Gingrich Blames Press For Ryan Controversy: Liberal Media ‘Took Dramatically Out Of Context What I Said’

On Sunday’s Meet the Press, Newt Gingrich blasted Paul Ryan’s Republican budget as “right-wing social engineering” and radical.

His remarks were roundly criticized virtually everyone on the right including Rush Limbaugh, Charles Krauthammer, and even Paul Ryanhimself. This morning’s Wall Street Journal editorial is titled: “Gingrich to House GOP: Drop Dead.”

But appearing on the Bob Gallagher show yesterday afternoon, Gingrich blamed the controversy entirely on the liberal media:

Were in a phase here where, if you are a conservative, you better expect gotcha press and they took dramatically out of context what I said and tried to make it dramatically a fight between me and Paul Ryan.

Listen:

But the “context” of Gingrich’s original statement makes clear that he was harshly criticizing Ryan’s approach:

DAVID GREGORY: Do you think that Republicans ought to buck the public opposition and really move forward to completely change Medicare, turn it into a voucher program where you give seniors…
NEWT GINGRICH: Right.
GREGORY: …some premium support and–so that they can go out and buy private insurance?
GINGRICH: I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don’t think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate.

Gingrich’s complaining, however, hasn’t slowed down his attacks on Ryan. Yesterday, he told the Wall Street Journal editorial board that it would “catastrophic” for Congress to pass the bill as written. Of course the House of Representatives, with votes from every Republican save four, has already done that.