'I think it’s sad to watch the establishment grow hysterical,' Gingrich said. Gingrich: I'm on Team Paul-Cruz

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are among the few members of the Republican Party courageous enough to ask important questions, and that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie represents an establishment growing “hysterical” over their strength.

“I consistently have been on the side of having the courage that Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have, and I think it’s sad to watch the establishment grow hysterical, but frankly they’re hysterical because they have no answers,” Gingrich said Thursday morning on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”


Gingrich was weighing in on an escalating war of words between Christie and Paul that was set off over their differing views on NSA surveillance of Americans. Gingrich told Ingraham that the party needs to admit that its national security strategy of the last decade was a failure, and Cruz (R-Texas) and Paul (R-Ky.) are leading the way.

Gingrich said though he supported both the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, he has to “say the way that they were executed failed, and maybe we should have known better, those of us that supported them. … Republicans have a real obligation to ask themselves the question: Aren’t there some pretty painful lessons to learn from the last 10 or 12 years? Don’t we have to confront the reality that this didn’t work as a strategy?”

The intraparty squabbles popping up now are evidence of the discomfort, Gingrich said.

“Trust me, Chris Christie is only the first sign, the establishment will grow more and more hysterical the more powerful Rand Paul and Ted Cruz become. They will gain strength as it’s obvious that they are among the few people willing to raise the right questions,” he said.

Gingrich also said he wasn’t sure how much Christie knew about the issues, taking a shot at the man who has called Gingrich an embarrassment to the party.

“I think Christie is a very good governor of New Jersey, and I think that he is a very strong personality, and apparently in New Jersey tradition, he thinks bluster and strong language without facts can carry you a long way,” Gingrich said.