Mitt Romney's presidential campaign rebuffed the repeated attacks on Bain Capital from the Obama team as "attacks on free enterprise" in a Web video published Monday.
The video, titled "Big Bain Backfire," features three prominent Democrats who have recently made statements defending the private-equity firm.
"President Obama's attacks on free enterprise have triggered a backlash among many — even among those in his own party," said a statement from the Romney campaign, released with the video. "In just the past few days, everyone from former advisors to his own surrogates have criticized the Obama campaign's attack on free enterprise."
The video features comments from Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) and auto industry bailout czar Steven Rattner cautioning the Obama campaign against attacking private-equity firms.
A week ago, the Obama team launched an aggressive attack on Romney's tenure at Bain, including a television ad focused on the shuttering of a Missouri steel mill purchased by Bain Capital, the investment firm founded by the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
Booker, an Obama campaign surrogate with a national political following, expressed his frustration Sunday with negative campaigning that he said was "becoming too much of the norm."
“This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides,” said Booker on NBC's "Meet the Press," in comments replayed in the Romney campaign ad. “It’s nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright,” Booker added, also referring to a proposal floated and quickly rejected by a pro-GOP super-PAC to attack Obama over his connection to his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Booker later back-tracked his comments in a Web video released Sunday, emphasizing support for the president and saying Romney's private-sector record should be scrutinized.
The Republican National Committee (RNC), however, quickly seized on Booker's remarks, launching an "I Stand With Cory" petition.
Ford, a former Democratic congressman and current MSNBC contributor, said Monday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that he agreed with Booker's statement, but understood the need to clarify his position.
"I would not have backed off the comments if I were Mayor Booker. I understand him wanting to make the point that legitimate questions can be made about whether or not at Bain they made bad decisions about certain businesses. Overall, I agree with the substance of his comments on ‘Meet the Press,’ I agree with the core of it," he said.
Obama's former economic adviser also previously defended Bain and called the Obama steel mill ad "unfair."
"I don't think there's anything Bain Capital did that they need to be embarrassed about," says Rattner in the Romney campaign video, taken from an interview on "Morning Joe."
The Obama team, however, has continued to hammer Romney's role at Bain with a six-minute video released Monday, featuring former employees from an Indiana office supply company that blame Romney for the closing of their plant.
A Bain Capital spokesman responded to the Obama campaign's attacks on the firm's business record in a statement, saying that “throughout Bain Capital’s 28-year history, we have been focused on growing businesses and improving their operations."
