Romney empieza a plantar cara a las críticas sobre Bain

The New York Times:

Before jetting off for a quick trip to Florida, Mitt Romney stopped by a motorcycle dealership here Thursday morning, where he defended his record at Bain Capital, which has recently come under attack by his Republican rivals, and sought to subtly play up his pro-life credentials.

When asked at a post-event news conference about his career as a corporate buyout specialist, a topic that has come under scrutiny in South Carolina, where Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has focused in on two local companies that, under Bain’s supervision, together laid off hundreds of workers, Mr. Romney said that his overall record was one of success.

“There are a number of businesses that we helped start, which collectively, you can just look on their Web sites, added well over 100,000 jobs,” Mr. Romney said, specifically citing Staples, Bright Horizons Children’s Center, the Sports Authority, and Steel Dynamics. “And then the press has also reported on businesses that lost employment and that was a few thousand jobs that were lost. In each case where there was job loss, there was an effort on the part of the management team to try and preserve the business and to have a brighter future.”

He added: “The net of the two is pretty clearly well over 100,000 jobs, and the reality is in the private sector, that there are some businesses that are growing and thriving, and we were fortunate enough to be able to be part of that in a small way, and there’s some businesses that have to be cut back in order to survive and try to make them stronger. And sometimes you’re successful at that and sometimes you’re not.”

Still, referring to the two South Carolina companies that Mr. Perry has singled out for downsizing under Bain, Mr. Romney said that any job loss is “a tragedy.”

“For the family, for the individual that loses a job, it’s devastating,” he said. “And every time that we invested in the business it was to try and encourage that business to have ongoing life.”