Capitalism Comes Under Fire in Republican Primary Campaign

Continuing on the theme I broached earlier.

From Beth Reinhard, at National Journal:

NASHUA, N.H. – The Democrats started it, and now Republican rivals are piling on. Mitt Romney is suddenly playing defense about his career as a venture capitalist--and in a Republican primary campaign, of all things.

The attacks on Romney’s Bain Capital career from fellow Republicans may be coming too late in the game to knock him off his path toward the nomination. They may also be ineffective in a party that lionizes capitalism and the business sector that propels it. Raising hackles about Romney's flip-flops on abortion and other key issues and comparing his Massachusetts health law to "Obamacare'' seems like safer ground.

But at the very least, the GOP field is providing a cache of video that Democrats are no doubt already hoarding for use in the likely event that Romney is President Obama’s opponent.
On Monday, a super PAC bankrolled by allies of Newt Gingrich said it is planning a $3.4 million media blitz in South Carolina that attacks Romney as a ruthless corporate titan who profited on the backs of hundreds of laid-off workers.

In Concord, meanwhile, Jon Huntsman turned a Romney remark about liking to be able to fire service providers who fall short into a Bain reference. "What's clear is, he likes firing people; I like creating jobs," Huntsman said.

Rick Perry also took up the anti-Bain attack at a campaign event in Anderson, S.C. "I have no doubt that Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips - whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out,'' he quipped, poking at Romney’s attempt at a feel-your-pain moment on Sunday.

If the attacks on his career at Bain Capital sound familiar, it's because the Democratic Party has been waging them for weeks, trotting out bitterly unemployed people who blame Romney for their predicament.

More at the link.

And for some contrasting views on the right, see Michelle, "The abysmal incompetence of the non-Romneys; Huntsman, Gingrich, Perry all go Occupier; Santorum declines" (via Memeorandum), and William Jacobson, "Republicans should thank Newt for bringing up Bain now."

RELATED: At Los Angeles Times, "Mitt Romney gives foes a gift with 'fire people' remark," and "Now, it's Romney facing a 'context' issue with firing remarks."