Mitt Romney: Newt Gingrich Is An 'Extraordinarily Unreliable Leader In The Conservative World'

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is amping up his attacks on fellow contender Newt Gingrich.

In an interview with The Washington Post published on Tuesday, Romney said of Gingrich, "He has been an extraordinarily unreliable leader in the conservative world--not 16 or 17 years ago but in the last two to three years." The former Massachusetts governor continued, "And even during the campaign, the number of times he has moved from one spot to another has been remarkable. I think he's shown a level of unreliability as a conservative leader today."

This is not the first time Romney has utilized the "unreliability" attack against Gingrich. Last Thursday, Romney surrogate Jim Talent stated on a campaign conference call that Gingrich is "not a reliable and trusted conservative leader, because he's not a reliable or trustworthy leader." Per The Washington Times, Romney's team even created a website targeting Gingrich entitled "Unreliable Leader."

During the Post interview, Romney pointed to a 2008 ad that Gingrich filmed with then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in which the two political heavyweights urged action on the issue of climate change. Romney slammed Gingrich for filming the advertisement, explaining, "When Republicans were fighting for cap-and-trade and needed a leader to stand up against cap and trade, he did an ad with Nancy Pelosi about global warming." As The Daily Caller points out, Gingrich recently described his decision to appear in the ad as "probably the dumbest single thing I've done in years."

Romney also blasted Gingrich for the former Speaker's criticism of GOP Congressman Paul Ryan's Medicare reform plan. In May, Gingrich called Ryan's plan "right wing social engineering" and said that it was "too big a jump." He also described the plan as "suicide," according to Forbes. Romney said of Gingrich's criticisms, "I think his comment on the Paul Ryan plan was an intemperate comment. I think him calling it suicide is a mistake."

On Monday, after Romney criticized Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac and called on the former Speaker to return the money he made from the mortgage giant, Gingrich hit back with a jab of his own. "I would just say that if Gov. Romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain, then I would be glad to listen to him and I'll bet you $10 dollars -- not $10,000 -- that he won't take the offer," said Gingrich. The comment was in reference to a moment during Saturday night's GOP debate in which Romney offered to bet Texas Governor Rick Perry $10,000 to settle a dispute over Romney's health care record.

As Romney and Gingrich trade barbs, HuffPost's Mark Blumenthal reports that local party insiders in key states are still undecided on their preferred nominee. More back-and-forth attacks between the two candidates are almost certainly on the horizon as the race develops.

Comments

[l78lancer]

03:37 PM on 12/15/2011

The flip flopper said to the inconsistent one, "you're unreliable."

The inconsistent one said to the flip flopper, "you're a hypocrite."

At least they speak the same language.

[OOOOOMY]

05:35 AM on 12/15/2011

Stop all this now Mitt....Address issues that are facing this nation and how You and Newt may differ.

For any and all who have the time...TAKE THE TIME and read from actual transcript from CNN Wolf Blitzer who is hardly in the tank for Gingrich Take the time to read and then You Decide...without all the BS
Cpoy and paste:

CNN.com - Transcripts.

[OOOOOMY]

05:26 AM on 12/15/2011

Early in his administration, Obama offered a clear choice, evoking biblical parable in contrasting the economy built on sand with that build on rock. The economy built on sand, begun under Reagan, with top end tax cuts, deregulation, the cult of the CEO, the myth that markets would police themselves that led to a frenzy of speculation, greed, corruption and the placing of bigger and bigger bets with more and more borrowed money until that economy collapsed on its own excess.

We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity — a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest; where we consume less at home and send more exports abroad.

[OOOOOMY]

05:25 AM on 12/15/2011

European centralized bureaucratic socialist welfare system in which politicians and bureaucrats define the future. Down the other road is a proud, solid, reaffirmation of American exceptionalism.
They [Democrats] have shared openly and honestly with us their vision of higher taxes, bigger government, more bureaucracy, greater corruption, more political power by people unworthy of doing it, and a policy which will kill jobs, cripple the economy, trap children in schools that are disasters and weaken America’s future. They have every right to have that vision and we have every right to go to the polls and defeat it. We should have as a goal 435 campaigns in this country of people dedicated to representative government, to lower taxes, to less power in Washington and to taking back from the bureaucracy the power it can’t possibly use over the American economy.

[OOOOOMY]

05:25 AM on 12/15/2011

If one really wants to read a good article from a CNN Wolf Blitzer sit down in depth interview. Please see: CNN.com - Transcripts.

From Newt himself...Fact or fictions:

During my administration we had four surplus budgets and began to pay down the national debt; we cut taxes on the middle class, working families of modest means and income from capital gains; we reduced welfare rolls … we reduced the size of the federal workforce to its lowest levels since 1960 when Dwight Eisenhower was president… and the economy produced more jobs and moved a hundred times more people out of poverty than in the Reagan years
Last year [2008], the Bush Obama plan had a $180 billion stimulus package in the spring which failed. It came back with a $345 billion housing package in the summer which failed. It then had a $700 billion Wall Street bailout in October which failed. It had a $4 trillion-dollar Federal Reserve guaranty which failed. The Bush-Obama plan was continued. We didn’t get real change. …We got big spending under Bush, now we have big spending under Obama, and so we have two new failures.
President Obama is the most successful food stamp president in American history. I would like to be the
most successful paycheck president in American history. … We’re at a crossroads. Down one road is a

[Pastori Balele]

02:29 AM on 12/15/2011

Fellow Americans - Did I not tell you a few months ago that GOP top leaders were in collusion to make President Obama first President re-elected unopposed? Ask Boehner and McConnell and other GOP leaders. GOP leaders give many reasons: 1-None of GOP candidates now running is good candidate because their pasts are terrible. You agree Trump, Mitt, Newt have too much baggage-Newt the worst. 2nd, the elderly who usually support GOP are mad with GOP budget. The elderly feel GOP is trying to kill them with Ryan-Care. Last, GOP legislators and governors have been abusing American workers - stripping them of their union rights. for those reasons GOP leaders think there is no chance any GOP WH aspirant to be elected. I think it's in best interest for GOP to let Obama run unopposed. GOP can avoid costs putting a person they know will lose. History is soon to be made - Obama re-elected unopposed in November 2012.

[Mike4484]

08:33 PM on 12/14/2011

I believe that Mitt Romney is right about what he said about Gingrich. Gingrich appears to be an "unreliable Republican" because his ad in 2008 leaned liberal. Moreover, Republican's do not emphasize the idea of climate change and here is Gingrich in 2008 making an advertisement on global warming.

[peegan]

07:02 PM on 12/14/2011

Wow, that's like dancing blindfolded on land you laid mines on. While Romney's right, he might want to get a third party to point it out.

[G2G]

06:55 PM on 12/14/2011

...did he say it with a straight face?

[Steelsil]

06:55 PM on 12/14/2011

Buh-bye Tea Swillers - The party is down to two 1%er kleptocrats now, and either would lose against Obama by a big margin, today's poll says.

[Rantibus]

06:42 PM on 12/14/2011

Gingrich is reliable - he's consistently wrong.
Gingrich has been touted as one who evinces "innovation" and "creative thinking." What he's really doing is attempting to re-brand reality. Economic security will "stifle innovation." The Social Security system doesn't "tap the energy of the market." Unionized janitors are preventing poor kids form "learning the culture of work." That's truly innovation - if you're a plutocrat.
Gingrich is someone who thinks "outside the box" for a very good reason. He needs that box empty so he can jam US into it.

[RepublicanDepression]

06:41 PM on 12/14/2011

Ha! Romney thinks the followers of the GOP (Greedy One Percent) want "reliability"

LOL!

[LovelyGirl]

06:39 PM on 12/14/2011

I got a phone call today from Gingrich campaign. Newt made a recording that said that President Obama had destroyed the hope of the country and had turned it into a socialist society. He said that he was the best person for the job because he helped to fix things in Washington and that he, the dirty dawg who led the impeachment charge against Clinton, worked closely with President Clinton to make things better so that's supposed to be proof that he knows how to work across party lines. I usually hang up, but I want to hear for myself his words. Nothing he said bothered me until he had the audacity to mention Bill Clinton's name and that's when I hung up the phone.

[Lvm]

06:33 PM on 12/14/2011

You know who is reliable? ... President Barack Obama.

[RickM1969]

05:55 PM on 12/14/2011

I agree with you Mitt, but, umm.... you might want to look at your own political history.