His latest utterances have got New Yorkers shaking their heads in befuddlement:

Many New Yorkers aren’t happy with Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich after a comment he made about residents of the Big Apple earlier this week while stumping in Nevada.

The former House Speaker called Manhattanites who live in high rises ‘elites’ because they ride the subway, somehow suggesting that New Yorkers aren’t real Americans.

‘I’m not elite,’ said one straphanger. ‘I work 70 hours a week. Always come down, take a train to Queens and work.’

Maybe the comment stems from Gingrich losing out on an endorsement by New York billionaire Donald Trump, who despite reports that he would be backing the former House Speaker, threw his support to Mitt Romney instead.

Put bluntly, who are the “subway-riding elites” that Gingrich is busy complaining about? Are they the Manhattanites who toil for 70 hours a week working to make ends meet? The secretary rushing to a medical office to care for her patients? The utility worker who is helping keep the city that never sleeps humming along?

If you’re a subway rider, I guess you’re elite.

I miss out. I don’t ride the subway regularly. I ride PATH. That makes me sub-elite.

This is Gingrich’s latest attempt at a cultural war, in that he’s complaining about the publishing elites around New York City that haven’t taken a liking to what Newt’s offering. And with Donald Trump apparently spurning Newt’s entreaties and endorsing Mitt Romney, I guess that also includes Trump as well.

I guess Newt’s idea of what makes a person elite is quite different than the rest of us. To me, an elite is someone who can pull down multimillion dollar lobbying gigs, and has walked the halls of power in Congress as speaker. That’s an elite. A schlub who rents an apartment in a walk-up and spends his commute on the subway catching up on sleep while working 60-70 hours a week isn’t elite.

That’s the heart of what makes New York City beat.