Did Romney Have a ‘You Didn’t Build That’ Moment?
- Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:00pm by
Mytheos Holt
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President Barack Obama’s gaffe suggesting that businessmen “didn’t build” their own success has become one of the more viral symbols of the President’s lack of sympathy with the private sector. Given that this year’s election is likely to be fought over the economy, that is not a good thing for a sitting President to express.
Given this problem, those supporting the President face a thorny issue. Typically one of the easiest ways to get out of a gaffe your candidate made is to find an equivalent gaffe by an opponent. But anyone who thinks Mitt Romney was ever persuaded to trash private enterprise would be laughed out of a volunteer position. So they have to dig a little deeper, and according to RealClearPolitics, they may have found something that could work. From Romney’s speech at the 2002 Olympics comes this quote, dug up by MSNBC:
Now, before you start ripping the comparison apart, give MSNBC credit. This is a creative parallel. However, it’s also a fatally flawed one. Romney very clearly gives the Olympians credit for their own attributes in this clip – something Obama actively disparages in the one floating around of him.
Moreover, even if you assume that both Obama and Romney have said peoples’ individual attributes take a back seat to the contributions of others and ignore what the quotes involved actually say about that, compare what the messages being sold here are. According to Obama, people achieve great things because of the government. According to Romney, people achieve great things because of their communities and families. It’s not a stretch to figure out which of those two messages is more likely to appeal to the majority of voters.





















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Comments (117)
Too_Far_Gone
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:07amLets use a little common sense here, although I know that’s hard for a few ..
If Romney was a progressive, I don’t think he is anymore, the Mans not blind, look how well it’s worked out so far ..
What the hell is wrong with some of you ? oh yea your libs, the only living brain doners ..
Report Post »Uranium Wedge
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:24amThats it? Thats all they got?
Report Post »Wow.
historyguy48
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 7:18amComrade while I hope you are correct, Zebras usually don’t change their stripes!
Report Post »If this stupid ad is the best the communists can do, then they had better be prepared to prevent this election from happening. Which, of course, they are!
HKS
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 7:57amThat’s all, and they had to dig ten years deep for that?
Report Post »HKS
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 7:58amCould Obama fair well if you could dig ten years back in his past?
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 8:16amGood God… Really? Olympians are not businesses!!!! Olympians TAKE, they do not GIVE! They TAKE money from Government and charity from family and friends and the community who supports them…Does a business do that? Not unless you are a thief!!
Report Post »yougottabekidding
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 9:20amHow bout Hussains possession and use of drugs?
Report Post »That is a felony !
VRW Conspirator
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 9:38am@History
Report Post »Really…people with reasonable minds can’t change their minds…
Go read the words of the Founding Fathers and find out how many of them EVEN AFTER the American Revolution, the Declaration, and the Constitution STILL thought we should reconcile with Great Britian, maybe not to be one country again but certainly through political and military treaties.
Some of the Founders were drug kicking and screaming into the Declaration, some even walked out of the Convention and had to be replaced by their States because they REFUSED to accept that diplomacy could not reconcile the Colonies with the Crown.
Most of these men would all later come around either during the Revolution or after in support of independence, some went the other way and turned traitor to the USA and fought against independence.
I have no problem with Romney having a “come to Jesus” moment and saying “you know what, I was wrong on….” and changing to a more conservative viewpoint. Anyone that says it is impossible or that it can’t happen is an outright LIAR because NOBODY has the same opinions today they had when they were 5 or 10 or 20…unless you still are those ages…I have seen my views move MORE libertarian since listening to talk radio like Larry Elder and Jerry Doyle and Glenn Beck even though I am primarily still a Reagan Constitutional Conservative..strong defense, protection for life at all levels, and personal liberty in all other things.
IsThereADifference
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 10:14amThat is a lame comparrison, but it doesnt change the fact that Romney is progressive liberal who loves big government. A man who wants to create amnesty for illegals, a man who signed an assult weapons ban in his liberal state, and will create his own form of government healthcare… Facts are Facts…. Deal with it.
Report Post »Individualism
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 10:56amit was just a stupid thing to attack anyone on because its inevitable that most likely someone helped you in some way along the way, very few folks do 100 percent themselves.
Report Post »Iron_Wyll
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:20pmThe libs are nut cannons.
