(Image Source: Forbes)

BY JONATHAN KETZ

With presidential candidate Newt Gingrich now up in the polls --- his foe Mitt Romney is on the attack.
Launching a new ad -- which paints Newt as a loose cannon... in it for himself.

“He doesn’t have the discipline that you want as a president. He is out and basically and is basically out on the far left of the Republican party. With allies like that, who needs the left?”

The ad highlights the fact Gingrich failed to support Congressman Paul Ryan on budget reform -- a key moment for conservatives. CNN interviewed former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu on the issue.

“For him to go out and cut their legs off by saying that it was conservative social engineering is a perfect example of Newt Gingrich preferring to do things that boost himself rather than recognizing that this was a good conservative plan, good for the country, good for America, and good to be passed.”

But is there too much criticism in one place?
Here’s MSNBC.

“It’s very odd seeing Mitt Romney talking all the baggage Gingrich has and stuffing it into one ad. You’d think he’d pace himself. Too much to hear all Newt Gingrich’s baggage in 30 seconds. There’s just too much there.”

Some are saying -- Romney should have let other candidates target Gingrich.
GOP strategist Adam Geller tells Fox News, with Gingrich surging in several states, he could no longer wait.

“Well he’s kind of getting around to doing it now. He was sort of hoping that somebody else would do it for him. That hasn’t happened, but clearly the Gingrich surge is for real, and it’s not like the other surges. I think what they’re seeing now is it’s not like the other surges. It’s a lot deeper, a lot wider, and a lot higher.”

If the Gingrich camp is worried, you can’t tell it in their rhetoric.
Gingrich campaign spokeswoman Linda Upmeyer says of the Romney’s ad, it -- quote -- “looked like a panic attack.”