Conservative MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said on Sunday that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s thumping of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in South Carolina Saturday showed that the Republican base was “revolting” against the party establishment.

During a round table discussion on NBC’s Meet the Press, Chuck Todd explained that Gingrich’s win was “about Mitt Romney.”

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“He hasn’t made the sale to conservatives,” Todd observed. “And losing in South Carolina, he can’t dismiss it. This is the heart and soul of the conservative movement, the folks that show up at telephones, that knock on the doors — and he doesn’t have their support.”

“There’s no doubt about it,” Scarborough agreed. “The party base is revolting, but they are revolting against the Washington Republican establishment anointing Mitt Romney.”

“Just like Herman Cain was not about Herman Cain. It was a rejection of Mitt Romney. Rick Perry, a rejection of Mitt Romney. Michele Bachmann, a rejection of Mitt Romney. Newt Gingrich wave one, a rejection of Mitt Romney. Now we have Newt Gingrich wave two, a rejection of Mitt Romney.”

Scarborough continued: “Mitt Romney could attack Newt for not being a conservative because Newt is not a conservative. Google it! We [Republicans] ran him out of Congress in 1998 because he sold us out on taxes, he sold us out on spending, he went to the floor and he sided with Democrats on his last speech, calling us the perfectionists caucus. He called us jihadists. He’s not a conservative, he’s an opportunist. But here is the problem: So is Mitt Romney.”

Watch this video from NBC’s Meet the Press, broadcast Jan. 22, 2012.

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