Gingrich: GOP Should Be Bipartisan "Until We Finish Defeating The Left"

Sam Stein
HuffPost

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich urged a crowded hall of CPAC conservatives on Saturday to be "brave enough" to pursue "responsible, principled bipartisanship" even with the temptation of huge gains in the upcoming elections.

It was a type of message that would get a speaker booed off the CPAC stage, certainly after two straight days in which other speakers classified the Democratic agenda in terms best fit for third world despots. But Gingrich -- who has long assumed the role of intellectual godfather of the modern conservative movement -- was cheered for his plea, entering and exiting the hall to roars, clapping, and Rocky-theme music.

That's because bipartisanship, as he defined it, was not ideological compromise. Rather, it was a means to hasten the GOP's return to political power. Predicting that Republicans would take over both chambers of Congress in 2010 and the White House two years later, Gingrich declared:

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