FactCheck.Org: No Evidence Romney Shipped Jobs Overseas

FactCheck.Org keeps most of its focus on the Obama campaign's ads
and statements, but you can also read this as a repudiation of the Washington Post's now discredited reporting.

The evidence is now irrefutable. The Post and the Obama campaign not only coordinated an attack against Mitt Romney, they coordinated a false attack against Mitt Romney.

As you know, I'm no fan of these dishonest media fact-checkers and
find myself uncomfortable citing them, even to back our side up. But
knowing what I know about how these fact-checkers were designed by the
media to undermine criticisms and potential narratives that might damage
Obama means that this kind of exception is notable.

Obama accuses Romney in a series of TV ads of being a “corporate
raider” who “shipped jobs to China and Mexico,” asking if voters want to
elect an “outsourcer in chief.” But some of the claims in the ads are
untrue, and others are thinly supported.

Bain Capital, the venture capital firm founded by Romney in 1984, is
the focus of the Obama campaign’s attacks. There is no question that
Bain invested in some companies that helped other companies outsource
work and that some of that work went overseas. That was the core
business for Modus Media and SMTC Corp. — two outsource companies
featured in a June 21 article in the Washington Post that has
been the basis of recent Obama TV ads. Bain also invested in U.S.-based
companies that sold goods manufactured here and abroad, and some of
those companies closed U.S. facilities and eliminated U.S. jobs.

But after reviewing numerous corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange

Commission, contemporary news accounts, company histories and press releases, and the

evidence offered by both the Obama and Romney campaigns, we found no
evidence to support the claim that Romney — while he was still running
Bain Capital — shipped American jobs overseas.

• One TV ad, called “Come and Go,” claims that Romney “shipped
  jobs to China and Mexico.” But two examples cited by the Obama campaign
  occurred after Romney left Bain. There’s no clear evidence that a third
  company shipped jobs to China under Romney.
• A second ad called “Revealed” mocks Romney’s tough talk about
  cracking down on China’s trade practices by saying “all he’s ever done
  is send them our jobs” and citing the Washington Post article. But the newspaper article contained no examples of U.S. jobs being shipped to China while Romney was working at Bain.
• The “Come and Go” ad casts Romney as a “corporate raider,” but
  that term, loaded with negative connotations, is simply inaccurate. Bain
  didn’t engage in hostile takeovers when Romney was at the helm.
• That ad also repeats the claim that as governor of
  Massachusetts, Romney was “outsourcing state jobs to India.” But it
  wasn’t the state that outsourced contracts. Rather, Romney vetoed a
  measure that would have prevented the state from doing business with a
  state contractor that was locating state customer-service calls in
  India.

The analysis is extensive and well worth reading.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC