Newt Gingrich: ‘We Were Wrong About Romney Winning’ [Videos]

Former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has never been one to mince words. On Wednesday, he very simply explained why pundits such as himself, Karl Rove and Dick Morris incorrectly predicted that Mitt Romney would win the 2012 election and become our nation’s president: “We were wrong.”

“I’m just going to say bluntly, we were wrong,” Gingrich told CBS host Charlie Rose.

“I think Karl Rove, Michael Barone, Dick Morris, a whole group of us, frankly, misunderstood what was happening in the country. We thought with 8 percent unemployment — or approximately 8 percent — with gasoline the price that it was, etc., that it would be almost impossible for President Obama to be re-elected. He deserves enormous credit. His campaign deserves credit.”

Gingrich said something similar on CNN‘s Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien as well:

“I was wrong. I think you’re going to find that whether it’s Michael Barone or Karl Rove, the whole group of us, we all thought we understood the historical pattern and the fact that with this level of unemployment, with this level of gasoline prices, what would happen.”

Following these comments, Gingrich shared what he believes the GOP should do next:

“Republicans are going to have to take a very serious look at what happened and why did it happen and why were we not more competitive at the presidential level.”

Gingrich continued: “The Republican Party has to be open to and listening to people who are going to be a major part of our future and unless we do that, we’re going to be a minority party,” he explained.

“Now, I don’t think that means you automatically embrace every new idea that President Obama sends up to Capitol Hill, but I think you do have to have an attitude towards the Latino population — not necessarily towards the president — that is much, much more inclusive than it has been in the past.”

Here are the CNN and CBS videos in which Newt Gingrich admits that he was wrong about Mitt Romney: