With President Barack Obama using a recent Washington Post report about Bain Capital investing in "pioneers" of outsourcing to attack Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the Romney campaign is reportedly seeking a retraction of the story.
The story posted by the Washington Post last week said, "Romney's financial company, Bain Capital, invested in a series of firms that specialized in relocating jobs done by American workers to new facilities in low-wage countries like China and India."
"A Washington Post examination of securities filings shows the extent of Bain's investment in firms that specialized in helping other companies move or expand operations overseas," the article added. "While Bain was not the largest player in the outsourcing field, the private equity firm was involved early on."
However, Politico reported that Romney campaign representatives are meeting with the Washington Post this afternoon to seek a formal retraction of the report.
The Romney campaign has attacked the article, saying it didn't differentiate between "domestic outsourcing," or the practice of contracting work outside of your own company, and "offshoring," or what most Americans think of when they think "outsourcing."
The campaign claimed that Bain outsourced work to other domestic companies and did not "pioneer" offshoring, as the Post article stated.
Politico said campaign representatives will meet with executive editor Marcus Brauchli and other senior Washington Post staff at the Post's offices in Washington.
Meanwhile, Bill Burton, Senior Strategist for pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action, noted that the Washington Post article clearly has the Romney Campaign concerned.
In a memo posted on the Priorities USA Action blog, Burton claimed that the Romney Campaign has been forced to engage rather than simply not respond to any questions from reporters.
"Their argument goes something like this: The Romney-owned companies that shipped jobs overseas also did other things, such as relocating jobs around the US," Burton wrote. "Instead of addressing the actual concern about jobs moving overseas, the Romney Campaign feigns semantic outrage over an issue that was never raised."
He added, "The Romney Campaign's response to confirmed news reports of shifting jobs overseas is deceptive, irrelevant, and intentionally confusing."
by RTT Staff Writer
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