(CNN) - Mitt Romney escalated his criticism of Newt Gingrich's temperament Wednesday, calling the former House speaker "zany" in an interview with The New York Times.
"Zany is not what we need in a president," Romney said, two days after he blasted Gingrich for his "erratic outspokenness."
In his sit-down with the newspaper, Romney said Gingrich's behavior served him well on the campaign trail, but would be disastrous in the White House.
"Zany is great in a campaign. It's great on talk radio. It's great in print, it makes for fun reading," Romney said. "But in terms of a president, we need a leader, and a leader needs to be someone who can bring Americans together."
Romney said his own nature would be better suited for a commander-in-chief.
"A leader needs to be someone of sobriety and stability and patience and temperance, to think through issues, to be careful in the choice of words he or she might express, because the world listens. The president of the United States is the leader of the free world, and our current president has been an enormous failure," Romney said.
Romney's "zany" appraisal is the latest ding on Gingrich's personality, which began in earnest Monday when the former Massachusetts governor called his slammed his rival's "erratic outspokenness" on Fox News. He was referring to Gingrich's remark that Palestinians were an "invented" people.
As the week progressed, Romney called Gingrich an "extraordinarily unreliable" conservative, pointing out inconsistencies in his record on Medicare and climate change.
Romney also hammered Gingrich for his role with mortgage giant Freddie Mac, demanding his competitor return the money he earned consulting for the company.
Gingrich returned fire, insisting Romney return money he made as an executive at Bain Capital, saying the company's work was responsible for "bankrupting companies and laying off employees.
Earlier Wednesday, Romney said Gingrich's claim revealed a certain degree of economic ignorance, saying on Fox News the former speaker "doesn't understand the economy if he doesn't understand that sometimes businesses succeed and sometimes fail."
Romney's campaign also circulated a video Wednesday of Gingrich saying in 2008 that anyone who profited from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's failure should return the profits.
"Everybody who was profiting from them should pay the cost of having failed. And the general taxpayer should not bear that burden," Gingrich is shown saying.
Romney said on Fox that Gingrich should abide by his own words.
"He said anyone who profited from Freddie Mac should give the money back. Well, he profited $1.6 million from an agency that helped bring down the entire economy; he ought to give it back," Romney said.
A second video Wednesday, produced by Romney's campaign, slams Gingrich for collaborating with fellow former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on climate change solutions.
The video, which also tied Gingrich to former Democratic vice president Al Gore, underscores the campaign's message that Gingrich is an "unreliable leader."
From CNN Politics
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Mitt is desperate!
Now can we call Mittens weird?
The photo says it all: you can see the desperation in Mitt the Flipwit Hypocrite's eyes as his dream of being Karl Rove's next ne(cr)ocon deathcult puppet crumbles into dust. "Zany" may be the first time that word has ever been used in a political critique.
Mittens' foreign policy will become, "I know you are, but what am I?" replacing the outdated Bush doctrine.
How screwed up does an agency have to be to be told to accept sub-prime mortgages and be so lost in your leadership that you have to pay $1.6 million to a group of some of the smartest guys in America to give you advice on doing your job? They still collapse and now you are asking the people who tried to help to give up their pay? It makes good press but you are going at the wrong crowd. As president tell us how would you fix it? Washington needs house cleaning and more prison time for white collar crimes.
How does this dude end up begging for people to like him, elections after election? It's so unattractive that it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. It becomes obvious that his desire to be accepted comes from a deep, deep place. A place that he attempts to escape from every election, but as soon as he finally gets to a place where he has a chance to move past it, he always finds "himself" there.
This whole GOP line up has to be the "zaniest" bunch of people I've ever seen running for the highest office in the land.
If you go over to Fox....they all agree but in their twisted minds, anyone is better than President Obama.
Very Sad...........
Very dangerous....
Who uses words like "Zany"?
I guess the same clowns who keep repeating the lies Freddie & Fannie are responsible for the economic melt down? Instead of the reality that deregulation and un-checked greed was the cause. fox sux.
