Palin: ‘It Was a Shame’ Booker Retracted Obama Criticism

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is disappointed that Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker backed down from his criticism of Obama campaign ads attacking Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded.

“It was a shame to see Cory kind of back down from what his answer was, which was so candid,” Palin told Sean Hannity of Fox News Monday, Politico reports.

Booker originally said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press that “I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity . . . If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record, they’ve done a lot to supporter businesses, to grow businesses.” He added that he was “uncomfortable with” the Obama campaign’s attack.

But Sunday evening, Booker, undoubtedly after consulting with the Obama campaign, posted a YouTube video essentially retracting his criticism, saying Bain was fair game for scrutiny from Obama.

Originally, Booker “was the antithesis of the typical politician, because he didn’t do this,” Palin said, licking her finger and waving it in the air, “before he spewed his answer to David Gregory.”

She said Booker’s initial comments illustrated the fact that President Obama doesn’t understand our free-market system. “[Obama] will condemn private equity because he doesn’t understand the benefits of private equity in job creation,” Palin said.

“So it’s a shame that Cory backed down a little bit from that. But I think we saw what his true feelings were. He articulated it,” she added.