Romney, Gingrich blast Obama, Dems over payroll tax flap

Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich speak during a GOP presidential debate in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this month.

/ Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Updated 9:02 PM ET

Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney weighed in Wednesday on the congressional-White House payroll-tax standoff, with Romney saying he'd show more hands-on leadership than President Obama and Gingrich blasting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for refusing to work with House Republicans.

"I would have met with the leaders; I would have brought them to the White House," Romney told reporters in Keene, N.H. "And if they didn't want to come to the White House, I would have gone to their offices; I would have sat down. Leaders are involved in the process, as opposed to standing back and just criticizing the people who are in the process."

House GOP takes a political beating in payroll tax fight

But Romney, seeking to keep a safe distance from the fray in Washington, declined to comment on the hard-line approach of House Speaker John Boehner or Massachusetts GOP Sen. Scott Brown's assertion that the speaker and other House Republicans have been irresponsible in refusing to accept the bill that the Senate passed 89-10.

"I'm not going to get into the back-and-forth on the congressional sausage-making process," Romney said.

Gingrich, meanwhile, faulted Reid for letting Senate Democrats leave town this week and not engaging with House Republicans on the matter.

"Reid is deliberately game-playing ... again, we're talking about total dereliction of duty," he said in Des Moines, Iowa. "The Senate passes what it wants and it leaves town -- doesn't wait around, it doesn't act responsibly. I just think if you're a normal American, you're looking at this stuff, you just say, 'What a total failure of leadership.' "

Gingrich declined to second-guess his former lieutenant Boehner, saying, "I have no idea how I would try to handle it if I was in John Boehner's position because he's got a Senate majority leader who is totally destructive, and he's got a president who just thinks he's the campaigner-in-chief [and] who has no interest in trying to solve America's problems."

When National Journal/CBS News asked Texas Gov. Rick Perry his views on the payroll tax skirmish on Wednesday, Perry walked away without answering the question.

On another subject, Gingrich also rebuked Romney for an attack ad in Iowa financed by Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney "super PAC." The ad accuses Gingrich of supporting taxpayer funding of some abortions as well as other claims. The Washington Post's Fact Checker website gave the ad four "Pinocchios," its lowest rating.

"Four Pinocchios, even by the standards of normal politics, is a fairly dishonest ad," Gingrich said. "It would be nice if Governor Romney was honest about his former staff and his supporters running negative ads. And he could ... ask them to take them off the air. This is his campaign."

Romney: If Newt can't take the heat, how can he beat Obama?

Later in the day, Gingrich also responded to Romney's comment earlier in the day that the former speaker needs to learn how to deal with the pressures of a campaign. "This is politics and if you can't stand the heat in this little kitchen, wait until the Obama hell's kitchen turns up the heat," Romney said on Fox and Friends, responding to Gingrich's criticisms of the Romney campaign's negative ads.

Gingrich challenged Romney to a face-to-face debate. "If he wants to test the heat, I'll meet him anywhere in Iowa next week, one on one, 90 minutes, no moderator, just the time keeper," Gingrich said. "He wants to try out the kitchen, I'll be glad to debate him anywhere. We'll bring his ads and he can defend them.

Rebecca Kaplan and Lindsey Boerma contributed

Full CBS News coverage: Newt Gingrich
Full CBS News coverage: Mitt Romney

[sandy 1027]

Wise leaders choose their battles and words carefully, and neither Gingrich nor Romney did so here.Most of the blame has to be placed on John Boehner and members of the GOP in the House.Boehner agreed to proceed on the bill the way he and the other Congressional leaders( including Harry Reid) negotiated in the conference on Saturday.When the House GOP members rejected the 2-month extension,he( Boehner) had to back-pedal from his own position.That isn't Harry Reid's , nor anyone else's fault.The House could have taken a vote on the bill, but chose not to even do that( possibly for political reasons for fear that it would pass?) Republicans in the House put themselves in this position, and the Republicans in the Senate who have spoken out against the obstructionists in their party were right in doing so.

[jstengren]

You're right, Mr. Gingrich. I do see a total failure of leadership. And it sits squarely on the shoulders of the GOP. There was a compromise that was reached, and both parties accepted it. It wasn't perfect, but it kept the cuts from expiring and encouraged further debate while preserving the incomes of the middle-class. All of a sudden it's not good enough for the Republicans, likely because the 2mo version doesn't contain all the riders that they wanted, and they're holding middle-class incomes hostage under the guise of this whole "1 year" argument. The Senate did its job. You can't change the game as they walk out the door and then blame them for it. Unless you're the GOP, that is. Don't pretend to be "for" the middle-class... give me a break.

[antoniof123]

not quite mikethep the bill was originally a 1 year bill but the Senate would never approve all the riders the GOP house put on it so it was dead then the 1 year bill was striped of the riders and it would never pass the house. So they had to come up with a stop gap bill and spoke with John the GOP bonehead and he agreed to bring it to the floor and support it.

But some where in the mix the house Republicans decided it would help Obama and the Demcorats so they killed.

Now they didn't except that most Ameircan would be so angry and if they backpeddle again well let's put it this way this going to continue all the way to the State of the Union and maybe into summer because now the Democrats are not going to give in to just anything.

Have a nice holiday!

[sean_in_newport_beach]

Republicans only want tax cuts for the 1% any other tax cut isn't fair to the fatcats & paint ANY relief for the middle class or poor as excessive govenerment! These rich ba$tards are only looking out for the rich & the retarded tea baggerz whom are supporting them are sheeple that are ignorantly proping up the greedy 1% who are throwing them economically under a bus.