Myth says it, newt is zany but only for the election. Newt is known as a serious even tough leader who gets congress to work. Newt was paid for service rendered, not profit. Romney, under pressure, has flip flop again; by going negative after saying he will not.
"Mittens' foreign policy will become, "I know you are, but what am I?" replacing the outdated Bush doctrine."
That's before it evolves into "I know I am but what are you?" and then finally reaches its end stage of "I don't know what I am or what you are, but I know I'm gonna bomb you."
"erratic outspokenness."
Sounds just like what a corporation would say ! Weird Willard (thanks Snifit) is so un human like he comes up with some zany out of touch sayings that don't fit in with the current century
Can't have "zany "when "snoozy" would do!
I smell desperation! When he should have been attacking his opponents early on, he was attacking President Obama like he was the presumed nominee. LOL
Romney – he is exactly the leader we so desperately need right now. I believe, if we are so lucky to have him elected President, he will be able to bring our country together so that we might begin healing from the bitter partisanship from which we have been suffering for far too long now. Romney will make an excellent President – if we gave him the chance.
ROMNEY 2012!
He's a loser
Romney's facial expression reveals a man who appears to be close to the edge. If he can't handle a primary how can he expect to be President. I don't think Romney has ever had a challenge from anyone. I really don't think he is tough enough or has the temperament when he does not get his way.
Mittens, you are showing signs of desperation.
Panic is setting in; he's running for office for Pete's sake. Mitt is starting to realize he's boxed in except for Newt's wife problem (unless Newt counters with the polygamy insinuation). Flip-flop? Can't go there. Not "conservative" enough? Pot meet kettle. Too rich and out of touch? Nope, Newt already tipped his hand with Bain. Immigration? Not polling well there either. Conversely, Newt can go with the not-Romney play over and over. Mitt is in deep doo-doo.
Hard to believe that the turd blossom Rove and the lovable little Koch scamps put all that money into Mittens' campaign.
Is magical underwear zany?
If Mittens is willing to make $10,000 bets and lie against his opponents, I don't think he is the person who would bring all the right wingnuts together, let alone the country.
"Instead of the reality that deregulation and un-checked greed was the cause. fox sux."
I'm done blamin Faux. The blame rests squarely with the rest of the MSM that refuses to combat the coordinated misinformation campaign from the right. They don't seem to realize that they're never ever ever going to grab up market share from Faux viewers because those viewers go there to get their daily affirmations that the world and reality work exactly the way they want them to and that all the bad things they don't like are a result of everyone not doing everything precisely the way their conservative ideology mandates. So we get wishy-washy, hamfisted, anti-intellectual, fact-avoiding, disingenuous "journalism" from the rest of the MSM pandering to GOPers in hopes they can land a share of the conservative market. Waste of freekin time. Hey, CNN, betya $10K that if you start hammering the GOP for their lies and ideological, fact-ignorant, historical record rewriting economic and policy nonsense, it does you more good than giving them a free pass on EVERYTHING that comes out of their silly partisan pie holes.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, let me get my breath. The more that it appears that Obama will sweep to an easy victory, the more desparate the GOP gets by the day. Can we re-play all of this, after the convention, when all of these idiots are praising whomever "wins" the nomination? Will any of them look into the camera and say how great the GOP nom. is, when we know they are lying? None of this bunch is Presidential material. GOP politics is drawing car salesmen/saleswomen, not intellectual leaders.
Car salespeople tell each customer what they want to hear, to convince you to spend a bunch of money...sound familiar?
Not being a Romney fan i'm surprised that I agree with him that Newt is too zany to be President. He's too fat and ugly as well.
Mitt should run a comb over those brows. Lately he always looks like he's just been in a tussle.
Val in MA, he's demonstrating why he is not suited for the WH with these petulant tantrums. These fits of his also prove he is thin-skinned, and lacking in the very things he claims we need:
""A leader needs to be someone of sobriety and stability and patience and temperance, to think through issues, to be careful in the choice of words he or she might express, because the world listens." He goes on to brand the President a failure, when its Obama who has demonstrated these qualities repeatedly over the last 3 years. Romney could not handle the MA legislatire, who overrode his vetos dozens of times: what makes you think he can handle a Congress that will not listen to him?
