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Former PA Gov. Ed Rendell: Bain Capital is fair game for Obama campaign

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell says the Obama campaign is right to go after Mitt Romney's time at Bain Capital during its reelection campaign.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell says the Obama campaign is right to go after Mitt Romney's time at Bain Capital during its reelection campaign. "Of course he has a right to go after Governor Romney's claim that he's a job creator because of his work at Bain— that's the main thrust of his rationale of why he should be elected president," Governor Rendell said Tuesday on Hardball with Chris Matthews

Rendell had said on Tuesday morning that he found Obama's ads criticizing Romney's time at Bain "very disappointing." The Republican National Committee then cited Gov. Rendell's words as evidence that even some Democrats find Obama's Bain advertisements to be an attack on free enterprise. 

When pressed by Matthews on whether he was, in fact, disappointed in Obama's campaign, Rendell said he was disappointed in virtually every political ad, because they focus on the negative points of the opposition. His only criticisms of Obama's Bain ads were with the specific wording, he said. "Would I make the ads a little different in tone? Sure I would," Rendell said. "But this deserves a full examination— whether Governor Romney is a job creator."

Rendell's initial criticisms of Obama's Bain ads came on the heels of Newark (N.J.) Mayor Cory Booker's comments that he found the ads "nauseating." Booker has since backtracked, saying he stands firmly with the president and wants him to be reelected.