If Bush Did It

Fox News Channel analysts seemed stunned by Newt Gingrich’s post-Nevada speech Saturday, calling it everything from “not pretty” to a “very strange event.” Following his defeat in the state’s caucuses , Gingrich held a news conference rather than a traditional rally. He dismissed rumors that he would be dropping out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination, vowing to fight on. “For a political analyst I think this will be remembered as one of the most remarkable moments of the entire 2012 election,” The Hill’s A.B. Stoddard said. “He came out and wandered into the minutiae about petty complaints…he was in the weeds. It was a very, very strange event.” Charles Krauthammer said Gingrich’s speech represented “the best of Newt and the worst of Newt” — describing what he called President Barack Obama’s attack on religious institutions and defending freedom in the country was good, but his attacks on rival Mitt Romney, who won the state handily, were “astonishing.” Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard was perplexed by Gingrich’s reference to Nevada as a “heavily Mormon state,” calling it “an odd statement” for him to make, and said he was “being a political analyst, not the candidate.” “This is what flailing looks like,” Weekly Standard writer Stephen Hayes summed up. “This was not a pretty performance I think by Newt Gingrich….He makes these arguments that undermine the rationale for his own campaign. He says ‘well, Mitt Romney was dishonest on the stage next to me.’ What does he think Barack Obama’s going to be? ‘I was outspent.’ What does he think Barack Obama’s going to do?” Watch Gingrich’s speech below:

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‘This is What Flailing Looks Like’: Watch Fox Panel Rip Gingrich’s Nevada Speech