obama basically saying the rich got that way through luck or handouts

Yes

 

If that's the way he meant it, why didn't he say that?

There would literally be no point to saying that people have been influenced by others. I don't think anyone is pretending to live in a vacuum. It seemed pretty clear that he was trying to downplay individual success to make others feel better and make people feel more dependent on the government than they actually are.

 

"If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that".

Only 1 way to interpret the sentence; that = business.

 

"If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that".

I can italicize words too.

 

Here's the other obvious option. He simply misspoke. I'm not voting for Obama, and, while I think this is fair political game, I don't think what's being portrayed is what he actually meant.

 

Then he did a lot of misspeaking in that short paragraph -"Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”

 

I actually think it goes to show how bad he is off teleprompter.

 

So, now you're disputing this claim as well? I was under the impression that government was involved in some capacity in the '60s in the beginning of the internet. And, I don't see how this has anything to do with the business comment.

 

That is some insightful gov’t we have. They created the Internet in the 1960’s so that companies in the 2000’s could make money off it..

 

duplicate

 

If you actually break down what he said, it makes no sense.

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,” he said. “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.”

I am successful because I had a teacher (doesn't everybody)

I am successful because somebody invested in bridges and roads for my use (doesn't everybody have access to those same bridges and roads)

I am successful because the gov't invested in the Internet so I could make money (doesn't everybody have the same access to the Internet)

I am not successful because I am smarter or work harder yet those are the only two things in his speech that separates some from others. The things he said make me successful are available to all. So why aren't all successful?

 

If you guys scrutinized the words of Jesus as much as you do Teleprompter Jesus... Well, it'd be interesting.

 

GOP Operatives Praise Scott Brown's Latest Ad

'A model for others to follow if they get as lucky with an opponent so far out of touch with American ideals.'

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/gop-operatives-praise-scott-browns-latest-ad_648915.html

[video=youtube;oqDIjGsBEP8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqDIjGsBEP8&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

"What I said was together we build roads and we build bridges."

It doesn't take a great deal of scruitiny to realize that's not what he was originally trying to say.

 

Really? Because before he even made that clarification I was in this thread saying he meant that. I guess people will only hear stupidity and evil if that is all they are looking to hear from him.

 

For a guy that is this accomplished as a public speaker how could you possibly argue he was talking about roads?

If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen

It's in the same sentence. This is pretty basic grammar. The "you didn't build that" is refering to the business. And why add the "somebody else made that happen" portion? Once again that's clearly refering to the building of the business. I'm blown away anyone could seriously think he was talking about the roads.

 

If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own

once again. He says specifically you didn't do it yourself if you are successful. do you disagree that is what he is saying in this part? He then follows it up with you didn't build that. The speech structure follows the same theme throughout. This is pretty clear. You'd had to argue he screwed up this part too since it's saying essentially the same thing. And frankly i don't think he or his speech writers are that dumb.

 

“Those ads taking my words about small business out of context — they’re flat-out wrong,” Obama says in the commercial. “Of course Americans build their own businesses. Every day, hardworking 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.”

 

He's just counting on people being stupid. If he is really as smart as everyone says he is, there would be no reason for him to clarify himself. After all, he is the smartest president that we have ever had according to some people. The man meant what he said and thats it.

 

Good thing you guys are here not only to tell a man what he said but what he meant too