“‘It really has been sad and painfully revealing about the speaker to see him railing on like this,’ Romney said on Fox…

“‘What you’re seeing on TV as you see him flail around and attack me is what you saw in the ’90s, which led him to ultimately being reprimanded and, if you will, pushed out of the Speakership by fellow Republicans,’ Romney told Fox…

“‘I don’t know what you can say about the Speaker except he see’s that he’s not been able to connect with the people of Florida. He’s working very hard to find a message that will distinguish himself from the rest of the field, and frankly, his experience as Speaker of the House ending so badly with an ethics scandal, with him having to resign in disgrace … this is a record, I think, that is hard to square with the new leadership that America needs right now,’ Romney said.”

“In the meeting, Gingrich said, referring the Times piece, Romney and his aides settled on a plan to ‘destroy’ the former House Speaker in Florida.

“‘And I thought to myself, what a pathetic situation to be running for the President of the United States with nothing positive to say for yourself,’ Gingrich said.

“‘And nothing available, a big idea, big vision, a big future, and all you got to do is try to tear your opponent down to where they get smaller than you are. That’s the Romney model. Now that’s not my model. My model is to talk about big solutions.'”

“‘[Soros would] be happy with either Obama or Romney ‘cuz they are both the establishment and that’s just George Soros. The conservative movement is not going to sit back and say ‘oh yes let’s let Wall Street and Mitt Romney buy the election. So you’re going to see a real grass roots fight. It will be people power vs. Goldman Sachs and Mitt Romney.’

“Asked if Romney is waging a war on religion, Gingrich kept up the refrain he’d started earlier in the day, saying, ‘I think Gov. Romney is extraordinarily insensitive to religious freedom in America and the Obama administration is clearly engaged in a war on religion and that’s what Cardinal Dolan said.’…

“As for the path forward, he insisted he will be fine on money: ‘You think Republicans are going to sit by and let George Soros and Goldman Sachs pick the Republican nominee?'”

“Retaliating against the Mitt Romney campaign for sending surrogates to campaign events for Newt Gingrich, a super PAC supporting the former House speaker invaded a Romney event on Monday and claimed that Romney ‘thinks he can buy and sell voters.’ Meanwhile, Gingrich campaigned in this key primary state with presidential offspring Michael Reagan by his side, part of his strategy to out-Reagan Romney, while a relaxed Romney said momentum is in his direction…

“At Romney’s first event of the day, Rick Tyler, who runs the Winning Our Future PAC backing Gingrich’s candidacy, told reporters, ‘He has a long history of buying and selling things. But I’m shocked that he thinks he can buy and sell voters … I don’t know how you debate a congenital liar.'”

“At airport rallies in Pensacola and Fort Myers, Mr. Gingrich added a new pledge in his stump speeches, saying he would sign an executive order overturning all “anti-religious” federal policies on his first day in office.

“Mr. Gingrich, a Catholic convert, also sought to drag his main rival Mitt Romney into the controversy, saying that as governor, Mr. Romney had imposed a similar requirement on Catholic hospitals. Mr. Gingrich appeared to be referring to abortion provisions in the state health-care overhaul law passed in Massachusetts. The Catholic Church opposes abortion and the use of contraception…

“‘He has no understanding of the importance of conscience or the importance of religious liberty in this country,’ said Mr. Gingrich of Mr. Romney, who is a Mormon. ‘I will make religious liberty your right, to go with God with no government interference.'”

“Some of his comments even seemed pointed more to a general election campaign than a primary.

“‘I understand a few of you here are on Medicare,’ [Romney] said, prompting laughter from the mostly elderly audience. ‘I hope you tell your friends who somehow fear Republicans will go after Medicare: We will never go after Medicare and Social Security.'”

Via Mediaite.