Republican Party launches 'I stand with Cory' petition. Are they endorsing President Obama too?

Ooh, they are so, so very clever:

The Republican National Committee is looking to capitalize on Newark Mayor Cory Booker's (D) criticism of the Obama campaign's attack on Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital, urging supporters to sign a petition saying they 'stand with Cory.'

'Yesterday New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker, a surrogate spokesman for the Obama campaign, called the president's attacks on the free market 'ridiculous,' ' the petition reads. 'That's right Mr. President, we aren't going to let you destroy free enterprise. Stand up for America. Stand up for job creators.'

I get that the RNC wants to draw attention to Cory Booker's off-message comments on Meet the Press yesterday ... but this is ridiculous. First of all, Booker never said anything like what the petition claims: he didn't even hint at believing that President Obama was doing anything to destroy free enterprise.

What Booker said was that he hates negative ads from all sides, that he doesn't think private equity is bad, and that on balance, Bain has helped more businesses than it has hurt. None of that is the kind of thing you want to hear from a campaign surrogate, but if the RNC is serious about "I stand with Cory" then they'd better cut a check to President Obama's reelection campaign, because Cory Booker stands with President Obama. He just didn't like one ad. Big deal.

And while it obviously is aimed at amplifying Booker's message, the fact that the RNC is resorting to twisting Booker's words to defend Mitt Romney's time at Bain is all the evidence you need to know that they still haven't figured out how to defend it.

10:38 AM PT: Oh, p.s.: Thank you RNC for helping keep the Bain story alive.