Newt Gingrich’s Disastrous Start: Part II

|| That evil laughter you hear is Newt Gingrich changing his mind once again. ||

Newt Being Newt.

Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign is off to a disastrous start.

The former Speaker told EVERYONE he was going to announce his presidential candidacy

And then suddenly and for absolutely no reason backed out.

But is was not until Newt finally did announce his candidacy that the Gingrich really hit the fan.

On NBC’s Meet the Press, Gingrich started by attacking Republican hero Paul Ryan.

“I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering,” Gingrich said of Ryan’s plan on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.  “I don’t think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate.”

To which the Wisconsin Congressman fired back.

“With allies like that, who needs the left?” Ryan told guest host Raymond Arroyo.

Ryan’s statement publicly questions Newt’s conservative credentials,

As many other Republicans already have,

Especially in light of the dirty little video Newt did with Nancy Pelosi.

Adding fuel to the GOP fire,

Gingrich used the interview to defend his call for healthcare’s individual mandate,

“I’ve said consistently we ought to have some requirement that you either have health insurance or you post a bond or in some way you indicate you’re going to be held accountable,” Gingrich said, repeating Romney’s argument that it was necessary to solve the “free rider” problem of how to pay for treating the uninsured.

Asked whether this constituted a mandate, Gingrich replied it was “a variation on it.”

But then he backtracked from Sunday’s statement early Monday morning.

“I am for the repeal of Obamacare and I am against any effort to impose a federal mandate on anyone because it is fundamentally wrong and I believe unconstitutional,” he said.

Where does Gingrich really stand on these issues?

I am not sure even the former Speaker himself knows.

And even though the old “I was for it before I was against it” approach is quite amusing,

It is also politically damaging and unnecessarily confusing.

Especially for a presidential candidate introducing himself to voters.

Others would say it’s just Newt Gingrich being Newt Gingrich.