Gingrich apologizes to Ryan, asks no one to quote comments

Newt Gingrich on Tuesday offered an apology to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in an attempt to tamp down the growing firestorm over his criticism of Ryan's proposed Medicare reforms.

The former House Speaker and 2012 presidential candidate said on Greta Van Susteren's Fox program "On the Record" Tuesday night that he is thankful people such as radio host and former Education Secretary Bill Bennett, and Ed Feulner, founder of the conservative Heritage Foundation, helped him understand the perception of his comments, "which was not what I intended to say," Gingrich explained.

"I made a mistake and I called Paul Ryan today... and I said that."

Watch the video below:

"I made two mistakes. First of all... I should have said I'm not going to answer [the question]. It's a hypothetical baloney question that had no hope of happening," Gingrich said, noting that Republicans do not control the White House or have a majority in the Senate. "The second [mistake] was some of the words I used," Gingrich said.

NBC "Meet the Press" host David Gregory on Sunday asked Gingrich if Republicans should be promoting changing Medicare into a subsidized private insurance system, a proposal in Ryan's budget. Gingrich responded by suggesting Ryan's proposal is "right-wing social engineering," "radical change" and "too big a jump"-- comments that quickly prompted calls of GOP disloyalty from the right.

In an effort to stave off future Republican attacks over Sunday's interview, Gingrich warned detractors Tuesday night that they'd better not use his comments against him. "Any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a false ad because I have said publicly those words were inaccurate and unfortunate," he said.

Gingrich refused to comment on any questions posed by Van Susteren regarding Politico's report Tuesday that Gingrich was $250,000 to $500,000 in debt to jeweler Tiffany & Company.

"I am perfectly happy to talk about what we need to do for America and what we need to do help Americans. But I frankly don't want to play the gotcha games in Washington and I'm just not going to participate," Gingrich said.

The report on his Tiffany debt represents the latest PR nightmare for Gingrich in just the first week since he formally announced his presidential campaign.

Gingrich suffered an additional indignity last night when a gay rights protester dumped glitter on him and wife Callista at a fundraising event in Minneapolis.