Romney, GOP say Obama is true "outsourcer-in-chief"

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Mitt Romney went on the offensive Tuesday against President Obama and other Democrats who have been hammering him as an outsourcing pioneer. Turning Obama's phrase against him, Romney argued that it's Obama who is an "outsourcer-in-chief" sending American jobs overseas.

The Obama campaign and its allies have been attacking Romney for more than two weeks over a Washington Post report that Bain Capital, with Romney at the helm, invested in companies that outsourced U.S. jobs. Responding to the claims for the first time at a public event, Romney pointed to a FactCheck.org analysis that found the Obama campaign's claims "false and misleading."

Then he turned the argument back on Obama himself.

"It's interesting that when it comes to outsourcing that this president has been outsourcing a good deal of American jobs himself by putting money into energy companies, solar and wind energy companies that end up making their products outside the United States," Romney told a crowded gymnasium of several hundred in western Colorado, an area that's friendly territory for Republicans. "If there's an outsourcer in chief, it's the president of the United States, not the guy that's running to replace him."

Romney's shift to offense comes as part of a coordinated GOP attack on the president over outsourcing. The Republican National Committee on Tuesday morning launched ObamanomicsOutsourced.com, a website the party said is devoted to the president's "'sterling' record of shipping the American recovery overseas." Among other things, the RNC said Obama is "sending American dollars to fund diesel engines in Thailand and build wind turbines in Italy."

The coordinated GOP response on outsourcing came a day after The Washington Post reported on Obama's inability to stem the flow of jobs shipped overseas by American companies during his time in office.

Lis Smith, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, said there is a stark contrast between the two candidates on policy. "Mitt Romney's plans encourage outsourcing. Barack Obama wants to end incentives to send jobs overseas. President Obama has fought to end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, fostered incentives for companies to bring jobs back to America and doubled the rate of trade cases we've brought against China to ensure an even playing field for American workers," she said in a statement.

She said Romney has "personally profited from investments in companies that were pioneers in shipping American jobs to India and China as a corporate buyout specialist" and would cede renewable energy industry to China.