Scarborough on Gingrich: 'Newt...Thought I Was Too Conservative for My District

GOP presidential contender Newt Gingrich stunned some politicos when he churned out a win in South Carolina on Saturday.

(Related: Ann Coulter tears into Newt as "least electable")

Of course, following his victory, the former House Speaker found himself the subject of discussion on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" today. But Gingrich, who continues to tout what he sees as a staunchly conservative record, may not be very happy with what host Joe Scarborough had to say about him.

Mediaite has more:

On Monday morning, Morning Joe‘s Mika Brzezinski reported that South Carolina’s GOP exit poll has primary winner Newt Gingrich ranking highest in electability, with 51 percent of the vote versus Mitt Romney‘s 37. And as the candidates look ahead to Florida, Romney is launching an offensive, labeling the former Speaker a “failed leader.”

Host Joe Scarborough responded, characterizing Gingrich as a “mixed bag” and drawing back on his own experiences working with (or, as it happened, against) him.

According to these same exit polls, among those calling themselves "very conservative" in South Carolina, 48 percent voted for Gingrich, with only 19 percent choosing Romney. Clearly, Gingrich fared better among more ardent proponents of conservative values than did his fellow contender.

When it came to weighing in on Gingrich's past record, though, Scarborough had some noteworthy comments to share outside of simply dubbing Gingrich as someone who has had both successes and failures in his leadership. He said:

"Listen, Newt was a mixed bag. He's always a mixed bag. You look at what he did getting up to actually becoming speaker and he was a great revolutionary out in the field. Newt Gingrich was able organize and put together a winning team. And Republicans took control of the House for the first time in a generation.

I mean, I didn't even believe -- I remember the results were coming in and we were talking about this before. And somebody shouted when I won -- I wasn't supposed to win. Of course, just for the record, Newt was working against me the whole time. He thought I was too conservative for my district. Nice call, Newt."

Scarborough went on to say that Gingrich working against him actually helped him capture the majority of voters in his district.

Watch this dialogue, below (Gingrich commentary starts around 2:30):

In December, Scarborough made some other noteworthy comments about Gingrich, calling him an "extremist." He said:

“I have to step in here as a consistent, small-government conservative and say Newt Gingrich is extreme, but just read a George Will column and find out he’s not an extreme conservative,” Scarborough said. “He is an extreme ‘Newtist.’ Whatever Newt is thinking that day, he will take to the extremes. The New York Times this morning talking about his extreme vision of a doomsday scenario involving nuclear weapons that experts say isn’t really going to happen. Newt is an extremist, but as George Will said, he would’ve made a marvelous Marxist.”

You can read the Will column he referenced here.

(H/T: Mediaite)