Romney Campaign Press Release - "A Little Bit Too Far With The Felony Business"

"Earlier today, former Governor Ed Rendell had the courage to do what President Obama would not: admit the Obama campaign's baseless and unsubstantiated attacks on Mitt Romney went too far. President Obama may talk about a different kind of politics and bringing people together, but it's just another broken promise from a president who has failed to keep so many." —Ryan Williams, Romney Spokesman

 Former Pe nnsylvania Governor And DNC Chair Ed Rendell: Obama's Attacks Go "Too Far" 

Rendell: The Obama Campaign's Attacks Hurt The President's "Brand" And 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)

• Click Here To Watch Governor Rendell's Comments

A REMINDER: In Addition To Going Too Far, President Obama's Attacks Have Also Been Proven False And Dishonest

CNN's John King: "It Doesn't Appear That What They're Saying About Governor Romney Is True." KING: "Well, in some ways, inside the Obama campaign, they might say they're winning, even as we have a conversation in which we say it doesn't appear that what they're saying about Governor Romney is true. Why? Because we're not talking about the broad U.S. economy. We're not talking about four months in a row of rather dismal job reports." (CNN's "AC360," 7/12/12)

• King Also Spoke With Four Current Or Former Bain Officials, All Of Whom Confirmed The Obama Campaign's Claims Are False. CNN's JOHN KING: "[Pagliuca] said 'Mitt Romney left Bain Capital in February 1999 to run the Olympics and he has had absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm or with any of its portfolio companies since the day of his departure.' The three other sources were very consistent with that, Wolf. Now of the four sources, three of them are Democrats. Two of them are active Obama supporters in campaign 2012. They say they were all there at Bain at the time. They said Mitt Romney left pretty quickly. The deal with the Olympics was struck pretty quickly. They said we need you, we need you to come now and all four insisted he left in the middle of February 1999." (CNN's "The Situation Room," 7/12/12)

The Washington Post's "Fact Checker": "The Obama Campaign Is Blowing Smoke Here ... The Weight Of Evidence Suggests That Romney Did In Fact End Active Management Of Bain In 1999." "The Obama campaign is blowing smoke here. ... Meanwhile, the weight of evidence suggests that Romney did in fact end active management of Bain in 1999. He stated that in a federal disclosure form he signed, under threat of criminal penalties. He said he was a 'former employee' in a state disclosure form. A state commission concluded 10 years ago that he did, indeed, leave Bain in 1999. Investors in Bain funds were told he was not part of the management team." (Glenn Kessler, "Do Bain SEC Documents Suggest Mitt Romney Is A Criminal?," The Washington Post, 7/13/12)

FactCheck.org: Nothing New, Same Conclusion — The Obama Campaign Is Wrong. "New reporting cites strong evidence that Mitt Romney wasn't actively managing Bain Capital while he was running the Olympics, despite what the Obama campaign (and some news reports) would have voters believe. ... 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)

Fortune Magazine Also Jumped In To Discredit The Obama Campaign. "Mitt Romney did not manage Bain Capital's investments after leaving to run the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, according to confidential firm documents obtained by Fortune. ... Bain Capital began circulating offering documents for its seventh private equity fund in June 2000. Those documents include several pages specifying fund management. ... It then goes on to list 18 managers of the private equity fund. Mitt Romney is not among them. Same goes for an affiliated co-investment fund, whose private placement memorandum is dated September 2000. ... As Fortune wrote earlier, Romney left Bain suddenly — rather than as part of an organized transition plan — after being asked to lead an Olympic organizing committee that had spiraled out of control. ... In the interim, he continued to fulfill legal obligations such as signing certain documents — but actual investment and managerial decisions were being made by others." (Dan Primack, "Documents: Romney Didn't Manage Bain Funds," Fortune, 7/12/12)