Newt Gingrich Medicare Controversy Targeted By Democrats (VIDEO)

The Democratic National Committee is out with a new web ad taking aim at the fallout from critical remarks presidential candidate Newt Gingrich recently made about a controversial plan to reform Medicare put forth by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Last weekend, Gingrich criticized the House Budget Committee Chairman's proposal as "radical."

“What you want to have is a system where people voluntarily migrate to better outcomes, better solutions, better options, not one where you suddenly impose it,” he said during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." “I am against Obamacare imposing radical change, and I would be against a conservative imposing radical change.”

After sparking conservative backlash with the remarks, Gingrich said in an attempt to do damage control, "Any ad which quotes what I said Sunday is a falsehood and because I have said publicly, those words were inaccurate and unfortunate."

The new spot rolled out by the DNC features the harsh words the former House Speaker initially used in taking issue with Ryan's plan, as well as additional clips highlighting criticism from the right ignited by the remarks.

During a stop in the key primary state of Iowa on Thursday, Gingrich acknowledged himself that it's been a rocky week since he first announced the launch of his presidential campaign.

“Any of you who are willing to do just a brief video with him [an Iowa campaign staffer] of why you’re for me it would be very helpful ‘cause we have to sort of convince the Washington news media that actually the voters will decide when this election is over, not five or six pundits,” he said, according to the Des Moines Register.

HuffPost's Jon Ward reported on Wednesday that the series of missteps exercised by Gingrich over the past week could have longterm implications on his ability to fundraise and conduct a competitive campaign.

WATCH:

Comments

[JKasner]

12:34 PM on 05/20/2011

Getting the younger generation involved in the medicare debate is key. Check out this site to help do that.

http://www.worthyheadline.com/

[Excalibre]

12:03 PM on 05/20/2011

That ad is too long.

[Chimoch]

05:33 AM on 05/20/2011

The guy in the blue shirt at the political rally looked like a set up by Gingrich's own party. He seemed mic and ready for his 15 minutes of fame. Gor Gingrich back in line thought.

[psmarc93]

03:56 AM on 05/20/2011

Damn.... Newt, The Donald, Hucksterbee? Who's next Palin?

[Hardyman1966]

07:20 AM on 05/20/2011

I think even Sarah is getting tired of Sarah.  Michele is the Marcia, Sarah is the Jan.

[psmarc93]

03:47 AM on 05/20/2011

"Newt learned the hard way: killing Medicare is new GOP litmus test."

Whoa. Play it 24/7. Everywhere all the time.

[Excalibre]

11:46 AM on 05/20/2011

Oh, yeah. It's nice to see the Dems showing some backbone.

[dave elliott]

10:10 PM on 05/19/2011

this is a great ad, it needs to be played every 30 mins on all stations across the nation. time to flush this sal a mander down the toilet along with the tea that the tea party make in it.

[getoffmyside]

07:59 PM on 05/19/2011

Seems this should tie in with the article about the government not using so much gibberish.(I know Fig Newton is currently not in government).

[L I Beral]

10:37 PM on 05/19/2011

(Let's keep it that way. Puhleeeeze.)

[getoffmyside]

11:13 PM on 05/19/2011

Agreed.

[ObamaFanatic]

07:54 PM on 05/19/2011

Imagine my surprise when I turned on EL RUSHBO today and heard Newt attempting to kiss RL's ring.....
The song and dance routine he was performing for RL was impressive.....being that it was a radio show, it was hard to tell if he was doing the fox trot or the tango, but deep down, I really think he was doing the KochSukk.

The ridiculousness of his excuses was just astounding. I find it incredibly insulting that he woud use such excuses....He may as well just come out and say "ANY ONE WHO BELIEVES ME IS AN IMB E CILE"...

The gall of some politicians to blatantly s_h_i_t on their base is dumbfounding.

[Weeweed Up]

07:52 PM on 05/19/2011

buh bye newt

[Don Glenn]

07:41 PM on 05/19/2011

Deja vu all over again "anyone who use what I said is wrong, because what i said was not intended to be factual."

[scottymac11]

06:43 PM on 05/19/2011

Pay no attention to what I said. Pay attention to what I said I said. Vote Newt for straight talk. One time republican "speaker" of the house.

[ZonaCumia]

06:39 PM on 05/19/2011

He broke the ronnie 11th commandment..thou shalt not speak unkindly of republicans in public.

Damn sheeple.

[balthus]

06:18 PM on 05/19/2011

What a lousy ending to the spot. After all that, the point is that Gringrich learned that ending Social Security is the Repug litmus test. That's a real water cooler line there. And voters care because?

Heck, I'd bet 80% of Americans don't even know what a litmus test is. No wonder Dems keep losing to Repugs - they can never clearly and briefly state a meaningful point that matters to people.

[SisterAnn]

09:39 AM on 05/22/2011

It would be better if they would simplify it.

Republican leaderss want to end Medicare as we know it,

They want you to buy private insurance and they will help pay for it with vouchers.

Newt didn't agree and he was newtered. (I know I mispelled neutered)

[CarryOn]

06:06 PM on 05/19/2011

First Kyl then Gingrich don;t believe what I say...GOP= Grain Of Psalt

[Middleclassvotingbloc]

05:48 PM on 05/19/2011

Now I hope that the Dems can raise enough money with the help from all of us to keep the ad running over and over.