Report Post »G-WHIZ
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:22pmMany communist countries take “chosen” young children from their parents and raise them to be OLIMPIANS, only, from the ground up!! They lightly(maybe)suplimate the parents, ONLY if their kids “perform” ammazingly well in the olympics!! These are modern slave-factories. China uses thousands of these lemming-peformers in “Herr Leader’s ” parrades and other huge events, every year!! Lookit the 500-children display at these events all in LOC-STEP!! If not…they “dissapear” and immediatly, annother is waiting to replace!!
Report Post »Man-On-A-Mission
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:43pmThat’s it…you do not know what this man is or what he is for…….
Flip……Flop Romney….
Go OBAMA
Report Post »IsThereADifference
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:58pmMan-On-A-Mission
If I had the powere I would buy Obama and Romney two one-way tickets to Hell.
Just FYI
Report Post »lylejk
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:02amIf anything is a case of apples versus oranges, this one is. MSNBC needs to continue to dig; almost 6 feet under which is a good thing. :)
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 3:56amDid Romney say that athletes exist because the government made it possible? No!
Report Post »rangerp
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:02amthe comparison does not work
Listen to Romney. He praises the athletes, he talks about their sacrifice, their dedication, their hard work. After praise of the athletes, he then talks about the help they got from family, coaches, and community. Never does Romney give credit to federal, state, or local government, or talk of taxes.
Obama on the other hand speaks of the business owner with a disdain. He does not praise their work, he tells them they worked no harder than anyone else, then he tells them they are not smarter than anyone else. Then he point blank tells them that they did not build their business. The MSM is trying to spin it, and claim he did not say that. They are lying, listen to the clip, it is exactly what he said.
Report Post »rangerp
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:16amWhen that skinny, big eared, turd burger comes off the teleprompter, the real Obama comes out, and the communism pours from his slimey, forked tongue mouth like crap from a goose.
This is the reason you will never see a real debate between him and Romney. The MSM will run the whole thing, and it will be softball questions, and short answers, to allow Flappy Ears the ability to sling out a few talking points, and hide. In a real debate, I could blow him out of the water. A real debater would destroy that idiot.
Report Post »VoteBushIn12
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:13amIf you would watch the entire Obama clip instead of the 5 seconds Foxy News plays you’d realize that Obama did the EXACT SAME THING. He praised hard working business owners and then, in the same way Romney went on to praise those that helped them achieve, so too does Obama explain they did not get there alone
This quote is from the same speech – not 30 seconds after delivering his infamous line of “you didn’t build that”:
“The point is that when we succeed we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we did things together.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192oEC5TX_Q
Skip to 1:59
So stop buying into the propaganda and listen to what was actually said before you make your conclusion.
Report Post »inblack
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:32am@VOTEBUSHIN12
Wrong. Just watched the clip again and what you say is a lie.
He does not praise business owners.
1) He says he has cut a trillion from the deficit – A lie.
2) He takes credit for the Clinton/Gingrich “surplus”
3) He takes credit for MAKING millionaires.
4) He tells them they didn’t make it on their own.
It was nothing like Romney – he doesn’t give credit, he takes credit.
Obama dwells over and over not on parents but on govt and not one statement of you have people to thank, but repeated insults about how you didn’t make that.
Finally your last point is pure BS “The point is that when we succeed we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we did things together.”
What did “we” do together? Did you invest in my business, did you hire people, train them, motivate them? You must have missed the story of the little red hen. You didn’t do s-hit so keep you hands off.
Report Post »West Coast Patriot
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 2:05amThe main point we should be coming to here is not about Obama vs. Romney, but the progressive mindset that both of them have. Look at what is being given to you. They are not talking about the issues, they are bashing each other on who is more “American in what they determine that is.” I saw a Romney ad today that at the end he say’s “It’s OK, to Change.” It;s OK to change? It is the same old rhetoric. OK to Change? It is OK….little people to change to my way of thinking, change is good. I say it is not time to change ANYMORE! Look at what Hope and Change gave us. We need to Restore America back to what made it the greatest country in the world. When are all of you going to see that?
