Newt Gingrich blames conservatism for the Virginia Tech massacre. He just doesn't know it.

He chalks up the violence to the American culture of recent decades, which he describes as "liberalism."

Two terms of winger icon Reagan, two-and-a-half terms of Bushes, and two terms of the centrist Clinton (mostly under right-leaning pressure from a Republican Congress) plainly shows that the prevailing wind of the modern era is conservative.

If our culture is to blame, then it's time we move in a progressive direction.

Doutbless, when Gingrich becomes aware of his blooper, he'll come out in favor of this change, even if it means repudiating the failed agenda he helped usher in. Because he surely wants to honor the shooting victims by making this a better country, not to score a cheap political point at their expense.