Was it the new Newt or the old Newt...
... on the couch with Nancy
... endorsed Dede Scozzafava
... called an attempt to cut spending “Right wing social engineering”
...”
When did it happen?
New means current.
Old means in the past.
For instance, one might have asked about RR, is this his new thinking on this or his old thinking? When he changed from being a Dem to a Conservative. Some people do change. If you can’t change your mind, you can’t change anything.
... on the couch with Nancy
... endorsed Dede Scozzafava
... called an attempt to cut spending “Right wing social engineering”
These are all recent, in political terms. If they are not relevant, then his time as Speaker is not as well. He was Speaker well before these occurred. The objection to cuts was this year when criticizing the only plan put forth to cut spending during the debt ceiling fiasco.