I predicited in the Spring, that since the group of candidates the GOP has throwwn together is so pathetic, Sarah will show up at the GOP convention and set the place on fire with her rhetoric against Obama, that Sarah Palin will win the nomination without even having to campaign...then the Kochs and the other Teabag Billionaires will make sure she has the funds for the general election. Remember this post when it happens.
Ooh, ...."Zany"! Such raunchy language, Mitt!
Still haven't heard what the candidates can do to get the economy going. Only thing I hear is Obama is a failure. No one really wants to help the citizens of the US. These people are rich and somewhat accomplished and the presidency is just another notch on their list of achievements –(especially Newt).
Newt was hired as a "historian" not as a lobbyist. I am willing to bet $10,00 there are thousands of historians who would love to be overpaid that much.
“A leader needs to be someone of sobriety”
Well then I guess Perry’s totally out of the question, if he got elected Jack Daniels would open a distillery in D.C.
@AlaskaPalin - The flip flopping is Newt. Were did Romney say that ? Please, show me, please... Then I will agree with you. I have searched without results.
"doesn't understand the economy if he doesn't understand that sometimes businesses succeed and sometimes fail."
I love that, Romney’s like “I’m not a corporate raider, sometimes things just happen, people get fired, things get sold and I end up with a &*#@load of money, it just naturally works out that way because of complex economic factors you wouldn’t understand.”
The bitter partisanship will end if they get their wish. it's only bitter partisanship because they want President Obama out so bad, he's not causing this divisiveness. His election just brough it out because we have people who don't want him in.
Mit blames the housing crises on Newt, and Newt's the zany one?
Did anyone on this board checked the http://www.whichmitt.com. if you haven't please do now and see what this man
believes. The republicans will make a big mistake to nominate this man. He has plenty to answer for.
Val in MA said...
Romney – he is exactly the leader we so desperately need right now. I believe, if we are so lucky to have him elected President, he will be able to bring our country together so that we might begin healing from the bitter partisanship from which we have been suffering for far too long now. Romney will make an excellent President – if we gave him the chance.
-----------------------------------------------–
Nobody's hiring as it is. You want Mitt to take over? That means even more jobs moved off-shore for business reasons, more companies going under because some fail, higher unemployment numbers, and more people living in poverty. The last thing we need is a business man in the WH. Bush was a 'business man' and look at the mess he created.
All of these republicans are orbiting some planet in some galaxy but certainly not anywhere close to earth.
The government is very polarized because of the republican party's only reason for being, "To make Obama a one-term president, and if the country goes down the tubes so be it." Obama/Biden 2012
Repulicans fight eachother. Its like a creep show. I will admit Gingrich is a BAD pick for Pres. candidate.
Is "zany" another word for "dishonest"?
Mit thinks Newt caused the housing crises and Newt's the zany one?
Definition of ZANY. 1. : a subordinate clown or acrobat in old comedies who mimics ludicrously.
Wow ,
Mitt has his gloves off now !
Sounds like the two of them are hoping for the repeal of the dueling laws !
Please John Boehner , 20 paces !
Hey – never thought I'd say it, but Mitt's right – Newt is too zany for the white house or any other elected office – he should just take his millions from not peddling influence and access and slink away like the newt that he is.
You tell,'em Sniffit!! Great post.
A lot of Republicans are saying how Newt will totally shred Obama in a debate...
Let's say, that Newt gets the nomination...and says, "President Obama, I challenge you to 3 Lincoln/Douglas Style debates"...
Obama says, I decline. I am not going to be participating in any debates...Obama has just blew out of the water, the biggest reason you wanted Newt to win the Republican nomination...
Newt can challenge Obama to debate him...But that doesn't mean that Obama has to accept the challenge...
Obama can just step back and let the Liberal Media assassinate Newt's character...Which is easy to do...
