Who had the worst week in Washington? Newt Gingrich.

Ask Newt Gingrich a question, and you’ll get an answer. Usually a long one with references to international economics, ancient history and sometimes even flex-fuel vehicles.

Gingrich is, without question, a big brain who can bowl you over with the depth and breadth of his knowledge.
But he can also trap himself with his rhetoric — offering contradictory answers to the same question, leaving himself trying to explain the unexplainable.

Witness Gingrich’s acrobatics on Libya.
On March 7, he told Fox News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren that President Obama should establish a no-fly zone over the country. Then on March 23, he appeared on NBC’s “Today” show to forcefully declare: “I would not have intervened. I think there were a lot of other ways to affect Gaddafi.”

Uh, what?
Gingrich spent most of the ensuing days trying to dig out of that rhetorical hole, arguing that the “contradictions” in his position were the result of responding to an ever-changing White House policy.
He doubled down on the confusing verbiage — this time on a domestic issue — during a recent visit with House Republicans, simultaneously pushing his party not to compromise with Senate Democrats on budget cuts while also making clear that a government shutdown should be avoided.

By this past week, Gingrich had become a punch line — the Onion wrote a “story” in which he marveled at how he was a serious contender for the presidency — and even some Republicans had gotten in on the act.

“I was happy to see that Newt Gingrich has staked out a position on the war, a position, or two, or maybe three,” Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) joked at an annual congressional dinner on Wednesday. Zing!

Newt Gingrich, for turning your rhetorical firepower on yourself, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.