Report Post »It is not about change anymore. Stop listening to their lies. Some of you have posted on here that we cannot change too drastically,and you are right. We cannot throw the gears into reverse and start heading the other direction at 100 miles per hour all at once, and Dr. Paul has said just that. But we do need to throw the brakes on strong, slow to a stop and then start the turn backwards. We cannot wait while we slow by 10-20 miles per hour and put the brakes on slowly. Paul is the only one that would slam on the brakes and make plans to turn us in the right direction. Wake Up before it is too late.
Ron Paul 2012!
“Restore America Now!”
RJJinGadsden
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 7:32amVOTEBUSHIN12, I‘ve not only heard 0bama’s entire speech, I’ve also read the complete transcript. I’ve even posted a link to that transcript on a number of stories here on the Blaze. To come to your interpretation, you really have to want to see it your way. Yeah, he finally caught himself and tried to walk it back a little, but he said what he said. He went off teleprompter and tipped his hand regarding his true socialist beliefs in this matter.
Report Post »Take your own search engine and type in “Transcript 0bama You Didn’t Build This Speech” and you will probably have to look around briefly. But, you will find the complete transcript. Yeah, go ahead and read the whole thing.
Paydert33
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 9:02amRANGERP……..Both of your Posts are very good! “The skinny, big eared, turd burger without the teleprompter” is right on. I have to read your posts over and over to help with my day, as I can’t take it anymore with Krauthammer and the boys saying obama is going to win re-election. I’m over-whelmed with their ‘audacity’.
Report Post »West Coast Patriot
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:34pmPaydert33, I am sorry you are having a meltdown from media pundits saying Obama will win, but what they are saying is true. Romney cannot solidify support from 100% of the Republican Party. How will he gain support from the Dems or the Indy’s? The youth are split between Obama and Paul. The facts show that Paul supporters will not vote for Paul, they are split between voting third party or writing in Paul’s name and they make up half or better of Independents. The facts show what they show, and nothing can change that. If you truly want Obama out and you truly will vote for anyone but Obama, you should start considering the only candidate left that would bring votes from the entire spectrum, Ron Paul.
Report Post »Paydert33
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 3:49pmYea, right, WEST COAST PATRIOT…..I’ll sure hang my hat on that one….Ron Paul….Gee, I can hardly wait for the election returns on that one. Some people are so funny. NOT.
Report Post »Tankertony
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:00amThey’re so desperate (and childish) that they have ‘Truth Teams’.
It’s embarrassing.
Report Post »seeker9
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:54pmI don’t understand. Did the Olympics want to raise taxes? Maybe the Olympian taxes. Take all the gold medals and divide them up equally?
Report Post »MeteoricLimbo
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:50pmNo, he simply gave credit where credit was due. Pretty classy I thought
Report Post »inblack
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:07amNo comparison.
There is a big difference between thanking parents and communities and having the govt rape you for all the money you have because they OWN you and your business.
Obama is not giving credit, he is taking credit and taking your freedom.
Report Post »MeteoricLimbo
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:29am@ INBLACK
Report Post »The article headline poses a question. My answer was No. Then I watched the video of Romney in the article. I thought Romney was classy in the way he gave credit where credit was due. sorry for the misunderstanding.
SCREW-WINDOWS
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:19amThere’s a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.
Report Post »FZ.
inblack
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:20am@METEORICLIMBO
I was agreeing with you. Next time I’ll lead with “agreed”.
Report Post »JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:42pmSo far in my mind I think Romney knows how to make money and all I’ve seen the President make are divides. Romney has taken losers and made them winners, The President made excuses and, and, oh yeah, class warfare. His hope & change has turned into our hope for change. ROMNEY 2012
Report Post »SimpleTruths
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:38pmRomney, through Bain, took marginal companies, squeezed what ever juice they had left in them and tossed them into the wastebasket. Get your story straight.
Report Post »lassiegirldawn
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:01pmIf that is the case, we can all give credit to parents for raising us and giving us morals, advice and support in our lives. That is the difference between Romney and the Commie In Chief.
Report Post »freedom1656
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:22amI like that LoL ….Romney or The Commie? New,simple,straight to the point :)
Report Post »Hobbs57
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:00pmTell me what the Olympians are producing that generates a profit ?? A profit which Obama who point is in claiming ?? Businesses produce something or provide a service. There is no comparison and Romney is correct to a degree. I don’t know how many of you have kids, but with out significant contribution from the parents, financially and otherwise, (coaches, fields, facilities and so on), the chances are slim a athlete can make it to the top tier, let alone Olympic level. Try to raise a gymnast and tell me a kid is going to do it without support from family. Businesses are built through the sheer efforts of the individual who owns them. One who most likely will lose significant capital, time and resources along the way in building that company. These idiot intellects don’t a clue about either of these subjects, so they just need to take a back seat and shut up !
