At a breakfast with reporters this morning, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who’s currently vying for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, said his comments on Meet the Press last week, where he said he opposed “right-wing social engineering,” were not an attack on Paul Ryan or Ryan’s budget. “Look, I think it was probably the wrong use of words because it triggered all sorts of folks suddenly thinking I was attacking somebody,” Gingrich said. “I wasn’t attacking somebody.”
“I don’t believe either party should impose on the American people some proposal or theory against the will of the American people,” he continued. “If something is profoundly unpopular and it is very large, should the Republicans pass it? I shouldn’t have answered the question. I should have backed out and said, ‘It’s theoretical, that’s not what’s happening, I’m not doing it.’”
