Gingrich to Romney: Drop the "pious baloney"

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, during a Republican presidential candidate debate at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, N.H., Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012.

/ AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Updated: 2:30 p.m. ET

Right out of the gate in Sunday morning's Republican presidential debate, Newt Gingrich blasted his so-called "frontrunner" rival, Mitt Romney, for dishing out what he described as "pious baloney" regarding his political history and motivations for running for office.

Just ten hours after a Saturday night debate during which Romney escaped relatively unscathed, his rivals wasted no time taking aim at the former Massachusetts governor during Sunday's MSNBC-hosted debate.

"I realize the red light doesn't mean anything to you because you are the frontrunner," a Gingrich quipped to Romney. "But could we drop a little bit of the pious baloney?"

Gingrich was disputing Romney's characterization of his political career as purely civic-minded, in which Romney contended that he declined to run for re-election as Massachusetts governor because "that would be about me" rather than the state and that for him, "politics is not a career."

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"For me, my career was being in business and starting a business and making it successful," Romney said. "My life's passion has been my family, my faith and my country. I believe, by virtue of the experiences I've had, that I'm in a good position to make a contribution to Washington."

"I went to Massachusetts to make a difference. I didn't go there to begin a political career, running time and time again," he said. "Run again? That would be about me."

Gingrich lost no time in jumping on this assessment.

"Can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney? The fact is, you ran in '94 and lost. That's why you weren't serving in the Senate with Rick Santorum. The fact is, you had a very bad re-election rating, you dropped out of office, you had been out of state for something like 200 days preparing to run for president. You didn't have this interlude of citizenship while you thought about what you do. You were running for president while you were governor," he said. "

"So this idea that suddenly citizenship showed up in your mind -- just level with the American people: You've been running for -- at least since the 1990's," he continued.

(After the debate, Gingrich used the "pious baloney" line to encourage his supporters to donate to his campaign: "Help me stop Romney's pious baloney today," he said on Twitter, before posting a link to his campaign's donation page.)

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum also questioned Romney's record as Massachusetts governor, wondering, "If his record was so great as governor of Massachusetts, why didn't he run for re-election?"

"If you didn't want to even stand before the people of Massachusetts and run on your record, if it was that great, why didn't -- why did you bail out?" he asked. "The bottom line is, I go and fight the fight."

Romney, in response to the attacks, argued that "citizenship has always been on my mind" and that he's not running for president to "pay a mortgage" but out of civic duty.

"Mr. Speaker, citizenship has always been on my mind," Romney told Gingrich. "I happened to see my dad run for governor when he was 54-years-old. He had good advice to me. He said, Mitt, never get involved in politics if you have to win an election to pay a mortgage. If you find yourself in a position where you can serve, well you ought to have a responsibility to do so, if you think you can make a difference."

"I am in this race because I care about the country," Romney argued.

The candidate, who leads New Hampshire polls by a hefty (if declining) margin and is largely considered the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, continued to face questions Sunday about his conservative credentials -- particularly from Newt Gingrich, who argued that the so-called "relatively timid Massachusetts moderate" would have a tough time running against President Obama because he does not present enough of a contrast from the president.

"The fact is, President Obama is going to have a very hard re-election effort. But I do think the bigger the contrast, the bolder ideas, the clearer the choice, the harder it is for that billion-dollar campaign to smear his way back into office," Gingrich said. "I think he will have a very hard time getting re- elected -- getting elected."

Santorum, in painting a contrast between himself and Romney, presented himself as a candidate who would fight for "the conservative principles." Referring to Romney's 1994 unsuccessful Senate bid against the late Senator Ted Kennedy, a longtime liberal lawmaker, Santorum accused Romney of being someone who would "bail out" and "run to the left of Ted Kennedy" if necessary.  

"I stood up and fought for the conservative principles. I didn't do what Governor Romney did in 1994. I was running the same year he ran, in 1994. I ran in a tough state of Pennsylvania against an incumbent. Governor Romney lost by almost 20 points. Why? Because at the end of that campaign, he wouldn't stand for conservative principles... He said he was going to be to the left of Ted Kennedy on gay rights, on abortion, a whole host of other issues," Santorum said. "We want someone who's going to stand up and fight for the conservative principles, not bail out and not run, and not run to the left of Ted Kennedy." 

Romney said he ran against Kennedy because, he thought at the time, "someone's got to run against him." He said that even then he realized he "didn't have a ghost of a chance at beating him."

"I went in and gave it a real battle and went after it," Romney said. "I'm very proud of the fact that I have stood up as a citizen to battle when I felt it was best for the nation."

