“You Didn’t Build That” Isn’t Going Away: It doesn’t matter what Obama meant. Here’s why.

Slate ^ | August 30, 2012 | Rachael Larimore

[2ndDivisionVet]

The official theme of the GOP convention Wednesday night was "We Can Change That," but that didn’t stop several of the speakers from revisiting Tuesday’s theme, the base-rallying battle cry: “We Built It.” The message: The righteous exploitation of President Obama’s “You Didn’t Build That” gaffe isn’t going away.

Ever since the president stood before a crowd of supporters in Roanoke, Va., on July 13 and, while explaining why the wealthy should pay more in taxes, uttered the infamous words “If you've got a business—you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen,” conservatives have hammered him for his disregard for small-business owners. And liberals have hammered back that Obama was taken out of context. To be fair, this is the full quote:

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.

Obama supporters can complain all they want. They can argue that when he said “that,” he was talking about the roads and bridges, not the business itself. It doesn’t matter. And it’s pointless to blame Mitt Romney or the RNC or anyone else for taking it out of context. Here’s why....

[Honorary Serb]

“Eat your peas” doesn’t mean anything!!!!

[Mack the knife]

The perfect counterexample to the “you didn’t build that” meme is any episode of “flip that house”.

The houses are out there for anyone to find

Investor financing is out there for anyone to find

Anyone could learn to bring a contractor to estimate cost of repairs

Anyone could learn how to put the deal together and monitor it.

Anyone could learn how to sell the completed property

Very Very few do, and make significant money doing so. But of course, the persons who do so “didn’t build it themselves”.

[2ndDivisionVet]

And the secrets cost next to nothing used on e-bay, Craigslist and Amazon.

[a fool in paradise]

The Slate didn’t care what Akin meant about “legitimate rape”.

The Slate didn’t care what Bush meant by “mission accomplished”.

Barry was caught once again using the Marxist belief that all property is theft and that redistribution is the only moral response to success.

[GOPJ]

If you think that's something, you better sit down for this. Saturday and Sunday I read two articles that were actually 'nice' to Romney. They were in the --- New York Times! Honest 'Injun'. I'm not kidding. I had to double check the URL to make sure I was at the right website. And yep, it was the NYT.

Like you, I'm stunned. The New York Time's has to be up to something... Either that or the world's ending...

[PGalt]

Thanks for the post/ping to this very good thread. Thanks for those quotes, garjog. BTTT!

[PGalt]

Very good article by Rachael Larimore. Thanks for posting.