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Angry Gingrich says Romney a puppet of 'old order'

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stepped up his populist critique of Mitt Romney Thursday at a tea party rally in central Florida, saying that he has the financiers and Washington elite running scared.

MOUNT DORA, Fla. – An enraged Newt Gingrich railed against attacks launched by Mitt Romney and his allies Thursday, calling them "the desperate last stand of the old order" at a Tea Party rally here.

The assault is being financed by companies that have profited from foreclosing on the homes of struggling Floridians, Gingrich said, mocking Romney for holding large investments in banks and the government mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

"You are watching ads paid for by companies like Goldman Sachs, recycled back into ads to try to stop you from having a choice in this election," Gingrich thundered on the shores of Lake Dora. "That's what this is all about."

Romney is showing unimaginable "gall," he said, by lining up with the financial elites to attack Gingrich for his former consulting contract with Freddie Mac, suggesting the former House speaker is a lobbyist.

"He thinks the rest of us are too stupid to put the dots together," Gingrich said. "The message we should give Mitt Romney is: we aren't that stupid, and you aren't that clever."

The House speaker urged his listeners in the crowd of about 500 to mount a populist revolt from the right and get behind his candidacy, with the kind of language that doesn't seem to jibe with usual Republican rhetoric.

 "This is a campaign for the very soul of the Republican Party…to see if citizen conservatism can defeat the power of big money," Gingrich said.

At a press availability after the event, Gingrich said he was angry and added, "I think every American should be angry" at the "grotesquely hypocritical" attacks of the Romney campaign.