Report Post »TreeTrimmerJim
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:27amDo Olympians generate cash flow? Ask the folks who sell advertisement so we can see the Olympians on TV.
Report Post »phrogdriver
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:55pmComparing that speech to Obama’s is about like comparing John Locke to Karl Marx.
Report Post »JustPeachy
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:52pmMan are they desperate!!!
Just because Obama is bungling both his Presidency AND campaign. . .!!! lol
Report Post »Too_Far_Gone
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:45pmO Brother ..
One Word, Desperate ..
Report Post »DoomsdayProphet
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:39pmYou didn’t get anywhere on your own as an athlete. You put the work in. You have the skill. People taught you to hone your craft. You cannot teach speed only help it’s technique. A business however you put in the work you put in the brains and planning. Much different.
Report Post »phrogdriver
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:39pmObama’s speech was not a “gaffe”. “57 states” is a gaffe. “You didn’t build that” is a glimspe into the man’s soul – a glimpse of what he truly believes. He is a Marxist. His “gaffe” was revealing that fact.
Report Post »standupbcounted
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:08pmWhen he said he would “fundamentally change America” we really didn’t understand what he meant but now after all he has done to bring this country down we understand he is a socialist/communist.
Report Post »TrueSoundsOfLiberty
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 2:32amAnd voter suppression isn’t a gaffe either
Report Post »http://youtu.be/EuOT1bRYdK8
soybomb315
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:38pmSo Romney is more Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama…Remember her “it takes a village….”
Anyone but Obama, right?
Report Post »seeker9
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:33pmHillary said in 2008, “There are too many rich people in this country”.
Report Post »jp2feminist
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:31pmPul-eeze!!! This is not a “you did not build it” speech. He clearly gave credit to all the hard work and determination of the Olympians. That‘s a far cry from Obama’s claim that people who built businesses aren’t “so smart.”
Report Post »Kankokage
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:28pmTheir desperation will be their undoing. The words might look the same, but they aren’t. And the meaning is nothing at all resembling what Obama vomited.
It is the difference between saying “I’d like to thank so and so for their help“ versus ”you can’t succeed without me”.
Report Post »PATTY HENRY
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:41pmREALLY??? EVERYONE knows that it’s the moms and dads who get up at 5 AM or 4 AM for YEARS
Report Post »but that doesn’t in any way take AWAY from the efforts these Olympians made. THAT is the DIFFERENCE. Ostupid says that the Entrepreneur didn’t build his business by himself but CREDITS the GOVERNMENT with the success. THAT DOPE doesn’t credit WE the PEOPLE who pay for the bloody government !!! ONE MORE TIME: OBAMA, every pencil, every office chair, every telephone, every piece of paper, copier/fax machine, security guard, file folder, stamp, everything is paid for by US…we the people (well half of us pay for ALL of us).
This is not the same as the team of supporters with the Olympian. OBAMA was NOT talking about a team…he (the dope that he is) talking purely about the GOVERNMENT BEING THE ONLY ENABLER and that one comment has cost him the second term. Hallelujah!
glad2btex
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:20pmKankokage, YOU ROCK!!!
Report Post »Mutiny
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:17pmThat is pretty similar, but who still thinks Romney isnt a progressive liberal?
Report Post »Too_Far_Gone
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:46pmmoron ..
Report Post »PATTY HENRY
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:50pmNO, ROMNEY LOVES AMERICA. Progressive Liberals want a ONE WORLD situation, LIKE JOHN MCCAIN. These traitors don’t want OUR borders protected, or our people or our resources. ROMNEY does want these items protected BY AMERICANS for AMERICANS. Don’t try to brush him with the Billy Krystol brush. “kay?
Report Post »soybomb315
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:50pm@TOO FAR
Report Post »a progressive AND moron? Well i guess they are one in the same
Mutiny
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:26pm@patty
So John McCain doesnt love this country? What does Romney do policy wise that protects “OUR borders protected, or our people or our resources”?