So, you guys need to vote for a True Conservative...Michele Bachman...
Newt-Romney are both too much like Obama in:
1) Healthcare mandates like in Obamacare...
2) $700 Billion Tarp Bailout..Like Obama...
3) Immigration...Like Obama...
4) Global warming and Cap & Trade...Like Obama...
5) The Current Payroll Tax-Cut Issue...Like Obama...
Newt-Romney = Big Government RINO's......VOTE BACHMANN...THE CONSISTENT CONSERVATIVE!!!
Rommney, too "Democrat" to be the Prez !
@The Greedy Old Pigs have declared class war on US! – I wrote a post and got deleted. Do not know why. But anyways hope this one doesn't. You have to do research before talking. This picture was taken back on October 13th when giving the Microsoft Speech. So people like you write without knowing. They are all over the CNN Posts. Like @Wire Palladin, S. F. and many others.
Picture can be found on Getty Images web site, search Mitt Romney.
Hey @Milton K. Wiah – He has answered most of them and the info is very prejudice. The truth is not there were you seek. You people only think with one side of the brain. That's about <5% . Terrible I tell you...
Snifit – well said!
It's disgusting that ALL the supposedly "liberal media" let's these GOPers avoid answering direct questions by repeating political propaganda – everytime! They are lame when they let the GOPers run all over them.
Is it that the people asking questions are afraid these GOPers might not come back to their TV shows if the hold them to the question? Who cares if all they do is repeat campaign slogans – who wants to hear that anyway?!
Romney is right on on this. Old Gingrich is just plain crazy. That should be quite obvious to anybody with half a brain.
Drafter31, Bachmann is consistently crazy.
The more Romney talks, the better Gingrich looks...
To evaluate Newt Gingrich one only has to look at his tax proposal which clearly identifies him. Like all of the Republican / Tea Party tax proposals his is really designed to solicit the support of “the few” and to again literally take the majority for granted. His is even more weighted to favor the very wealthy, while totally neglecting to ever responsibly consider needed revenue and just gives the vast majority only token consideration. Like the others, he is completely focused on getting the strong support of the influential, powerful and extremely wealthy few and then, with that aggressive overt and covert help, simply assumes they can continue to con the people and manipulate public opinion. They again insultingly take the majority for granted and simply expect to use them as “pawns” in their game of politics, (being emboldened by past successes like in swaying the Evangelistic Christian, with the Swift-boat propaganda and the Tea Party movement, all being well designed, well directed and well funded manipulations in the same single direction) always with their actions continuing to move this country more towards being a two-class society with “the few” (1%) competing in having it all and the majority (99%) struggling to survive. Newt Gingrich clearly establishes himself as just another willing “puppet” for “the money”.
Just newterman? The whole bunch of clowns are idiots by themselves and the biggest joke in the world when on a stage together.
How many millions of Americans and the teapublikans only have this bunch to choose from? Sad, so sad.
Time Magazine had a great chart on Mitt's infamous flip flops. I am a Democrat and not a fan of either Mitt or Newt, but at least Newt has always been a conservative.
"...our current president has been an enormous failure."
Right, Mitt. Tell that to bin Ladin, al-Awlaki, Gadhaffi, and all the world leaders who embrace the President when he visits their countries. Hey Mitt, I thi8nk you're confusing the PREVIOUS President with the current one. Bush II was a monumental failure in so many ways.
I think this guy is getting nervous that the likes of Newt Gingrich will beat him,
Gingrich is so pathetic
Wake up America, if you vote Newt over Mitt you're not reading the fine print. Mitt is the only one who can beat Obama, and even then, its gonna be a tough race!
If Newt Gingrich were to be elected, pants manufacturers would save a lot of money because they could leave off the pockets. With Newt in office, we wouldn't have anything to put in them. The same holds true for Obamanomics.
I strongly disagree with Gingrich's ideas for this country. He's more about making himself wealthy than concern for the average Joe.
