'I made a mistake'

Professing himself "big fan" of Rep. Paul Ryan, Newt Gingrich conceded Tuesday night that his criticism of the Republican budget leader's Medicare plan was a "mistake."



"I made a mistake," Gingrich told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, recounting his apology call to Ryan earlier in the day. "The fact is that I have supported what Ryan's trying to do on the budget," he said. "The budget vote is one that I am happy to say I would have voted for."



Attempting to preempt the inevitable attack on his description Sunday of Ryan's plan as "right-wing social engineering," Gingrich insisted: "Let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said Sunday is a falsehood. I have said publicly, those words were inaccurate and unfortunate. And I'm prepared to stand up, when I make a mistake - and I'm going to on occasion - I want to share with the American people that was a mistake. Because that way we can have an honest conversation."



His appearance capped a day of damage control, including a conference call with conservative bloggers and his apologetic call to Ryan.



"If you got back and listen to the question David Gregory asked me [on "Meet the Press"], I should have said I'm not going to answer it," Gingrich said in dismissing the prospects of passage for the GOP plan. "It's hypothetical baloney-question that had no hope of happening. The Republicans don't control the Senate, they don't have the White House. They can't do what [President Barack] Obama did."



Gingrich also said he shouldn't have used "some of the words" he did Sunday, though he didn't address whether he includes "right-wing social engineering" in that group.



"I was trying to say something that is important," he said. "We are at the beginning of a process of solving the entitlement problems of the United States."



He thanked conservative radio host Bill Bennett, one of his sharpest critics the past few days, for "helping me walk through what people were hearing, which is not what I intended to say."



And asked what he doesn't like about the Ryan bill, Gingrich sidestepped, saying "the country has to ask questions about it."



"I would like to see sooner, the opportunity for current seniors to choose a plan comparable to his and with it have the right to private contracting and the right to spend their own money," he said. "Because it is a choice, not a requirement. I don't see why would you want to keep seniors trapped in a government program and tell them they have no right to choose."