Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker just landed himself some new BFFs within the Republican Party. The Republican National Committee today launched an "I Stand With Cory" petition in a nod to his mega political fumble on Sunday's Meet The Press.
It reads, "Yesterday New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker, a surrogate spokesman for the Obama campaign called the president's attacks on the free market 'ridiculous'. That's right Mr. President, we aren't going to let you destroy free enterprise. Stand up for America. Stand up for job creators."
The Obama re-election campaign has been attacking Mitt Romney's claim that he created tens of thousands of jobs while working at the private equity firm Bain Capital. The rising Democratic star and Obama campaign surrogate committed one of the ultimate political sin by speaking out against this narrative within his own party.
On MTP, he criticized Team Obama's attacks on Bain. "If you look at the totality of Bain Capital's record they've done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses. And this to me, I'm very uncomfortable with," Booker said. "This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides."
As Chris Christie would say, "Boooooker..." (shakes fist).
Perhaps sensing he was in the DNC doghouse, Booker quickly walked back his comments on YouTube following the interview. "Let me be clear: Mitt Romney has made his business record a centerpiece of his campaign. He's talked about himself as a job creator and, therefore, it is reasonable — and, in fact, I encourage it — for the Obama campaign to examine that record and to discuss it. I have no problem with that,” Booker said.
Later this afternoon, President Obama further articulated the crux of his argument. "When you're President, as opposed to when you're head of a private equity firm, your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot," Obama summed it up. "If your main argument for how to grow the economy is ‘I-knew-how-to-make-a-lot-of-money-for-investors’ then you're missing what this job is about."