During an appearance on Meet the Press, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that as a result of the liberal media there are certain issues that Republicans cannot run on and expect to win.
Speaking to Chuck Todd, Gingrich insisted that conservatives can only win on issues with 70 or 80 percent support and Republicans “cannot run in a country that has liberal media with 51 percent issues and expect to win because they will strip away six percent.”
Earlier in the segment Gingrich explained “[i]f the issues next year become who's prepared to reshape the federal government, I think the Democrats are in big trouble. If it stays on social issues I think it’s a muddle.”
Todd wondered if this meant telling “the Republican Party, no matter what the rural base of the party says, don't pander them?” to which Gingrich maintained that rural America has the same concerns as the rest of the country, but the media will shape the GOP’s ability to focus on certain issues:
I’m saying the rural base of the party is deeply opposed to the IRS being totally incompetent and deeply opposed to the Veterans Administration failing to serve veterans as any other part of the country. A majority party figures out the issues that unify a big majority. Preferably if you're a conservative, 60% or 70%. That's the Reagan lesson.
You cannot run in a country that has liberal media with 51% issues and expect to win because they will strip away 6%. You can run with a 70% or 80% issue because no matter what the liberal media does, they can't drive you down below 50%.
See relevant transcript below.
NBC’s Meet the Press
June 28, 2015
CHUCK TODD: Newt, in some ways your political career was a product of the first backlash, conservative movement of the silent majority. Where is this going?
NEWT GINGRICH: Well I think first of all, issues change and topics change. Let me give you an example. The president wants us to be deeply concerned about poor children getting a decent education. The city of Baltimore spends $130,000 a year for every student who passes the eighth grade math test. Yet there's not a single Democrat who's prepared to fundamentally reform the school system.
Now 78% of the country said last week they would be for a candidate who wants major change in the federal government. No Democrat is going to run a major change because the public employee unions won’t let them. 
You would have a Madison, Wisconsin uprising on the part of the unions. If the issues next year become who's prepared to reshape the federal government, I think the Democrats are in big trouble. If it stays on social issues I think it’s a muddle.
TODD: So, you’re basically telling the Republican Party, no matter what the rural base of the party says, don't pander them?
GINGRICH: No, no I’m saying the rural base of the party is deeply opposed to the IRS being totally incompetent and deeply opposed to the Veterans Administration failing to serve veterans as any other part of the country. A majority party figures out the issues that unify a big majority. Preferably if you're a conservative, 60% or 70%. That's the Reagan lesson. You cannot run in a country that has liberal media with 51% issues and expect to win because they will strip away 6%. You can run with a 70% or 80% issue because no matter what the liberal media does, they can't drive you down below 50%.
