Well, I was concerned about this as well, so I did a little digging.
From what I could tell, during the conception of Hillarycare, Newt was in a Democratically controlled Congress that tried to minimize the effects of the bill. When he became Speaker..it died.
Later, in the 2000’s he still supported an individual mandate for people that made over a certain amount of money. I’d have to look up that amount, but it was pretty substantial. It probably wouldn’t affect most in the category, since they have insurance as a rule. The poor would be included in Medicare or state risk pools as they are now.
That being said..I would like to hear his explanation.
As far as global warming, lots of scientists have come forward to debunk this since many intelligent people climbed on board. I still haven’t heard him say why he jumped on board, but I have heard him “walk it back”. “Sitting On The Couch With Nancy” is a non-issue to me. How many politicians or activists shun the “other side” in photo ops?
It gives me pause in trusting his instincts to sniff out and REJECT socialism.
As for "sitting on the couch with Nancy," that also does not concern me in and of itself. Again, for me the point is that Gingrich's political instincts always end up showing his "typical politician" roots from the '90s, especially a pol who "grew up" in the minority. The instinct is always "reach across the aisle," "bipartisanship," etc. Which we all know are thoroughly corrupted, and in this day and time, practically dangerous concepts.
Gingrich's tour with Sharpton and Duncan is just another example of his old-school instincts.
In fact, I wonder if Gingrich was not trying to embellish his "bipartisan" image in prep for his presidential run when he did the global warming and the Sharpton thing. Then when he got whacked for endorsing Dede and calling Paul Ryan's plan "right-wing social engineering," he finally got the message and figured out how to go Tea Party.
As for who helped kill Hillarycare, here's something of interest. If you watch 'til the end, you'll see that one of the major news mags at the time called Herman Cain one of the main "saboteurs" of Hillarycare.