Newt Gingrich's Libya 'flip-flop': What was he thinking?

Gingrich hammered President Obama earlier this month for not intervening in Libya. Now he's griping, "I would not have intervened." Huh?

GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich criticized Obama's decision to intervene in Libya... mere weeks after saying America should intervene.
(Image credit: Facebook)

Former House speaker and current GOP presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich has done a "complete flip-flop" on his Libya position, says George Zornick at ThinkProgress. On March 7, he told Fox News that, were he president, he would unilaterally "exercise a no-fly zone this evening," on the grounds that "we think that slaughtering your own citizens is unacceptable." After President Obama did just that a couple weeks later, Gingrich slammed him, telling NBC, "I would not have intervened," especially not using "American and European forces." Gingrich has since tried to explain the discrepancy in a Facebook post. Is this cynical politics at its worst, or just a minor misstep?

He just has loose lips: Gingrich stuck his foot in his mouth, and it's hardly the first time, says Ben Smith at Politico . The only question this time is whether his gaffe is a product of Gingrich's inexperience with the new level of media scrutiny he's facing in 2011 "or the lack of discipline that always drew criticism."

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