Newt Gingrich couldn’t believe his ears — or rather, his eyes.

“How do you fly a combat mission with courtesy?” the former House Speaker tweeted shortly after President Obama’s Monday morning statement on the U.S.-led mission to fight ISIS. “President Obama’s use of that term this morning is just weird. We are dropping bombs.”

Yes, Gingrich was dumbfounded, and for good reason. After all, what’s courteous about an aerial assault?

“Dropping bombs is not courteous it is combat,” he tweeted a moment later. “Someone should ask the white house what President meant using the word courtesy this morning”

Problem was, Obama didn’t actually say that — a realization Gingrich eventually came to about twenty minutes after he unleashed his initial criticism. Gingrich’s explanation? Blame it on CSPAN.

“Correction, cspan transcribed President inaccurately and i used their version,” he tweeted. “He said our pilots had courage not courtesy and that is true”

Below, the evolution of Gingrich’s response, saved for posterity: