New Civility: Dem Rep Accuses Romney of 'Raping Companies

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) decided that during an MSNBC segment Tuesday he’d move to the front of the anti-Mitt Romney train by accusing the former Massachusetts governor of “raping companies” while he worked at Bain Capital.

“This is not an attack on free enterprise,” Rep. Clyburn said.

“I don’t take contributions from payday lenders. I refuse to do that. That’s free enterprise. But there’s something about that enterprise that I have a problem with. And there’s something about raping companies and leaving them in debt and setting up Swiss bank accounts and corporate businesses in the Grand Caymans. I have a serious problem with that,” he added.

Watch Rep. Clyburn display his understanding of private equity (via MSNBC):

He went on to defend President Obama's anti-Bain attacks, asking “what are we supposed to be comparing President Obama to if we don’t compare it to the record that this man has with Bain Capital? He doesn’t talk about his Massachusetts governorship.”

Update --After Clyburn’s remarks made headlines, Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith made the following statement:

We strongly disagree with Congressman Clyburn’s choice of words- they have no place in this conversation.

But we do believe that Mitt Romney should come clean about his record as a corporate buyout specialist and how, contrary to his claims of creating jobs, his focus was on reaping quick profits for investors at the expense of workers and middle class families.

Update II: Patrick Devlin, a spokesman for the top-ranking Democrat, defended Clyburn by saying he used “raping” as a “synonym for rob or plunder,” ABC News reports.

(H/T: RCP & TPM, WZ)