Will Newt Gingrich Have the Last Laugh? Jon Stewart Isn’t So Sure…

Gingrich

Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) dropped by The Daily Show (@the_daily_show) and verbally (but politely) sparred with Jon Stewart on the Obama Administration (@barackobama), Nancy Pelosi’s dog-house days and how to revive the corpse that is the Republican party.

I was looking forward to this interview. Stewart is a genius at debate and Gingrich (though I disagree with many of his policies) is a sharp debator too. All I need is pizza and a glass of wine and I could watch these two go at it all night. As predicted, they didn’t dissapoint.

Stewart and Gingrich went back and forth on the Pelosi trainwreck (@nancypelosi) for a bit (never really reaching any consensus) before getting into the meat and potatoes of it all when Gingritch announces that the Obama Administration is the most socialist administration in the history of American government (a suggestion that made Stewart practically choke on his tongue).

(Sidebar question: Does anybody under the age 40 feel fear at being called a socialist — sure, it has political implications but these days that word doesn’t carry anywere near the weight it did 50 years ago).

After Gingrich raises the government bailout and takeover of AIG ( a politcy implemented by the Bush administration) as being not only socialist but “dumb”, Stewart puts the entire conversation to bed with the turn-of-a-phrase (the way only he can) by asking Gingritch:

So you felt that Bush was dumb?

Brilliant. Gingrich never directly answers or disputes the question of Bush’s intelligence (we know Newt… we know). On the issue of whether government can and should run healthcare (another socialist agenda according to Gingrich) Gingrich asks Stewart:

Why would you believe a Washington-based national health program would work?

Stewart responds at the speed of light:

Why would you believe that a national Washington-based military can work but that a Washington-based run healthcare program wouldn’t work? You can’t trust them to do one big thing and not another.

Gingrich never answers (he did, however, take a sip from his coffee cup).

The best part of the interview is Jon’s summation of what they both learned from this “enlightening” interview and the “common ground” they share. I won’t spoil it for you here (see it in the clip below). Suffice it to say, Stewart nails it (and for his part, Gingritch has a good sense of humor). But no matter how harsh Stewart might have been on Gingrich, it pales in comparison to what people are saying on Twitter (see the real-time Twitter stream below). Here’s the latest post:

@janieo @ricksanchezcnn Newt Gingrich. So sad. He’s going after Pelosi in such an obviously political way. Very SILLY way. That’s all they got?

Ouch. But the real question I would’ve like Stewart to ask is if Newt sees himself as the leader of the Republican party right now and who he sees rising to take the reigns. He may have chosen not to answer this question either as there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut answer anywhere around.

You can find Gingrich’s new book (”5 Principals for a Successful Life“) here (I wonder if one of the principals for a successful life is ditching the Republican party like Spector).