Mitch Daniels and Sarah Palin (sort of) defend Gingrich

Newt Gingrich may be having one of the worst weeks of his political career, but not all Republicans using the opportunity to pile on the former House speaker for his bumpy 2012 campaign start.

Per ABC News' Katie Slaman, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels defended Gingrich, adding that every political candidate makes mistakes.

"I wouldn't overreact to any one event. It's going to be a long, long time. Every candidate will make mistakes and have their good days too," Daniels, who is considering his own White House bid, told WRTV-TV in Indianapolis. "You just have to recognize that if you enter such an environment you'll make mistakes and you'll say things that when you think about them you wish you had said differently. I think we have to be a little bit forgiving."

Gingrich has been on the defense this week after he referred to Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare proposal as "right-wing social engineering"--a comment that Gingrich later apologized for after an outcry by leading GOPers.

In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity Wednesday night, Sarah Palin said she disgrees with Gingrich's comments, but faulted the "lamestream, leftist media" and their "gotcha" questions for making it an issue. The former Alaska governor and potential 2012 candidate said Gingrich only made the situation worse by caving to the media and apologizing.

"It sounded pretty clear to me that Newt Gingrich's position, because he articulated this, was that Paul Ryan's plan would be social engineering and he didn't like it," Palin told Hannity. "I believe that he made the apology because the media dinged him on it. Would he have made the apology otherwise? I don't know."

(Photo of Gingrich: Charlie Neibergall/AP)