Some Republicans all of a sudden have a problem with capitalism.

In a desperate attempt to stop Mitt Romney’s march toward the Republican presidential nomination—a quest that took a big step forward with Romney's win in the New Hampshire primary tonight—his GOP rivals are concentrating their fire on Romney’s days at Bain Capital. That's the Boston-based private equity firm the Republican frontrunner led from the firm's start in 1984 until 1999.

His GOP primary opponents are appalled that some of the companies that Bain invested in failed, and people lost their jobs. Meanwhile, Bain and its investors made handsome profits, thanks to investments that worked, such as the firm’s stake in Staples and Domino’s Pizza.

Oh, the horror. The horror!

Romney was “a predatory corporate raider,” contends King of Bain, a new film being distributed by a super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who for a short time was running even if not ahead of Romney in various polls.

“His firm didn't seek to create value,” the film’s website maintains. “Instead, like a scavenger, Romney looked for businesses he could pick apart.”

Gingrich himself dialed up the rhetoric against Bain Capital.

“If someone comes in, takes all the money out of your company, and then leaves you bankrupt while they go off with millions, that’s not traditional capitalism,” Gingrich said.

Rick Perry, the Texas governor who is trying to stay in the presidential race despite a notable lack of support, also jumped on the anti-Bain bandwagon.

“Getting rich off failure and sticking someone else with the bill is indefensible,” Perry said.

Wait a minute, don’t Republicans believe in free markets? Wasn’t one of the reasons that many of them opposed bank bailouts is that they think unsuccessful companies should be allowed to fail?

Romney, basking in his win in New Hampshire a week after a narrow victory in Iowa, called out his GOP rivals for their attacks.

"The president wants to put free enterprise on trial. In the last few days, we've seen some desperate Republicans joining forces with them ... This is such a mistake for our party and our nation," Romney said Tuesday night.

The reaction from outside, pro-business groups to what Gingrich and the rest have said has been one of shock. Chris Chocola, a former Republican House member who now heads the Club for Growth PAC, can’t believe what he’s hearing, especially from Gingrich. Those attacks on Romney are “disgusting,” Chocola said.

“There are a number of issues for Mitt Romney’s Republican opponents to attack him, but attacking him for making investments in companies to create a profit for his investors is just wrong,” Chocola said. It’s “beyond the pale for any purported ‘Reagan Conservative.’”

The trade association for private equity firms was so rattled by criticism from an unexpected source that it issued a press release defending the industry.

“Private equity provides capital and operational expertise to companies that are often underperforming or on the brink of failure,” said Steven Judge, interim president and CEO of the Private Equity Growth Capital Council. “In 2010 alone, private equity invested nearly $150 billion in U.S. companies. As a result, many businesses grow and are strengthened, and often jobs are created over the long term.”

The profits made by private equity firms when they sell the companies they acquire don’t just go to fund managers like Romney—they also go to investors such as pension funds, university endowments, and charitable foundations.

More than 14,000 U.S. companies are backed by private equity firms. They employ more than 8 million people.

Now, all of a sudden, private equity firms like Bain Capital are bad guys? Has Gingrich been sleeping in an Occupy Wall Street tent? Or is he just a desperate man saying desperate things?

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Kent Hoover is the Washington bureau chief for bizjournals.