Facing pressure from GOP, Gingrich retreats from attacks on Romney in South Carolina

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrich-romneys-record-at-bain-capital-secondary-to-social-issues-in-south-carolina/2012/01/12/gIQAZdhFtP_story.html?tid=pm_politics_pop

“If you ask about his career, it’s because he’s running for president,” Gingrich said of the questions he and his allies have raised about Romney’s tenure as head of a private equity fund.

“I think he owes the country a much more detailed answer about what his career was like, what decisions they made, because we’re looking at the judgment, the values of a particular person,” he said during a Fox News interview Thursday night.

Romney has received a taste of what Democrats will unleash this summer, and it was surprising how unprepared his team was to deal with it. His response? Everyone who attacks his time at Bain is just jealous. It was an incredibly tone deaf response to the emotional potency of the message that he is not a job creator but a job destroyer, bent on enriching himself at the expense of others. It was almost unfortunate for Romney that the line of attack was squelched so quickly. Had it persisted a bit more by this summer the "Bain story" would have been a tired attack. Instead the surface was barely scratched and the audience (us and the voting public) are left wanting to hear much more.

In any case, Mitt had better do his homework on his response. "When Mitt Came to Town" is up on You Tube and will be running until next fall. The Democrats will sharpen this weapon and stab him in a more vulnerable time. "You're jealous" just ain't gonna cut it.