Limbaugh Blasts Newt's Tirade as "Inexplicable"

Rush Limbaugh says he can't explain it. He said on his radio show that it was “inexplicable” that Newt Gingrich expressed support for Obamacare's individual mandate and attacked Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, according to Mediaite.com.

“I am not going to justify this. I am not going to explain it," Limbaugh said. "The attack on Paul Ryan, the support for an individual mandate in health care? Folks, don’t ask me to explain this. There is no explanation!

"What do you mean, if I don’t explain it, who will? There is no explanation for it. First off, it cuts Paul Ryan off at the knees. It supports the Obama administration in the lawsuits that 26 states have filed over the mandate. And guess, what? Back in 1993, Newt supported an individual mandate, everybody should buy insurance. I am as befuddled as anyone else is what I’m telling you.”

Limbaugh then said the field of candidates is narrowed down to Tim Pawlenty and Mitch Daniels, blasting Gingrich for not being "a serious candidate."

Limbaugh then proceeded to try to understand the politics of Gingrich's seemingly crippling move.

“Okay, they quote him from 1993, and he’s decided to stick with what he said in 1993, saying ‘it’s going to be an interesting debate’ and, see, I think we’ve already had the debate. You’ve got 26 states suing the federal government in opposition to the mandate, and in the middle of that, and these are Republican attorney generals, in some cases a couple Democrats, in the middle of this Newt goes on ‘Meet the Press’ and comes out essentially for the Obama version of healthcare.

"So you have to say, ‘Well, what are the politics of this?’ So he wants a debate on it. The politics are obviously going to be, he’s going to say, ‘I mean at the state level, just like they mandate auto insurance. Nobody has a problem with that.’

“Okay, so is this a big push for independents? Is he trying to establish a niche? I mean, who knows. I think it's largely niche politics. But it’s also standing up to conventional wisdom on the right. It’s standing up to what is considered now conservative conventional wisdom. The attack on Paul Ryan and his Medicare proposal is part and parcel of this.

“If Newt wanted to throw a nuclear bomb into the whole Republican apparatus, he did it with the two comments that we played for you just now on ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday.”