Gingrich calls Romney request for Freddie, ethics records 'bizarre'

Newt Gingrich blasted rival Mitt Romney's call for him to release more records surrounding his consulting work for Freddie Mac and his ethics investigation in the House as "almost bizarre" the morning after his upset win in the South Carolina primary.

"Here's a governor whose staff erased all their computers related to Romneycare… who refused to release his taxes," Gringrich said on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday. "You can see my taxes, they're posted to Newt.org"

Gingrich went on to warn that the former Massachusetts governor was "starting a fight in an area where he isn't necessarily going to prosper in."

But Gingrich deflected questions about additional documents from his ethics investigation - alluded to by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who served on the panel that investigated him. Gingrich had previously criticized Pelosi, arguing the release of those documents would violate the rules of the House, and said Sunday he would not release those documents himself.

"No, I'm not going to play games with Speaker Pelosi, she's a hard-core Democrat," Gingrich said.

The former House speaker went on to argue that he would be a better general election nominee because he could more effectively criticize President Obama.

"I think you can draw a very strong case that the dynamics of a Gingrich-Obama fight are much better for Republicans than the dynamics of a Romney-Obama fight," Gingrich said.

"One of the reasons I think the people of South Carolina voted for me is they thought I could take on Barack Obama," he added.

But Gingrich stopped short of calling on conservative rival Rick Santorum to drop out of the race, which he had done in the pass.

"Rick's a very, very good guy and a solid conservative and he'll be a factor as long as he wants to be," Gingrich said.

Gingrich also hit liberal critics who had argued that his frequent references to Obama as a "food stamp" president on the campaign trail was racially coded.

"I think it's unfortunate that liberal leaders, whatever their ethnic backgrounds, can't have an open and honest discussion on policies that have failed. The fact is, there are more whites than blacks on food stamps," Gingrich said. "Liberals shouldn't get away with hiding from the bad consequences of their policies by yelling racism."

Gingrich reserved some of his harshest remarks though for his chief rival, Romney.

“You end up with a guy who I think is a very good salesman, very much wants to sell, but he has a really weak product,” Gingrich said on CBS's Face the Nation about Romney. “So I think he’s been dancing on eggs trying to find a version of Romney that works.

“I have flaws, I have weaknesses, I have had a long career," Gingrich said on CBS. "The fact is what you see really is what you get.”

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