The quote from your story actually indicates precisely the opposite. It shows Newt was being completely consistent even 17 years later. He told Santorum that if you're in the army, you're in combat no matter where you are. And the quote on your linked page shows Newt saying the exact same thing, that being "in combat" can mean just being on a ship, and that women can perform that duty well. As for the rest of Newt's statement, again, just like the left, you take someone making a joke out of context and try to demonize them for it. Pitiful.
And yet, he went on, if being in combat "means being on an Aegis class cruiser managing the computer controls for 12 ships and their rockets, a female again may be dramatically better than a male who gets very, very frustrated sitting in a chair all the time because males are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes."
Give me a break!