That darn 'elite' media

Newt Gingrich blames the media for the latest story about his extramarital shenanigans. The "elite" media, no less.

So it's not his fault, if in fact he did do as his ex-wife says and propose an "open marriage" to her over the phone after months of philandering with his then-assistant and present wife, Callista [in the photo].

Nor is it his ex-wife Marianne's fault, for spilling the beans to ABC News in an interview. It's the media's fault, and CNN reporter John King's fault for being "despicable" enough to raise it at the debate last night.

It's a conspiracy, he suggested, of the pro-Obama elite media who want to re-elect Barack Obama.

Now, I remember Gingrich's term as speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1990s and the attempt he led to impeach Bill Clinton for his dalliances with intern Monica Lewinsky.

I've been searching my memory, but I cannot for the life of me remember Gingrich blaming the elite media, which he employed repeatedly to denounce Clinton, for picking up on that story.

He must have; he makes a great deal of being smart and a man of integrity, and of thinking big-picture. But I just can't remember him blaming the media back then. I must be getting old.

By: Neil Macdonald
Washington Correspondent, CBC News, The National