Oh come on now. Not only was it taken completely out of context but it's plain as the nose on your face the repugs fed off a one liner without actually putting what he said into context.
I'm not addressing how others saw or spun the speech. I deal only with I personally see. And I see a gaffe. It's a fascinating one because I'm
sure he would rather have worded it differently, but the message of the single out of context sentence still resonates with the rest of his speech.
The gist of it was (as I see it) that entrepreneurs don't work harder & aren't smarter, but they're just luckier, & they depend upon government for
infrastructure to build a business. It all paints a picture that they don't much deserve their consequent wealth, setting the stage for raising taxes on them.
I'm not alone in this, nor is it a strictly partisan view, since I've heard similar sentiments from people who actually
agree with the misinterpretation.
The speech had nothing to do with small or big business owners not doing X. It had to do with them not doing it by themselves. In fact the entire speech he touched on making sure business owners continue doing what they do. Here's the speech in its original context....and none of hit had to do with him demonizing business owners....
If one parses his words carefully, that makes sense. But I consider
why he said what he said, & see the reasons stated above.
There's no argument about his wanting to raise taxes on the wealthier among us, but there will be opposition to it.
He's trying to bolster his position.
And for all those rallying against him on this non issue....including the new (joe the plumber) in that TV add....that guys actually DID get help growing his business. He got it from the local government. In fact if you watched him on FAUX he actually agreed with the president...which seemed to be a 180 from that Romney TV add....
I can't speak for them. But I agree that his gaffe is a non-issue, as are Romney's gaffes.
They're all human, so they all do it. I personally oppose Obama for agenda based reasons.
But then, that's why I won't vote for Romney either.
I agree that they deserve the success but it's also true that many of them in fact do or have relied on government (local and federal) to assist them in growing their business.
This is where I see dishonesty in Obama's speech...creating a controversy where there is none. Pubs are also big big spenders on public works.
You should be railing against us Librertarians, because we're the ones who would scale gov't back....not the party of Fox News.
BTW, I don't give significance to his dishonesty, since Romney has candor & honesty lapses too.
I don't even know how honest my guy (Gary Johnson) is. I care about what I think they'll accomplish in office.
It ain't like I'm going to marry any of them. (Not my type.)