Newt was asked about our purported call for him to drop out yesterday and responded as only Newt can, by saying we had already once called on him to exit the race back in June (not quite true, although we did take a very dim view of his candidacy) and that we’re not conservative.
I wish Newt had said something like this to the reporter who asked him about the editorial: “Frankly, you don’t know how to read. Your lack of appreciation for the nuances of a carefully crafted editorial position is stunning. It is what is fundamentally breaking politics in America. This is why no one wants to run for president. NR’s editors were clearly just throwing back at me my own ill-considered shots at Rick Santorum when I was temporarily riding high in South Carolina and afterwards, and because I’m so fundamentally willing to say whatever is most convenient to me at any given moment, hell, no, I’m not getting out. Next question.”
(Gingrich, by the way, conceded that Santorum was right to resist his demands that he leave the race. Of course that’s a convenient admission now…)