Pawlenty: GOP 'embracing' Dems' message by attacking Romney on corporate record

Tim Pawlenty defended GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Monday against rival Newt Gingrich, saying attacking Romney based on his business record is "not what Republicans should be doing."

Gingrich's supporters have launched a round of harsh attacks on Romney's record in the private sector this week that follow up on similar attacks by the Democratic National Committee. 

"The Democrats have brought this out for years," Pawlenty said. "For Newt or other Republicans to be attacking private enterprise in this way I think is just embracing the Democrats' message."

Pawlenty defended Romney's record at Bain Capital, the venture capital firm he founded in 1984.

"On the whole, the companies that Bain Capital invested in grew jobs," he said. "Speaker Gingrich has spent most of his life in Washington D.C., Mitt Romney has been in the private sector most of his life. ... That's one of the big differences in the campaign, it's a fair contrast."

Pawlenty, who dropped out of the GOP presidential race in August, also compared his failed presidential bid to a failed bungee jump.

Referring to a viral video of an Australian bungee jumper who survived a snapped cord mid-jump and a 360-foot drop into water over Victoria Falls in Africa, Pawlenty said the video "kind of reminded me of my own presidential campaign."