Willard “Mitt” Romney is now lashing out at Newt Gingrich because of the Georgian’s long history as a Reaganite, making the preposterous argument that Gingrich was not present during one of the most important eras in American history.

The question is how would Romney know?  When given the opportunity to talk about his conservative credentials in his run for Senate in 1994 he denied Reagan saying  “I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.”

From the beginning of his political career, Gingrich was always at the ramparts as a staunch ally of the  Reagan White House, from tax cuts to anti-communism to Federalism to pro-life and in all manner of great fights in that decade of Great Debates.

Petulantly, Romney is running commercials in Florida childishly saying that Reagan only mentioned Gingrich in his diaries once. But that’s one more time than Mitt was mentioned.  Romney’s newest ad is in character, while denying Reagan and the ideals of the conservative movement, he seeks to falsely accuse someone who has been a leader in that movement for 30 years.   While Reaganites are about ideas and the expansion of freedom, Romniacs are about the destruction of opponents and the contraction of ideas.

Romney intentionally takes Reagan’s comments about Gingrich out of context. The Gipper was actually intrigued by Gingrich’s ideas and later amended his across the board freeze in government spending to exclude national defense.

Conservatives like Reagan and Gingrich and Kemp were all strategic, all philosophical. Liberals like Romney and President Obama and Saul Alinsky are all tactical, all anti-intellectual.

Mitt’s problem is he comes from a long line of conservative bashers, from his father, George who walked out on conservatives in 1964 to his mother’s campaign for the senate in Michigan, when her principal issue was pro-abortion to Mitt himself, when he infamously ran towards Teddy Kennedy and away from Reagan in 1994.

In fact, from 1974 up to today, Gingrich was always a Reagan man. In 1977, when Reagan was leading the national charge against the Panama Canal Treaties, Gingrich was leading the charge  in Georgia. In 1981, Gingrich was asked to lead a task force to get Reagan’s tax cuts passed in the congress. In 1984, Gingrich was asked to be a member of the Platform Committee at the national convention in Dallas in part, to protect Reagan’s interests there.

During that campaign, Reagan adopted Gingrich’s notion of a “Conservative Opportunity Society” in his acceptance speech, calling for an American opportunity society.

The simple fact is Romney is from the establishment-Rockefeller-Gerald Ford-Bush Dynasty side of the GOP, more interested in great access than great ideas.

Gingrich is from the anti-establishment Goldwater-Bill Buckley-Jack Kemp -Reagan- side of the GOP, more interested in questioning the establishment than joining it.  These are Americans who have grand ideas about the greatness of the country and the future as a brighter one.

In short, Romney is on the losing side of the party and he doesn’t like it one bit, yet rather than apologize for being wrong his whole life, Romney chooses to attacks conservatives.

Gingrich to this day has championed the Reagan legacy, in films, books, writings and speeches. No sunshine Reaganite he, Gingrich was there—unlike Romney—- in the days of Reagan for all the great fights.