Newt Unplugged

(Fox News) - Newt Gingrich says the Republican presidential field is a "pathetic" bunch of "pygmies" — and compares the debate experience to "standing like a trained seal, waiting for someone to throw me a fish." The Washington Examiner reports Gingrich told a breakfast crowd that MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who hosted a Republican debate in May is — "an utterly irrelevant shallow television celebrity (who) doesn't know anything."

He calls Al Gore "not in touch with reality" — and columnist Robert Novak "venomous."

Gingrich says he'll decide whether to join the "pygmies" in the fall — but says — "I have no interest in trying to figure out how I can go out and raise money under John McCain's insane censorship rules so I can show up and do seven minutes and twenty seconds at some debate."