Hi, Newt. Been in politics, long?

Speaking Sunday morning, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich seemed shocked that the media is biased against the Republican nominee.

“I think that without the unending one-sided assault of the news media, Trump would be beating Hillary by 15 points,” Gingrich told ABC’s “This Week.”

“So the news media’s one-sidedness is the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime, and I’m old enough that’s a fairly long statement,” said Gingrich, who turned 73 in June.

If only Republicans had offered some options that weren’t so scandal-ready, during the primaries.

Oh, wait…

The facts are, this is nothing new. The media largely leans left, with some barely able to contain their contempt for all things right-of-center, in order to feign any modicum of impartiality. There are no journalistic standards, any more. Republicans are playing against a stacked deck.

That being said, the party brass should have been prepared for this eventuality. When it became clear that there were people at the convention in July, ready to stand up and defend the virtue of the party from the nightmare of a Trump candidacy, they should have given them a fair hearing, rather than taking such strides to shut them down.

I’m convinced that the reason they fought so hard against the anti-Trump factions at the convention was a fear of Trump’s rabid, unhinged base. They were afraid of losing those votes.

It would have been worth the risk. Through the primaries, 60% – 70% of Republican voters wanted somebody other than Trump. He won by virtue of the vote being split for as long as it was between so many other candidates (either of which would have been a better choice than him).

Conceivably, those 60% to 70% would have agreed to go with any candidate, should Trump have been put out at the convention.

The Trump faithful may have been upset, but at least some of them would have stuck with the party when the smoke cleared.

Feckless GOP leadership would not take that chance, however, and they went out of their way to silence the true majority of Republican voters.

The decision has come back to bite them on the buttocks, as we’re saddled with an unserious, low info, Neanderthal of a candidate.

And the left-leaning press, as well as their Democrat overseers couldn’t be happier.