and let’s see how it plays out. I’m very happy to continue this campaign based on real solutions…”
While Gingrich said that it would be “absolutely” out of the question he would drop out before Super Tuesday, it’s usually never a good sign to have to continually validate your campaign to the media. I’ll be posting video soon, but Gingrich appeared particularly defensive, as he fought to get back to the core message points of his campaign. Newt has always been about bold ideas and it’s clear that the media’s focus on the horserace have blocked the Speaker from getting that message out.
Gingrich is hoping that a strong showing in friendly southern states on Super Tuesday will bolster a comeback to capture the nomination. But will the media, and voters, already have written him off by then? How can Newt break through?
UPDATE: Here’s video of the exchange:
About this time is when Newt being 68 years old becomes both a curse and a blessing.
Mostly a curse. It gets hard to suffer fools gladly.
“It gets hard to suffer fools gladly” That’s what we want in these times! Go Newt! Be your best 68-year-old cranky self! I’m seriously tired of fools too. p.s. I bet you are too. I bet most of us are.
Well, Romney is in the process of smearing Santorum, which will bring all three of them closer together. It would be foolish of Newt to drop out.
But McMitt should drop out. He is the only one without a rationale for running, unless you consider being the best smear merchant and obama-lite to be a rationale.
I’m a Liberal, and I would vote for Newt, but not Romney. Romney is disloyal to his own party, in addition to being dishonest. What he did to Mike Huckabee and John McCain is very much like what he has done to Newt and, perhaps Herman Cain.
I’m not going to vote for him. Period.
From what I saw in the video, you’re overreacting. What else is Gingrich SUPPOSED to say?
Go back to basics, keep stating his agenda and plans…and may the best man win.
For the record, I’m all for a brokered convention: who knows who might come out of it?
I’m all in on a brokered convention, bring it on! That’s probably the only way that we’ll get a real conservative instead of the poseurs that are running now!
P.S.
The conservative media is doing within its own sphere what the MSM has been doing for decades: over-interpretation, spin, special pleading, assuming facts not in evidence, masking editorializing as reporting, etc., etc.
Must be a hazard inherent in the enterprise. I guess I’ll have to do to the conservative media what I’ve done a long time to the MSM: stop paying attention.
“Visibly agitated”…yeah right. But thanks for the video, I liked it.
Not only does Gingrich hold the record for the finest conservative accomplishments in the modern era, but he has real ideas, real plans and real transparency. What you see is what you get.
Time to write another check…
I can see it now. For the first time in years, every congressman will noot only earn his/her salary, but won’t get paid for overtime !!!
Go Newt !!!!! God Bless the USA !!!!
“visibly agitated”?????
You have to be kidding, Alexis. Were you that desperate for a lead you had to stoop take liberties with the truth, do you actually believe what you wrote?Either way, your interpretation of this clip scares me more about the future of our country than almost anything else I’ve read today……
Giving you the benefit of the doubt, the kindest thing I can say about what you apparently think you see here is that perhaps you were raised in a home with both parents addicted to medications that blunted their affecyt, and/or, you’ve been way over-exposed to phony, Botoxed- beyond-recognition-as-human, actors reading lines, and stiltedly at that!
Sorry for the typos. Hard to type while you’re picking yourself up off the floor:
stoop to taking
truth, or do you
wrote? Either
their affect
Again, I’m really not trying to be unkind here, I’m simply stunned at what you think you see in Newt’s behavior and responses……….