In a how-to talk to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference last night, titled “Becoming the Party of Yes,” Newt Gingrich advocated the proactive step of shutting down the federal government.

Talking Points Memo reports:

"Stage one of the end of Obamaism will be a new Republican Congress in January that simply refuses to fund any of the radical efforts," said Gingrich. "Now I say this because our friends in the news media said, you know it’s realistic to talk about ‘repeal and replace,’ because after all he’s gonna be president for the next three years and he’ll veto a repeal bill. And I think they forgot that once upon a time, that I used to be Speaker of the House, and I actually understand the legislative process."

Gingrich continued: "And the truth is, the truth is under our Constitution we simply — the Congress doesn’t have to pass the money. If EPA gets no budget, it can’t enforce cap-and-trade. If HHS gets no budget (applause)…"

Yes, we remember “once upon a time” when Gingrich was Speaker of the House and tried the exact same thing. How’d that work out?