(Newser) – Newt Gingrich is taking heat on the right, after calling Paul Ryan’s Medicare revamp “right-wing social engineering,” and saying he supported a “variation” on an individual health care mandate. Asked about Ryan’s voucher plan on Meet the Press, Gingrich replied, “I think that that is too big a jump.” Conservatives have been letting him have it—including a man who ran into Gingrich seemingly at random in an Iowa hotel and unloaded on him.

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“What you just did to Paul Ryan is unforgivable,” the man said, in a moment caught on Fox News and highlighted on The Blaze. “You’re an embarrassment to our party.” Gingrich tried to disengage gracefully saying, “I’m sorry you feel that way,” but the man persisted: “Why don’t you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself.” The Des Moines Register tracked the man down afterward. His name’s Russell Fuhrman, and he says he’s a “strong Republican,” but thinks Gingrich “is a jerk.” (Read more Newt Gingrich stories.)

