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The head of the Chamber of Commerce says he's "disappointed" over the Republican attacks on Mitt Romney's tenure at the private-equity firm Bain Capital, because they've given Democrats extra ammo to take out the front-runner.

Tom Donohue, the president of the business-oriented Chamber, told reporters Thursday morning that Romney's track record at Bain was pretty good, given that he had to take risks in investing in businesses. Nobody, Donohue said, "has 100 percent" success in that undertaking.

"Perfect? Hell, no," Donohue said of Romney's history at Bain. "But damn good."

Newt Gingrich has taken the lead in attacking Romney over Bain, accusing him of being a corporate raider who was responsible for firing employees while profiting. Other candidates have joined the dogpile, as Democrats have sat back and let it play out.

Donohue called the attacks "foolish" and said the criticism from Gingrich and the other Republican candidates are "not doing anything other than setting up the ad base for their opponents."

"If you don't take a risk, you can't have success," Donohue said of private-equity investments.

Bruce Josten, an executive vice president at the Chamber, added that "attacking the private-enterprise system is not going to move this country forward."