Former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich–seriously, this guy was once considered a real contender to be president–has seemingly no clue what those newfangled devices that make phone calls, send emails, take pictures and allow you to watch video and browse the Internet are called. And, judging by a video he released Friday, it’s not as if he hasn’t tried to figure out this topic that he concedes he’s “really puzzled” about. According to the moon colony enthusiast, his production team has spent a long time on this bewildering question.

“Here at Gingrich Productions, we’ve spent weeks figuring out what do you call this,” Gingrich says seriously, holding up a device that most consumers refer to as a “smartphone.”

But rather than oh, I don’t know, doing a basic Google search to find out the exact name for his portable hand-held device, the former House speaker instead decided to take his plight to the American people by making this embarrassing and inadvertently hilarious video in which he wants your help to come up with a name for it.

“Having failed for several days to come up with an adequate term for the device we call a ‘cellphone,’ we want to open the discussion up to you,” he concludes. “Let us know in the comments what you think we should name it, and we’ll feature the best ones in a future newsletter.”

(To see what YouTube commenters came up with, click here.)

(h/t Gawker)

— Posted by Tracy Bloom.

Your support matters…

Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.

You can help level the playing field. Become a member.

Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.

Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.

SUPPORT TRUTHDIG