After a brief respite from the early attacks, Romney was questioned again by Gingrich over a series of negative attack ads, put out by a pro-Romney super PAC, which Gingrich at least partially disputes. 

"Governor, I wish you would calmly and directly state it is your former staff running the PAC," Gingrich demanded. "It is your millionaire friends giving to the PAC. And you know some of the ads are -- aren't true. Just say that. It's straightforward."

Romney acknowledged that those responsible for the ads were his supporters, but continued to maintain -- as he has for weeks -- that he is legally prohibited from directing the tone or content of those ads which the PAC puts out. (Super PACs can legally spend unlimited funds to support a candidate as long as they do not directly coordinate with the candidate's campaign.)

"Well, of course it's former staff of mine. And, of course they're people who support me. They wouldn't be putting money into a PAC that supports me if they weren't people who support me," Romney said.

"With regards to their ads, I haven't seen them. And, as you know, under the law, I can't direct their ads," he continued. "If there's anything in them that's wrong, I hope they take it out."

Romney then ran through a laundry list of the accusations leveled against Gingrich in the ads before addressing one of the claims -- that Gingrich supported federal funding for some abortions -- many have deemed dubious.

"If there was something related to abortion that it said that was wrong, I hope they pulled it out. Anything wrong, I'm opposed to," he said. "But, you know, this ain't -- this ain't beanbag. We're going to come into a campaign, and we're going to describe the differences between us...But I do think the rhetoric, Mr. Speaker, I think was a little over-the-top."

At the last remark, Gingrich appeared visibly incredulous.

"You think my rhetoric was over-the-top, but your ads were totally reasonable?" he laughed. "That's what I don't understand."

[poff1975]

Do not trust Romney for his mormon religion plays a big role on his life. Make no mistake. Having a Mormon President is the ultimate lobbyist for LDS Inc.

[noloyalisti]

That's one good thing about Gingrinch. He will expose Mittens for the lying, two faced, flip-flopping, fake Christian that he is. Romney would lie to his mother if that's what it took to get a vote. He would steal candy from a baby, he is so corrupt and immoral.

[Tired_of_liars]

by Repub_means_CR-E-T-_-N January 8, 2012 9:53 PM EST
LOL!... so much material for President Obama to beat whichever clown Republican that makes it to the finals. The Obama campaign doesn't even have to come up with anything new for their commercials, they just need to keep showing re-runs of all these debates.

November's going to be a landslide, in favor of President Obama.... hehehehehe!

Loving it!
-------------------------------------------

I do not know what drugs you are on, but there won't be a landslide this time for Obama. In fact, let him run these debates as his commercials, it will guarantee his failure. In fact, I think you need to be on his team, that way when you loose, people can blame you.

[jimkonos1]

Mitt Romney created more problems in the American Economy than he has ever fixed! These GIANT corporations like Staples helped to completely destroy the market in our economy and waged a war on middle income earners in America. These companies ***** out all their labor and manufacturing to 3rd world countries and offer cut throat competitive prices that smaller companies cannot compete with. These corporations then turn around and hire unemployed Americans for less money than they used to make while they have more debt and bills from a previous lifestyle that they can no longer support. The Americans who work for these giant corporations like Staples are supposed to supplement their income by earning commission and cannot make any real significant amount of money when the % of profit margins are so low.

Mitt Romney would seal the coffin for the Middle Class!

Vote Ron Paul 2012

[bajajohn1]

Pious Baloney is not edible.

[pr_boxer]

Newt wins the prize for "Most Repulsive", Paul and Santorum top the bill for "Craziest" while Perry is all alone for the "Stupid" prize.

[pr_boxer]

Newt wins the prize for "Most Repulsive", Paul and Santorum top the bill for "Craziest" while Perry is all alone for the "Stupid" prize.

[slownewsday2012]

I could never support Gingrich, as he's Catholic. I just couldn't support someone who is a member of a Church which hides criminals (therefore endangering kids) just to avoid embarrassment.

[retm-w]

newt and the catholic church, both hypocrits.

[Tired_of_liars]

Not all Catholics are like that slow.

[Tired_of_liars]

Founders1792,

The argument remains that what one person decides to do, is not our business. Do I have a right to know what you do in your home?

[retm-w]

Founders

How does a gay marrige become your problem?

[pr_boxer]

"Its the economy stupid", who gives a s--t about their sexual or religious beliefs. Of course we know all Republicans answer to that, "less regulation of business and lower capital gains taxes", which of course is EXACTLY what got us in economic trouble to begin with.