Newt Gingrich: Mitt Romney’s A ‘Competent Manager’ Within Whatever He Thinks His Realities Are

GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich visited Laura Ingraham‘s radio show, where he pretty much performed the modern-day equivalent of taking off one’s glove and smacking it — forcefully and repeatedly — against an adversary’s face.

Here, for instance, is how Gingrich summarized the difference between Romney and himself:

I think Mitt’s a very competent manager and I think he tends to manage within whatever he thinks the realities are, so when he was Governor of Massachusetts he recognized that 85 percent of the legislature was Democrats and he recognized the state was pretty liberal and he managed accordingly. If you want someone who is a change agent, who has worked with Ronald Reagan for change, who as Speaker brought about change…I’m the only candidate in the race like that….We’re not running for governor, we’re running for president. And president involves the life and death of the country in ways that are very very different than being governor of a state. The choice is going to be really really wide between managing the current mess and changing Washington decisively.

And here’s how he answered Ingraham’s question on whether Romney is a conservative:

I’ll let the voters decide that. I think you look at Ruth Marcus’s column this morning, you look at George Will’s column a couple weeks ago. There’s plenty of stuff there to talk about….The 85 percent who have not chosen Mitt Romney, who have known him now for five years, I think they’re looking for a conservative activist who will stand firm and who will fight to change Washington.

RELATED: Newt Gingrich On Rick Perry’s Gaffe: ‘I Wasn’t Gloating At That Point’

On a more serious note, however, Gingrich also offered his very well-articulated [Ed. note: Because I agree with him, basically] take on Herman Cain’s Anita Hill “joke:”

“I think if you look at the concerns we have about issues like sexual harassment,” he said, “if you look at the tragedy at Penn State, if you look at how people feel in general about this kind of stuff, it’s not something to be joked about. He may well be innocent and I think it’s perfectly reasonable for him to defend himself and for him to make clear who his accusers are, but these are not things I think you joke about.” A fist bump in your general direction, N-Ging.

Also, lest anyone accuse Gingrich of not having a sense of humor:

Laura: You watched Hangover seven times? …What’s up with that?

Newt: When you’re going to watch junk, you ought to pick junk….I prepared for the last debate by watching Bridesmaids.

Have a listen for yourselves, courtesy of The Laura Ingraham Show: