Newt Gingrich Smacks Down WaPo's Ruth Marcus: 'This Is Just Such Washington Nonsense'

Newt Gingrich had a fabulous exchange with the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus on ABC's This Week Sunday that really speaks volumes about the media's reaction to Republican Senators filibustering Chuck Hagel's confirmation as Defense Secretary.

When Marcus spouted the typical liberal commentator line "Republicans just want to make themselves look even more obstructionist with a country that’s frustrated with that," Gingrich struck back saying, "This is just such Washington nonsense" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

RUTH MARCUS, WASHINGTON POST: If you look at this Cruz story, the Hagel story more broadly, if Washington wanted to come up with a way to look worse, I can't imagine one. You know, first of all, I'm with George. The president is entitled to his nominee, but his performance, I was going to go with execrable, but I'll settle for appalling. It was an appalling performance. And now the Republicans just want to make themselves look even more obstructionist with a country that’s frustrated with that. I mean, come on. Confirm the guy. If you don't like him, vote against him.

NEWT GINGRICH: This is just such Washington nonsense. You look at what Democrats did to Clarence Thomas. You look at what Democrats did to Judge Bork. You look at the three months that John Tower was hung out to dry by the Senate. This is…

JONATHAN KARL, SUBSTITUTE HOST: But you're not endorsing that behavior.

GINGRICH: No, I'm saying to have this brand-new standard, no matter how stupid Chuck Hagel is, no matter how bad his performance, no matter how much he keeps in secret, we all know he’s an honorable man. How do we know that?

Indeed.

Watching the liberal media's reaction to the Hagel and John Brennan confirmation proceedings has been amazing.

These folks have been acting like this is the first time in American history a president's nominee has faced tough questioning or had problems getting a vote in the Senate.

The selective amnesia of today's press brings to question their competency to report anything.

Of course, that's not news, is it?