Fill me in on major nation changing differences between Romney and Obama. I am not looking for garbage like who smoked pot, who was a bully, who ate a dog, or what crazy church one went to. I want real nation changing differences in plans.
Report Post »PATTY HENRY
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:51amJohn McCain has consistently gone for AMNESTY and until he was cornered in his last election, he was
Report Post »very much for open borders; He straddles both side of most issues (like a politician who has done -0- else for 30 years, His comments many times are those of a person who buys into the “UGLY AMERICAN” description of us. I personally think he was very brainwashed, but I don’t think you can find any speech or even sound-bite BEFORE 2010 that was forcefully PRO American. WHEREAS I believe ROMNEY has not been jaded or has no need to rely on snobbery about “interloping America” and I believe that for years McCain has played that INSIDE THE BELTWAY – DC SNOBBERY. He didin’t say zilch to support GW re: WMD that I ever heard, and yet today…TODAY… Syria is threatening the world with WMD…where did they get them? Could it possibly have been SADDAM’S stash that was loaded in trucks and transported to SYRIA just moments before SHOCK and AWE? of course. Romney made his own money (yes he did – his inheritance when to his church and he started out with -0- by his own choice) ; McCain had his second wife’s money from the Beer Distribution Co. …there is a big difference in these two men. Thank Goodness!
freedom1656
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:02amWe know the playbook, they have yet to add to it and the one in there now is showing us everything it’s almost indecent exposure
Report Post »Mutiny
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:42am@patty
My response landed on page 2.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:17pmTrust me … you WILL LIKE THIS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgbwlnpY5B8&feature=autoshare
Report Post »bobbyjoe
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:19pmLove it …The Bro Gotta Go
Report Post »Too_Far_Gone
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:39pmHe ain‘t my bro but he’s gotta go ..
Good one, sent it to all on my list ..
Report Post »MeteoricLimbo
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 11:59pmThat Nate Smoove must be a racist since he hates Obama
Report Post »Diane TX
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:58amYep, The Bro Gotta Go.
Having owned a small Corporation for 25 years, there are always those people whom you come to realize you have to fire. You gave them a chance, but they’re not doing what you expected them to do. Obama is like an employee that just didn’t work out. Yep, The Bro Gotta Go.
Report Post »Dick Blitskreig
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:16pmI wish I could work at MSNBC, no fact check, no retractions and a fanatical fan base that believes what ever you say.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:21pmNeverland.
OMG 2012 LIBERTY!
Report Post »Mutiny
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:22pmHow did MSNBC not fact check this. Its Romney in his own words. Did they doctor the tape?
Report Post »mrmikejohnson
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:15pmCan I rip MSNBC for digging up old clips on Romney but not doing the same with Obama for the last 3 1/2 years?
Report Post »Mutiny
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:28pmHonestly you cannot. MSNBC has a agenda. We all know it, they know it. To act like the liberal media will play fair is just naive.
Report Post »Pack Man
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:14pmThat is quite a reach. Is Team Obama really going to run this out as a viable comparison? Yea, probably…
Report Post »West Coast Patriot
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:38pmPack Man, Why wouldn’t they? Both sides are doing nothing but trying to bash the other, forget the issues. They do this because neither has a good plan to help us out of the mess we are in. I am voting Paul, win, lose or draw.
Report Post »Docroxall
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:11pmI DID achieve all I have with the help of friends and family…the government has done NOTHING for me, but put obstacle after obstacle in my way…and they can kiss my libertarian backside!
Report Post »CatB
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:11pmMSNBC .. working hard for the Obama campaign … doesn’t work though .. he isn’t saying they “didn’t do that” … he says that they were supported by their families and communities .. no one disputes that .. but they did it with THEIR HARD WORK. Nice try NBC …
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:06pmnot even close
words have meanings, now matter how hard the left tries to twist them
and to rached madcow who tried pulling this stunt …………………. DESPERATE MUCH ?
Report Post »RJJinGadsden
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:20pmCan’t even call Madcow the master of spin. Her attempts are so transparent that they are often hilarious. The lefties who swoon over her would make any slick talking snake oil salesman rich beyond his dreams. She is just the master of the most tries at spinning.
Report Post »Mutiny
Posted on July 23, 2012 at 10:21pmThis is the way the game is played. Dont forget Romney did throw the “community” in his speech.
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