Gingrich: 'I think Fox has been for Romney all the way through'

Newt Gingrich delivered a blistering critique of Fox News on Wednesday night, accusing the cable network of favoring rival Mitt Romney and saying that in his experience, he believes "CNN is less biased than Fox this year."

“I think Fox has been for Romney all the way through,” Gingrich said during a private meeting at Wesley College in Delaware that Real Clear Politics gained access to. “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 also accused Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and CEO of Fox's parent company, of advocating for the former Massachusetts governor.

“I assume it’s because Murdoch at some point said, ‘I want Romney,’ and so ‘fair and balanced’ became ‘Romney,’ ” Gingrich said. “And there’s no question that Fox had a lot to do with stopping my campaign because such a high percentage of our base watches Fox.”

The former House Speaker said he was surprised by his treatment at the hands of former colleagues. Gingrich — a former Fox News contributor whose contract was terminated when he launched his presidential campaign — made the remarks after being asked by a Tea Party attendee how he felt about coverage of the GOP race.

“The sense of being shocked that somebody I’d talked to and worked with for 10 or 11 years would say some of the things they said, if you go back and look at the transcripts for June, it was amazing to me,” he said. “They all said, ‘He’s dead.’ This is part of why I laugh at them now. I say, ‘Is this going to be, like, the fourth cycle where I’m gone?’ ”

His comments largely mirrored those made by Rick Santorum last month, who accused the network of "shilling" for Mitt Romney. 

The former House Speaker said part of the problem with Fox and other conservative media outlets was he was the "least establishment candidate since Ronald Reagan."

“They know I don’t care about their opinions,” he said. “I don’t go to their cocktail parties. I don’t go to their Christmas parties. The only press events I go to are interesting dinners when the wife insists on it, so we’re going to go to the White House Correspondents' dinner because she wants to. And we’re actually going to go to CNN’s table, not Fox.”

Gingrich's ire was not reserved for the Fox network, as he argued that some establishment Republicans — including Washington Post columnist George Will — felt "personal jealousy" toward 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 best-sellers. I mean, there’s a morning when George ought to just get over it.”

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