Gingrich blasts "liberal" Mitt, GOP establishment

With his support in Florida polls falling just two days before that state's primary, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stepped up the attack on frontrunner Mitt Romney, calling a former Massachusetts Governor "a liberal, basically," and warning that, as he says happened in the past, a moderate Republican nominee would face defeat.

He also says that while he knows a lot about Washington, he has "no establishment ties," and for that he is feared by those who do not want the "system" shaken up.

On "CBS This Morning" Gingrich was asked by Charlie Rose why so many conservatives - including people who served with him in Congress or are part of the conservative media - are attacking him.

"In a lot of cases it's because they're part of the establishment," Gingrich said. "Look at who their ties are to, look at where their money comes from. The New York and Washington establishments together want somebody they can trust: Somebody, for example, like Romney, who praised Secretary Treasurer Geithner, somebody who's comfortable with his biggest donor getting $13 or $15 or $20 billion in taxpayer money.

"They'll say and do virtually anything to keep the system alive, and I think they recognize that I'm a genuine outsider.

"I know a lot about Washington having served as Speaker. I have none of the establishment ties, and I will shake the system up. They don't want to be shaken up. They're very comfortable presiding over the decay as long as they get to keep playing their games."

Commenting on remarks by former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin who said that Gingrich was being targeted by the party establishment through the use of "Stalinesque" tactics, Gingrich said, "I think she's correct to say that all of the elements of the old Establishment are in a moment of hysteria."

Sarah Palin defends Newt against "cannibal" GOP

He then warned that supporting Romney would lead to defeat: "We nominated a moderate for president in 1996 and he lost, badly. We nominated a moderate for president in 2008 and he lost, badly. If we nominate a Massachusetts liberal, I don't see how he defends 'Romneycare' as being different from 'Obamacare.' I don't see how he defends his gun control as being different, his pro-abortion position as being different, or for that matter his tax increases being different."

The former Speaker was optimistic about his chances in Florida, saying he believes the race is "closing."

"When Floridians learn that George Soros thinks that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are both okay but that Newt Gingrich is really a threat because he'll be a genuine conservative, I think for the next 24 hours you're see things change," he said.

"I don't believe, Mr. Speaker, that you think that George Soros' opinion is what's going to be at the issue in a Republican primary in Florida," said Rose.

"I think when you have a left wing billionaire tell Europeans that he thinks Romney's just fine because he's just as much a part of the establishment as Obama and that he can live with Romney, and then you look at Goldman Sachs which was the number one funder of Obama, now they're the number one funder of Romney - I think it's pretty easy to make the case [that] Romney is the guy who will manage the decay, he's not the guy who is going to change Washington."

To watch the complete interview with Gingrich click on the video player above.