ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Moments before Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin gave her history making speech at the Xcel Energy Center Wednesday, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told NewsBusters that the left-wing media are trying to destroy her because she represents a threat to their ability to define what a successful, professional woman is in America today.

Offering some of the strongest media criticisms we've encountered at the Republican National Convention, Gingrich painted a picture of exactly what's at stake for the liberal press if Palin is successful in her bid to become the first female vice president in American history, and that people should not underestimate what they are willing to do to prevent that from happening (video embedded right):

I think that it is totally appropriate that the left-wing media is doing everything to smear and destroy her because they correctly understand that if she's still standing after six weeks from now that she has delegitimized the entire left's ability to define what a successful, competent, professional woman is. If you can be a mother of five, an articulate, intelligent, professional woman who's also an NRA life member, who's pro-Life and who's conservative, you suddenly break up two generations of investment by the left in being the legitimizers of feminism. So, I think no one on the right should underestimate the level of threat she poses to the elite media, and therefore, the level of frenzy you're going to get. And if you look frankly at NBC's coverage, it has been so unendingly one-sided it's been amazing. 

Asked to comment about the difference between the coverage of Obama versus McCain, Gingrich replied:

When you have reporters who say that they almost swooned at Obama's performance, that their leg twitches because they're so excited, I mean, you want to say to yourself, "Get a grip boys, I mean, this is only a candidate." 

Gingrich also commented about the inconvenient, unanswered question he asked MSNBC's Ron Allen Tuesday evening:

Look, I asked them a hard question. I said, "Tell me one thing Obama's accomplished." And I know it was unfair. It was kind of a sneek question. But they were all on this whole bit about Gov. Palin's inexperience. I said, "Alright, let's talk about experience: give me one thing that Obama's accomplished." I said, "He can write autobiographical books, he can make speeches. Tell me one thing he's accomplished in the real world." And, the reporter finally said, "Well, it was nice interviewing you," and he walked off. You could see if you ever see the interview, you could see the sudden startled look of, "Oh yeah, we don't have a, we haven't figured that one out."

Delicious. View the entire interview in the embed above or at Eyeblast.