Gingrich attacks Fox News; says they're 'in the tank' for Romney

When Rick Santorum dropped out, sentiment was quite unanimous in the media - to include Fox News - that Mitt Romney is the nominee. In particular, both Stephen Hayes and Charles Krauthammer virtually scoffed at any other possibility while implying that Newt Gingrich's campaign had become a joke on the day of Santorum's exit.

Gingrich appears to be falling back to the position that ingratiated himself with voters just prior to the South Carolina primary; he's attacking the media and, in particular, Fox News.

Via Real Clear Politics:

During a meeting with 18 Delaware Tea Party leaders here on Wednesday, Newt Gingrich lambasted FOX News Channel, accusing the cable network of having been in the tank for Mitt Romney from the beginning of the Republican presidential fight. An employee himself of the news outlet as recently as last year, he also cited former colleagues for attacking him out of what he characterized as personal jealousy.

“I think FOX has been for Romney all the way through,” Gingrich said during the private meeting -- to which RealClearPolitics was granted access -- at Wesley College. “In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than FOX this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of FOX, and we’re more likely to get distortion out of FOX. That’s just a fact.”

Gingrich’s contract as a FOX News contributor was terminated last spring as he geared up for his White House run.

The former House speaker’s blunt remarks came in response to a question from one of the state Tea Party leaders about the manner in which his campaign has been treated by conservative media outlets.

Gingrich did not pull his punches in accusing Rupert Murdoch -- the chairman and CEO of News Corp., FOX News’ parent company -- of pushing for Romney behind the scenes.

In pure Gingrich fashion, he hit George Will that's difficult for the Washington Post writer to refute:

He saved his strongest condemnation for syndicated columnist and ABC television commentator George Will, who has been critical of the former congressman throughout his campaign.

Gingrich said that Will was among the conservative media figures who harbored “personal jealousy” against him.

“In the case of Will, I was on [George] Stephanopoulos on Sunday morning with him, and it was kind of a ‘You’re not allowed to run for office -- I mean, if you could run for office, why am I not running for office?’ ” Gingrich said. “And it’s almost like they were personally offended. You know, ‘This can’t be real, and how can this guy go do that?’ I got that reaction from Will a few years back about writing a book because I’m supposed to be a politician. He’s supposed to be the writer. Well, I’ve now written 24 books, and 13 of them are New York Times bestsellers. I mean, there’s a morning when George ought to just get over it.”

In both Iowa and Florida, Gingrich suffered greatly from Romney's attack ads. Now that everyone except Gingrich has conceded that Romney is the nominee, Romney is having to deal with Obama and likely doesn't have the time, interest, or money necessary to deal with Gingrich.

The coming weeks will indeed be interesting.

Here is an interview Newt granted to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, h/t Hapblog: