Some conservatives are pointing out that both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have described themselves as "progressive," and therefore both are not to be trusted. Though both have used that word to describe their approach to politics, watch the videos in question and you will see very different meanings.

In an interview with NECN's Allison King in 2002, Romney used "progressive" to describe himself to Massachusetts voters as someone who was not very Republican.

"I think the old stand-by definitions of who votes for which party have been blown away in this campaign," Romney said. "I think people recognize that I'm not a partisan Republican, that I'm someone who is moderate, that my, my views are progressive and that I'm going to go to work for our senior citizens, for people who've been left behind by urban schools that are not doing the right job, and so they're going to vote for me regardless of the party label."

Romney used "progressive" as a synonym for "left-of-center." He was telling Massachusetts voters that he's a moderate Republican who will fight for seniors and kids. Sounds like a Democrat. Which was the point.

Gingrich used "progressive" in a very different way.

"I've always said I came out of the Theodore Roosevelt-LaFollette progressive tradition of reform," he said. "I always knew that if you're dealing with genuine corruption, people will come after you."

Gingrich was framing himself as a reformer, not a liberal. His message was: I'm here to change Washington, and the Washington establishment is fighting me. Lafollette and TR did champion government activism. But they also championed government reform (Lafollete was instrumental in replacing the "smoke-filled room" with primaries for determining political party nominees). It's important to remember in the context of that interview that Gingrich helped lead the Republicans to power in 1994 by campaigning against Democratic political corruption (remember Dan Rostenkowski?).

So to say that Gingrich and Romney both called themselves progressive is true, but misleading. They meant very different things, as the interviews show. Gingrich was calling himself a reformer; Romney was calling himself a left-of-center Republican.