In Debating New Direction For the Party, Republicans Agree on Only One Thing: It's Mitt Romney's Fault

Just two weeks after many Republicans thought Mitt Romney was poised to win the presidency, he is persona non grata in most conservative circles.

In an effort to avoid blame for their devastating loss to Barack Obama in the presidential election, many Republican pundits and lawmakers are scrambling for reasons, searching for a new direction for the party, and cleaning house.

That means throwing Romney under the bus, but he isn't going quietly.

Now that he doesn't need to please anyone, Romney seems intent on making sure that he doesn't. Last week, in a conference call with campaign donors, he blamed his loss on Obama's "gifts" to minorities, women, young people and other constituencies.

Gifts-like healthcare, equal pay, affordable college loans-were the reason people voted for Obama, not because they rejected the Republican platform. His comments echoed his infamous "47 percent" remark during the campaign.

But this time, it was Republicans who rose up to excoriate him.

"I absolutely reject what he said," said Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on "Fox News Sunday."

"We as a Republican Party have to campaign for every single vote. If we want people us we have to like them first. And you don't start to like people by saying their votes were bought," he said.

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina concurred. "We're in a big hole, we're not getting out of it by comments like that. When you're in a hole, stop digging. He keeps digging," he said of Romney on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"We're in a death spiral with Hispanic voters because of our rhetoric on immigration, and our candidate Romney and the primaries dug the hole deeper."

Newt Gingrich, who takes every opportunity to lambast Romney, joined in. "I just think it's nuts," he said to Martha Raddatz.

"I mean, first of all, it's insulting. This would be like Wal-Mart having a bad week and going, 'The customers have really been unruly.' I mean, the job of a political leader in part is to understand the people. If we can't offer a better future that is believable to more people, we're not going to win."

For his part, Romney isn't done complaining.

"We had 20 Republican debates, that was absolutely nuts," he said. "It opened us up to gaffes and to material that could be used against us in the general, and we were fighting these debates for a year, and the incumbent president just sat back and laughed."