Romney tells Obama to stop sharp political attacks

[July 16, 2012]  WOLFEBORO, N.H. (AP) -- Mitt Romney demanded Monday that President Barack Obama back away from his persistent attacks on Romney's record at Bain Capital, advising that it would be better "if you spent some time speaking about your record."

"What does it say about a president whose record is so poor that all he can do in this campaign is attack me," Romney said in a nationally broadcast interview Monday.

Obama said an interview broadcast Monday that he has run mostly positive campaign ads but said they have not been given much attention in the media.

In his interview on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends," Romney was asked whether Obama should apologize for a series of statements and campaign commercials suggesting that Romney has not been truthful in his accounts of his record as head of Bain Capital, a private equity firm.

Romney responded, "I think when people have accused you of a crime, you have every reason to go after them pretty hard."

Obama's campaign has been arguing that Romney's record at Bain Capital indicates that jobs were shipped overseas under his watch. That pitch has taken on a large amount of gravitas at a time when the nation's unemployment rate remains above 8 percent and millions are out of work.

Asked about this, Romney said, "I'd say to the president, wouldn't it be interesting, Mr. President, wouldn't it be interesting if you spent some time speaking about your record."

"When millions upon millions of dollars are given by the Obama administration to the businesses of campaign contributors, that's a real problem, particularly at time when the middle class is really suffering in this country," the former Massachusetts governor said. "This is a tough time in America. But if you're a contributor to Barack Obama your business may stand to get billions or hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from the government. I think it's wrong. I think it stinks to high heaven."

[Associated Press]

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