(Image source: Newsy)
BY ZACH TOOMBS
Sunday talk shows featured plenty of hits on Mitt Romney’s private sector experience at Bain Capital.
Among his critics was Texas Governor Rick Perry, who has characterized Romney’s record as “vulture capitalism.”
CROWLEY: “Governor, a lot of things are said in the primaries that crop up again in the Fall. Should Mitt Romney become the Republican nominee. Are you comfortable that quote will end up in an Obama commercial?” (FLASH) I’m talking about the rhetoric -- you called him a vulture capitalist.”
PERRY: “If this is a fatal flaw, we need to be talking about now. Not in September or October.”
Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod also took shots at Romney on CNN’s State of the Union, providing what might be a preview of the case the president would make against the GOP frontrunner in the general election.
“Again, he’s entitled to do that. That was his business practice. He’s entitled to do that. Nobody is begrudging him that. The question is, is that the philosophy that you want in the White House? Is that the economic vision for this country? Outsourcing, offshoring, stripping down companies, lowering wages, lowering benefits. I don’t think that’s the future for this country.”
Axelrod also expressed concern with the role unrestricted super PACs will play in funding campaigns in this election cycle.
AXELROD: “Frankly the other thing that worries me are these big super PACs that we see Gov. Romney and others benefitting from right now. I think there’s going to be a ton of money aimed at the president.”
CROWLEY: “Democratic ones too...”
AXELROD: “Not nearly of the scale that we’re seeing on the Republican side.”
And on NBC’s Meet the Press, GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich announced plans to release his tax records this week and called on Romney to do the same.
GREGORY: “There have been questions about whether Gov. Romney should release his tax records, in terms of how he profited over the years. Is that part of what you’d like to see now?”
GINGRICH: “Well, he’s got to make his own decision. President Obama is releasing his records. This coming Thursday, I will release my income tax records. Callista and I have discussed it and we agree. This is part of the process of the American people having trust in the candidates.”
And on ABC’s This Week, comedian Stephen Colbert discussed his newly formed exploratory committee for a potential presidential campaign.
COLBERT: “This is an exploratory committee. When you’re exploring, you don’t know what you’re going to find.”
STEPHANOPOLOUS: “The voting is in six days in South Carolina.”
COLBERT: “Well, George -- I mean -- just because something’s difficult doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be worth doing. You know, I’m exploring right now. I’m a one-man Lewis and Clark. And I’m just looking for my Sacajawea.”
A recent poll has the Comedy Central funny man at five percent in South Carolina, but -- as George Stephanopolous points out -- Colbert hasn’t qualified for the official ballot.
STEPHANOPOLOUS: “Here’s what Matt Moore had to say about it. ‘There is no blank space on voting machines to write-in a candidate. Stephen Colbert has about as much a chance at being elected President in South Carolina as he does of being elected Pope. Zero.’”
COLBERT: “First of all, I’m a Roman Catholic, and I teach Sunday school. So, I say I have a pretty good shot of being pope.”
Speaking with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, GOP candidate Rick Santorum touched on an issue that hasn’t received much play in the primary season -- concern over declining birth rates.
“The federal government has year by year decreased supports for families. And guess what’s happening, year by year by year, birth rates are going down. This is not social engineering. This has robbed families of the benefits they used to have in the tax codes.”
Unrelated to election news, Arizona Senator John McCain gave his opinion on the video showing U.S. Marines urinating on dead bodies in Afghanistan.
“You have to respect the body. And we’re trying to win the hearts and minds, and when something like that comes up, it obviously harms that ability.”
Be sure to follow Newsy for full coverage of the South Carolina primary Saturday, January 21st.
