‘You Didn’t Build That,’ Uncut and Unedited

http://factcheck.org/2012/07/you-didnt-build-that-uncut-and-unedited/

Mitt Romney and his allies have attacked President Barack Obama — often out of context — for saying, “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

• American Crossroads posted a 60-second Web video called “Build” that shows small-business owners reacting to Obama’s “you didn’t build that” comment.
• The Romney campaign replays Obama saying “if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that” five times in a 15-second video as part of a “petition” drive. It also uses the quote in an email fundraising appeal.
• Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts posted a two-and-a-half-minute Web video that juxtaposes the president’s remarks against statements made by other presidents on the importance of free enterprise.

There’s no question Obama inartfully phrased those two sentences, but it’s clear from the context what the president was talking about. He spoke of government — including government-funded education, infrastructure and research — assisting businesses to make what he called “this unbelievable American system that we have.”

In summary, he said: “The point is … that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.”

In Context

Obama, July 13: There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.)

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

Out of Context

American Crossroads, the conservative group founded with the help of Karl Rove, posted aWeb video July 20 that features the president’s comments. Twice, Obama is shown saying: “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

Small-business owners responded to the president’s remarks with outrage. “What an insult,” says one.

The video does not include any other remarks from the president’s speech, including the five sentences preceding his remarks when he says: “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges.”

Three days earlier, the Romney campaign posted a 15-second video that shows the president saying over and over, “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.” Five times, in all.

here is another bald face misinformation scheme from Rove and the boyz.

we cannot allow their constant barrage of lies influence us, if you know someone on the fence show them which grass is greener for them.