PAC attack on Romney and Bain Begins

Updated: 7:22 p.m. ET

COLUMBIA, South Carolina - Advertisements calling Mitt Romney a "corporate raider" hit the airwaves in this state Thursday, as a pro-Gingrich super PAC launched its first wave of attacks on  Romney for his time heading Bain Capital.

The ads, cut from a 28-minute web film into TV-sized bites, call the investment firm "more ruthless than Wall Street" and include sound bites from workers who lost their jobs after Bain took over and their companies closed. (watch one ad above at left and the other below)

"I feel that is a man that destroyed us," one woman in the ads says, presumably speaking about Romney.

Another man seen in the ads piles on, "Mitt Romney and those guys, they don't care who I am."

The ads prompted Romney spokesman Andrea Saul to say in an email: "It is sad to see Speaker Gingrich and his allies so desperate to try and revive his campaign that they've resorted to blatant falsehoods and fabrications. These facts have been proven untrue, and Speaker Gingrich himself said the ads should be taken down."

Gingrich was quick to distance himself from the attack by the super PAC, which is independent of his campaign, when approached by a woman who identified herself as a member of Occupy Columbia on Thursday afternoon at the state capitol.

"I'd like to ask you about your video that you released about Romney about Bain Capital," the woman said as she held a recorder out to the former speaker of the House.

"Oh, I didn't - that's not my video," Gingrich responded, cutting her off as he made his way toward his campaign bus.

But Gingrich has recently called on Romney to more fully answer questions about his time heading up Bain Capital.

"He raised his record. He campaigned on his record. He said his record was a central piece to understanding him," Gingrich told reporters of Romney while campaigning Wednesday in Rock Hill, S.C. He added, "Fine. So, get him to talk about his record."

Asked by a reporter Thursday if he is attacking Bain, Gingrich said he is just asking questions and that he is "shocked at how defensive they are."

The former Speaker of the House did acknowledge that the viability of his campaign has been helped by the presence of the super PAC funding the negative ads against Romney.

"It offsets the other PACs," he told reporters, referring to the super PACs supporting both Romney and Ron Paul, which ran a slew of negative ads against Gingrich in Iowa prior to the caucus there.

[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

[esq777]

This video is absolutely devastating. It shows Willard Romney's true colors, a ruthless tycoon who looted companies and fired hard-working Americans to make himself super rich. It may be the most letahl political ad ever. Wow.

[voxtrot]

Newt, let me explain free enterprise so you do not babble about things you do not know or understand. I have in my hand one of my most used possessions. It is called an Ipad. In my room, under my bed, there is a first generation Walkman type knock off. Unfortunately the workers that made the knock off cassette player have most likely been layed off and there is a good chance the company is out of business (whoever it was). My guess is that the workers are now working in industries and for companies that have more demand for their products and services (maybe even Apple). I also speculate that the resources used to make the product were sold off to the highest bidder.

You see Newt, businesses come and go based on demand, efficiency, quality of management and a host of other variables. I for one hope that a President of the United States understands this idea. I am further hoping that at some time he or she developed an acumen for assessing value, tightening costs and increasing quality. In some cases maybe even had the skill to assess that the value proposition to the marketplace was not worth the costs (including labor) to uphold the enterprise. I feel there is some of this very analysis needed in Washington.

In the free market world we see such skills as desirable, even though those same skills may lead to a conclusion that is not "desired". At Bain, Mitt Romney was paid to do a job. In a free market system that job was to bring value to shareholders of his employer. He had the skill, drive and understanding of market forces to do very well at that job. As president, he will be asked by the American people to bring value to the proposition of governance. Yes there may be some news stories on govt workers that are let go, and yes they will pull at my heartstrings.

But In the end when the Walkman knock off is tighly pushed under the bed of this great land, and the Ipad is efficiently moving us forward- EVERYBODY WINS.

Newt...Are you listening?