Gingrich to Romney: Drop the 'Pious Baloney

Newt Gingrich wasted no time hitting rival Mitt Romney during Sunday's Republican presidential debate, asking him early on to drop the "pious baloney" when Romney touted his motivations for running for office.

"For me, my career was being in business and starting a business and making it successful," Romney said. "My life's passion has been my family, my faith and my country. I believe, by virtue of the experiences I've had, that I'm in a good position to make a contribution to Washington."

He went on, attempting to expand his time while moderator David Gregory tried to cut in and pose the next question to Gingrich.

"I realize the red light doesn't mean anything to you because you're the front-runner. But could we drop a little bit of the pious baloney?" Gingrich asked.

"The fact is, you ran in '94 and lost, and that's why you weren't serving with Santorum," Gingrich said. "You have been running consistently for years and years and years, and then suddenly citizenship showed up in your mind --  just level with the American people: You've been running at least since the 1990s."

Watch the clip below, via NBC: