Gingrich: I Was Bad in Debate Because Mitt Kept Lying

First, Newt Gingrich aides blamed their boss's poor performance in Thursday's debate on a biased crowd, packed with Romney supporters. Now Gingrich himself is blaming Romney's "totally dishonest" answers, which left him too "shocked" to respond properly, reports the Washington Post. “I wanted to fact-check. I wanted to make sure he was as totally dishonest as I thought he was," said Gingrich, calling it “the most blatantly dishonest performance by a presidential candidate I’ve ever seen.”

Among the lies, according to Gingrich, were Romney's claim that he voted for Paul Tsongas in 1992 only because there was no Republican contest and that Romney didn't know about the ad that accused Gingrich of calling Spanish a "ghetto language." Accusations of Romney dishonesty led a "brutal" new ad the Gingrich campaign is rolling out, reports ABC News. The Romney campaign, however, does not seem too worried. “It is laughable to see lectures on honesty coming from a paid influence peddler who suffered an unprecedented ethics reprimand, was forced to pay a $300,000 penalty, and resigned in disgrace at the hands of his own party,” said a spokeswoman. (More Newt Gingrich stories.)