Jon Stewart calls Newt Gingrich a 'square,' 'uncool'

Newt Gingrich announced Thursday he is officially running for president via Twitter and YouTube and for Jon Stewart, well, that just doesn't fly.

I say this with all due respect, Newt, and I hate to break this to you, but this whole Twitter, YouTube thing is not going to work for you because you're not cool. You're uncool, Stewart said on Thursday night's The Daily Show. Let me put this in lingo that you might understand: You're what might be known to your generation as a square.

But Stewart was not nearly finished with the mockery.

Gingrich announcing on Twitter and YouTube instead of on television or in a newspaper, it's as though Newt has abandoned old media while it was sick or possibly dying to take up a newer, younger .... Media.

In a two-minute video, the Republican presidential candidate delivered his official announcement by speaking directly to the camera in front of a black background, and saying: I'm Newt Gingrich, and I'm announcing my candidacy for President of the United States because I believe we can return America to hope and opportunity, to full employment, to real security, to an American energy program, to a balance budget.

This video, too, Stewart deemed fair game.

Who thought it was a good idea to do your state-of-the-art campaign computer launch in a Sears photo studio booth with a Casio accompaniment? Stewart said. That's not music to launch a hip presidential campaign.

Before showing a clip of Gingrich coughing, which, Stewart says, is how the new generation will always see him, he proffers some advice: give-up Twitter.

Embrace who you are, Stewart said. You're a smarty pants, policy wonk guy. You should announce through a media form with a limited number of characters, but don't make it Twitter. Do it through, like, a Sudoku puzzle or something, which, as you know, is a large square made up of a series of small numbers.