Romney Campaign Press Release - What They're Saying: Obama Campaign's "Felony Business" A Flop

"Look, what he's doing is doing everything in his power to try and divert attention from the fact that his policies have failed the American people. These kinds of attacks from his campaign are simply completely out of character for what we'd expect from the President — it's beneath his dignity." — Mitt Romney

The Obama Campaign's Felonious Charges Have Been Widely Discredited And Called Attempts To Distract From The Obama Economy:

Political Scientist Larry Sabato: "It's A Clear Attempt By The Obama Campaign To Keep The Focus Off President Obama And The Economy." "'It's a tempest in a summer teapot,' [University of Virginia professor Larry] Sabato said. 'It's a clear attempt by the Obama campaign to keep the focus off President Obama and the economy.'" (Joe Battenfeld, "Condoleezza Rice Rumors Boiling," The Boston Herald, 7/14/12)

Washington Post Fact Checker: "The Obama Campaign Is Blowing Smoke Here." "Despite the furor, we did not see much new in the Globe article. ... [T]he Obama campaign has raised a very serious charge of potential criminal behavior. Does it have much credibility? .... The Obama campaign is blowing smoke here." (Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, 7/13/12)

Investor's Business Daily: Obama Attacks "Distract Americans From [His] Dismal Economic Record." "The Obama campaign has reached new depths of hypocrisy and mendacity in accusing its GOP opponent of a felony. Mr. President, let he who is without secrets guarded like Fort Knox cast the first stone. For a Barack Obama operative to accuse Mitt Romney of misrepresenting his chairmanship at Bain Capital to the Securities and Exchange Commission over a decade ago, 'which is a felony,' as Stephanie Cutter said, reveals the desperation of a presidential re-election campaign that must distract Americans from its dismal economic record." (Editorial, "The Slandering Of Mitt Romney," Investor's Business Daily, 7/16/12)

Former Pennsylvania Governor And DNC Chair Ed Rendell: Obama's Attacks Go "Too Far." RENDELL: "I think Carol also made a very good point about all this attack may be hurting the President's brand a little bit, too. I think our supporters went a little bit too far with the felony business." (MSNBC's "NOW With Alex Wagner," 7/13/12)

CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "Why Would Stephanie Cutter Jump To This Felony Accusation?" BLITZER: "So, the question is: why would Stephanie Cutter jump to this felony accusation? No one has ever suggested Mitt Romney did anything ever criminally wrong. ... The question is, before you make an accusation, shouldn't there be more investigation when you start raising the possibility in her words, of committing felony potentially this is a felony? That's a serious accusation." (CNN's "The Situation Room," 7/12/12)

Syndicated Columnist Charles Krauthammer: "When You Get The Obama Campaign Accusing Him Of Being A Felon You Have Jumped The Shark." KRAUTHAMMER: "But when you get the Obama campaign accusing him of being a felon you have jumped the shark. ... So when they accuse him of deliberately lying to the SEC and committing a felony, they are then retroactively questioning all the series of charges up to then. That's jumping the shark. That is a mistake." (Fox News' "Fox Special Report With Bret Baier," 7/12/12)

FactCheck.org: "No Basis For The Obama Campaign's Claim That Romney Committed A Felony." "But we see little new in any of these SEC filings, and a University of Pennsylvania Law School professor we spoke to sees no basis for the Obama campaign's claim that Romney committed a felony. None of the SEC filings show that Romney was anything but a passive, absentee owner during that time, as both Romney and Bain have long said. It should not surprise anyone that Romney retained certain titles while he was working out the final disposition of his ownership, for example." (Brooks Jackson, "Romney's Bain Years: New Evidence, Same Conclusion," FactCheck.org, 7/12/12)

Fox News' David Lee Miller: The Obama Campaign "Went Too Far ... I Argue It's Bad Form." FOX NEWS' BRET BAIER: "You don't think there is a reverberation for campaign spokesman who says that the nominee of the opposing party is possibly a felon?" FOX NEWS' DAVID LEE MILLER: "I think that she went too far. And I think that is a mistake. As Mitt Romney would say, politics ain't beanbag. I'm not saying that the conduct of a spokesman is the issue here. I argue it's bad form." (Fox News' "Fox Special Report With Bret Baier," 7/12/12)