Welcome, friends. The purpose of this regular series is to promote enthusiasm and action among Daily Kos members. Romney will very likely out-fundraise President Obama. However, we believe that we can still win if (1) we can remain competitive financially, and (2) we volunteer our time and energy (GOTV, canvassing, phonebanking, LTE, ...).
ObamaNightlyNews posts every night at 9:00 ET, 8:00 CT, 7:00 MT, 6:00 PT
|
The President's Schedule - 7/25/2012 - Eastern Time
12:25 pm The President departs Seattle, Washington en route to New Orleans, Louisiana
4:25 pm The President arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana
6:45 pm The President delivers remarks at a campaign event (The House of Blues)
8:00 pm The President delivers remarks the National Urban League convention (Ernest N. Morial Convention Center)
The news has been filled with charges and rebuttals surrounding quotes pulled from President Obama's statement in Roanoke, Va., on July 13. These words:
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.
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.
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.
That quote was "massaged" by Gov. Romney's campaign staff until it sounded like an attack on small business people amidst the claim that they did not build anything at all on their own.
The Obama campaign is not letting that lie go unchallenged.
Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter:
Stephanie Cutter shares how Mitt Romney's new TV ad blatantly twists President Obama's words on small business owners and entrepreneurs. Mitt Romney is not telling the truth about what the President said, and he is taking the President's words out of context.
President Obama has consistently fought for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The President knows that hard working people turning ideas into successful businesses built the American middle class.
Here is the latest campaign ad with President Obama once again speaking directly to the camera ... and to the American people:
"Those ads taking my words about small business out of context; they're flat out wrong. Of course Americans build their own business. Everyday hard-working people sacrifice to meet a payroll, create jobs, and make our economy run.
And what I said was that we need to stand behind them as America always has. By investing in education, training, roads and bridges, research and technology. I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message because I believe we're all in this together."
The direct to the camera approach was used last week in this powerful ad, one of the best of the cycle:
"Over the next four months you have a choice to make. Not just between two political parties or even two people. It's a choice between two very different plans for our country.
Governor Romney's plan would cut taxes for the folks at the very top, roll back regulations on big banks, and he says that if we do our economy will grow and everyone will benefit.
But you know what? We tried that top-down approach. It's what caused the mess in the first place.
I believe the only way to create an economy built to last is to strengthen the middle class. Asking the wealthy to pay a little more so we can pay down our debt in a balanced way. So that we can afford to invest in education, manufacturing, and homegrown American energy for good middle class jobs. Sometimes politics can seem very small. But the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger."