After Barack Obama signed the JOBS Act into law on Thursday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) made comments that appeared to contradict one of Mitt Romney's standby attack lines against the president.
"The president said today that he's always believed that it's the private sector that is the job generator in this country," Cantor told reporters, according to MSNBC's First Read. "I agree with him, and I think most Americans agree with him."
That statement is at odds with Romney's frequent assertion that Obama thinks of government, not business, as fueling economic growth.
During his Wisconsin victory speech last Tuesday, for example, Romney said that the president's policies would hurt the private sector.
"When the president attacks business and when his policies make it more difficult for businesses to grow and prosper, he is also attacking the very communities he wanted to help," Romney said.
And at a rally in Wisconsin on Friday, Romney claimed that “In Barack Obama’s government-centered society, the government must do more because the economy is doomed to do less. When you attack business and vilify success, you will have less business and less success.”
The criticism isn't new. In December, Romney said that "Obama believes government should create equal outcomes."
Romney's tough words were actually in response to a call from Obama to lower taxes for the middle class, as well as implement effective consumer protection laws.
New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait pointed out at the time that Romney's hit points were "Glenn Beck-level insane," writing that "restoring Clinton-era taxes is not a plan to equalize outcomes, or even close."