"Zany"? So now Romney is resorting to non-words to attack Gingrich. Come on, Willard! You know that Gingrich isn't zany. He's nasty, arrogant, dishonest, and just plain mean, but he's not zany.
"Romney's "zany" appraisal is the latest ding on Gingrich's personality, which began in earnest Monday"
Zany, huh? Romney's really upped the ante this time. Can't wait for Newt's response. Well, actually, I can wait ... just thought I'd make sound as if I really care. You know, for the reporter Kevin Liptak. He did spend a bit of time writing the article.
I gotta say – President Obama is nothing like Newt-Romney, or any of the traveling clown show that is the GOP "contenders". He's not perfect but he does use the brain he has while trying to get things done that benefit the majority of Americans – which is the exact opposite of what GOPs do.
Denying facts & history to promote for-profit-fiction is not being faithful – it's just being stupid.
Zany is offering a 10,000 bet during a debate in pursuit of the republican nomination for president. That being said, the republicans support a serial adulterer and his latest squeeze for POTUS. Talk about decline. The republican party is ONE BIG JOKE.
Newt Gingrich would destroy this country within two years if he were elected president.
Mitt might manage to keep it going for 3, perhaps even 3 1/2 years if he were elected.
The more I see of the Republicans, the happier I am about Obama being re-elected. He's not perfect, but compared to what the other team's put, it's no contest. The Republican party has been hijacked by extremist lunatics, and it's never coming back.
"This picture was taken back on October 13th when giving the Microsoft Speech."
Sorry, if CNN is posting misleading or outdated pix, you need to take it up with them. I notice, though, that you have yet to rebut the facts I've posted about Romney. Instead of researching photo dates, perhaps you should focus on facts.
Romney has to refer to Freddie Mac as an agency....btw, the C in Mac refers to "corporation" (aka to Romney as a person). As a corporation it tried to get Warren B. to buy it when it got into trouble during the Bush administration. The reason Romney, aka as the second in the polls hypocrite, wants to call it an agency is to demean the government and protect corporate interests. If Freddie Mac paid the blow-hard 1.5 mil, that was its right as a citizen "person".
You know how to tell when Newt is lying? His mouth is moving.
No we don't need "zany". We don't need "stiff" Frankly, I think "kooky", "old" and "unelectable" is what we need. You know what I mean.....the candidate who shall not be named.....he's the man!
Mitt is being kind. "Zany" describes a person who doesn't march with the crowd. Newt wants to abolish child labor laws. Tell the truth, Mitt. Gingrich is crazy as a loon.
@ Sniffit -i love you saying conservatives listen to fox news to hear their point of view. i imagine you take a few hours a day off from 'sniffing' glue to listen to your beloved chris matthews, jon stewart and james carville to get a non-glue fix before hitting your bag again. your hypocrisy is obvious.
Tell it like it is, Mitt.
Gingrich is fading fast.
Replace "Gingrich" with "ALL of the 2012 GOP candidates" and replace "zany" with "moronic, out of touch, hypocrites" and you're right on target.
People, and politicians in particular, are so fickle! First, Romney is criticized for not capitalizing enough on tearing down Newt. When he does, he's seen as a total nutcase. Of course, the media posts the picture above to demonstrate a certain sternness to validate the author's point.
The Newster is beyond Zany but the real problem is the millions of people who seen not to notice.
It seems like they are in a race to bring America in the wrong direction the fastest. There is not a one that compares to the Prez we have now. Not just in agenda(though that would be enough) but in moral character and intellect.
Now, that pic is Zany! See the look in Myth Romney's eyes....this IDIOT is desperate!
What a sore loser he has been all his political life....always campaigning and losing!!!!!
Hi Mr.Jariv, one thing I want you to know that I am not an American but from the country(Liberia) which models
its political system after the USA. This makes me to be involved in the American politics for long time. There is nothing
in those videos prejudicial. Even with or without the those videos I have seen most of the videos about
Mitt. Any you as supporter will not deny that someone just put those videos there and put words in Mitt mouth.
He was against most of the issues before he is for them now today. And that is the fact.