Newt Gingrich: I can't talk rationally about Romney's Bain record

Allison Joyce

Newt Gingrich on Wednesday suggested his attacks on rival Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital have not been rational - though a spokesman insisted Gingrich is not backing off the attacks.

Gingrich's comment came after a voter in Spartanburg, South Carolina, told Gingrich that he believed the former House speaker has "missed the target on the way you're addressing Romney's weaknesses."

"I want to beg you to redirect and go after his obvious disingenuosness about his conservatism and lay off the corporatist versus the free market," said the voter.

Gingrich replied: "I agree - I agree with you."

"I think it's an impossible theme to talk about with Obama in the background," Gingrich continued. "Obama just makes it impossible to talk rationally in that area because he is so deeply into class warfare that automatically you get an echo effect which, as a Reagan Republican it frankly never occurred to me until it happened. So I agree with you entirely."

Gingrich, who has harshly criticized Romney for his record at Bain, seemed to be saying he cannot "talk rationally" about Romney's record because of the way Mr. Obama frames the issue.

Gingrich's attacks on Romney's record have prompted some conservatives to criticize the former speaker for adopting the rhetoric of Occupy Wall Street. On Fox News on Monday, Gingrich said the buyouts at the company "don't look like capitalism, they look like rich guys looting"; the same day, Gingrich complained to Bloomberg Television that Romney and Bain "made a lot of money while people were going broke." Another GOP presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has labeled Romney and his Bain coworkers "vultures."

Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond told reporters after the comments in Spartanburg that the campaign is "absolutely not" having second thoughts about the Romney attacks. He said "we will continue to examine what decisions he made at Bain, why he made those decisions, what was motivating him to make those decisions and the American people can decide whether or not they want an investment-banker-in-chief as their commander-in-chief."

Hammond added in a statement: "Instead of accepting the responsibility to answer questions about his business background, the Romney campaign is throwing up a smokescreen about an attack on capitalism."

Gingrich's comments Wednesday coincide with the release of "When Mitt Romney Came to Town," a slickly-produced short film that showcases people who lost jobs after Bain took over their companies and depicts Romney as "more ruthless than Wall Street." ("I feel that is the man that destroyed us," one woman says in the film, as ominous music plays in the background.) The film was released by Winning Our Future, a super PAC backing Gingrich that is planning to air the film in South Carolina as part of its millions of dollars in advertising ahead of the state's January 21 primary.

When he was being attacked by a Romney-backed Super PAC in Iowa, Gingrich deemed the notion that Romney isn't coordinating with the Super PAC "baloney." (Candidates cannot legally coordinate with such groups.)

"[D]on't hide behind some baloney about this super PAC that I actually have no control over that happens to be run by five of my former staff. That's just baloney," Gingrich said in December.

The Super PAC airing the anti-Romney film in South Carolina is led by Becky Burkett, a onetime official with a now-defunct group that Gingrich founded after leaving Congress. Longtime Gingrich aide Rick Tyler is also working for the group.

With reporting by CBS News/National Journal off-air reporter Sarah Huisenga.

Full CBS News coverage: Newt Gingrich

31 Photos

Newt Gingrich on the campaign trail

[elem187]

WOW. I have never seen a news title so intentionally inappropriately labeled like this.

Objectivity at CBS News?!?! LMAO

[NewtsArmy]

One day a man looked for a good home builder.
So the man asked "Bob The Builder" to share the whereabouts of his completed homes.
But "Bob The Builder" became furious at the man and said "that is an attack on my honesty!"

The next day the man looked for a good Princess.
So the man asked "Cinderella" to share her foot size.
But "Cinderella" became very furious with the man and said "that is an attack on privacy!"

The next day the man looked for a good Kitchen Chef.
So the man asked "Ratatouille" to share some of his cooking.
But "Ratatouille" became very furious at the man and said "that is an attack on goodwill!"

The next day the man looked for a good Jobs Creator.
So the man asked "Romney" to share where his created Jobs could be located.
But "Romney" became very furious and said "that is an attack on all Capitalism!"
So the story was FRAMED against the man and told again and again by all of "Romney's" surrogates, day after day after day! Did the "kitchen" get a little too hot for you, Mittens......

[tsprague52]

"Gingrich, who has harshly criticized Romney for his record at Bain, seemed to be saying he cannot "talk rationally" about Romney's record because of the way Mr. Obama frames the issue."

This makes Gingrich a flaming nutcase. Blaming Obama for how Newt talks to Romney? I don't think so.

[tx_doughboy]

Thank you, I was about to point out the same thing. It scares me that this guy is either full of pud or he's honest and not in control of his actions. Either way, he doesn't feel that he is accountable for his behavior. That's Presidential!

[Tired_of_liars]

by economicterror January 12, 2012 6:39 AM EST
Most rational people don't respond to their own post.
---------------------------------
Most intelligent people don't sit here and post lies all the time, but we see you do it all the time. So what is your point. We know you lie and when we confront you, you run like a scared little girl

[NewtsArmy]

A must read!

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/tv/2012/01/12/mitt-romey-bain-capital-and-clear-channel/

[merlgrey]

just say it newt, mitt romney has no soul whatsoever.

[Ben37221]

Romney's team are trying to hide the fact that Romney was and still is a corperate vulture. What do you call a man that goes into a business, bleed it dry into bankruptcy,while he and his friend walks away with millions?- a vulture, that is what Romney and his friends at Bin capital are.
In the process of bleeding these organizations dry, he rips the employees of their pension. Hence, he tell us that corperations are people too.

[johneverymann]

Either way the little bit of conservative support Gingrich had left is now gone.

[Ben37221]

The only job Romney cares about is his. He would say anything and do anything he thinks his audiance want to hear. Romney have no core. He bleed grid.
He goes after Newt. When the favour is return, he and his establishment friends cry like a baby. The bottom line is that the characterization of Romney by Perry and Newt as a vulture, and a corperate raider is an accurate statement.
Romney have shipped more job out of this country as much as any one else. America don't need an outsourcer in chief.

[matzeklein]

Let's face the dire truth. The US is founded on vulture capitalism. What else is slavery?

It is a myth that capitalism is pure and good by itself and must not be regulated.?It is now time to stand up for true righteousness and expose the hypocrisy.?

Remember the civil war and how unwillingness and stubborness led to the bloodiest war in the history of the US. Great Britain got rid of slavery in a peaceful way. The United States, where all men are created equal on paper,?had to have it pried out of their fingers.

What would happen if the rich, who profit from vulture capitalism, and their powerful friends in the media and in?Washington, are as stubborn and unwilling to acknowledge the evil of vulture capitalism. Why would God not bring?justice to those oppressed by this selfish system as He did for the slaves?

Watch my video: A German's preachers thoughts on 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpLYq525SpM

[tsprague52]

"vulture capitalism"

Making up your own phrases, or repeating the media's phrases (as this one seems to be), is not rational.

[nearl451]

Nothing at all wrong with a little irrationality, after all is there?

[nearl451]

Judging by the usual characters on these boards, rationalitry is over-rated anyay.