Gingrich uses Facebook Timeline to chronicle Romney’s alleged flip-flops

Newt Gingrich's team is using Facebook's new "Timeline" feature against Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, creating a version for Romney that chronicles the candidate's past gaffes and alleged flip-flops.

"The Romney Record Timeline features 'highlights' such as Mitt Romney’s 2009 op-ed in USA Today in which he recommends an individual mandate for health insurance on the national level, endorsing radical leftist Rocky Anderson, breaking his promise not to raise taxes as Governor, and rejecting the Contract with America," said Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond in a release Wednesday. "It also features recent out of touch 'hits' from Romney such as his comment that he 'does not care about the poor' and his classic $10,000 attempted bet with [Texas] Governor [Rick] Perry."

The first entry on the page is the now infamous picture of Romney with associates at Bain Capital in a shower of dollar bills. As users scroll closer to today's date, the Facebook page displays videos of past Romney statements — including instances in which the former governor expresses support for an individual healthcare mandate, abortion rights and gay rights.

"Governor Romney has a long history as a liberal Massachusetts Republican who is out of touch with the concerns of the working conservative base of the Republican Party. And now voters can track his liberal and out-of-touch record on Facebook,” said Gingrich spokesman Joe DeSantis in a statement.

The page is an inventive take on the new Facebook technology, and one likely to be mirrored by other campaigns in the future. Gingrich was the first 2012 GOP presidential candidate to embrace the feature and debut a 21st century version of the traditional candidate bio. President Obama notably launched his own version of the Facebook Timeline weeks after Gingrich.

Romney has found his political rivals eager to use the Web to forward the narrative that his positions are borne out of political opportunism. Democrats have launched a "WhichMitt" online campaign that similarly chronicles Romney's seeming equivocations.

The Romney campaign blasted that effort, saying Democrats were trying to "distract attention" from their record.

“President Obama has resorted to blaming everyone else for his failures in a transparent attempt to distract attention from the fact that unemployment has risen above 9% and 25 million Americans are out of work, underemployed, or have simply given up," said Romney spokesman Andrea Saul.

Gingrich, meanwhile, has prided himself on the use of social media in his campaign, repeatedly touting new Web services as a cheaper and more efficient way to reach voters. In his Election Night speech Tuesday, Gingrich urged supporters to go on Facebook and Twitter to promote his "Newt=$2.50 gas" plan.

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