Just how far will President Obama go when attacking Mitt Romney’s tenure with private equity firm Bain Capital? A little further than Newark mayor Cory Booker is comfortable with, but probably not as far as Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn, a representative for South Carolina, would allow. Referencing Obama’s criticisms of Romney, and Bain’s impact on companies the firm bought, which the RNC has spun into an assault on free enterprise, Clyburn said on MSNBC, “This is not an attack on free enterprise. And there’s something about raping companies and leaving them in debt and setting up Swiss bank accounts and corporate businesses in the Grand Caymans. I have a real serious problem with that.”
A spokeswoman for Clyburn said that the congressman was using “raping” as “a synonym for rob or plunder.” A spokeswoman for Obama’s reelection campaign, backing away as quickly as she could, said, “We strongly disagree with Congressman Clyburn’s choice of words — they have no place in this conversation.” Perhaps Clyburn ought to keep that one in the holster for another conversation, or not at all.