Turns Out that the Small Business Owner in Romney Ad Actually 100% Agrees with Obama

[Seti-Alpha 5]

Neil Cavuto of Fox News interviewed the small business owner in the Romney ad who's name is Jack Gilchrist and turns out that he completely agrees with President Obama.

This part of the interview was edited and deleted from Fox News website but here's a transcript and video for anyone who missed it.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS:" The President`s message is you had help along
the way, the government was there, there was a support structure there,
that without which, you wouldnt have done what you did. What do you say?"

JACK GILCHRIST, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER:" Well, there`s truth to what he
said. I mean, my 11th grade English teacher made an impression
on me that will last with me for the rest of my life. I can`t even tell
you what, but she just sticks with me.

I think my dad and his parents, the great generations on their backs,
we built the interstate highway system and the bridges and whatnot. But we
all pay taxes every time we put gas in our tanks which go to maintaining
and keeping up the roads and the bridges.

I think the military maybe? I`m not sure if it`s Al Gore or the
military which created the Internet. For whatever purpose it was intended.
We all get to benefit from it since then.

So yes, there`s been some help along the way."




http://www.flickr.com/photos/24230825@N02/7607288708/

[RAINIER]

The Romney campaign has been making much out of an out-of-context President Obama quote.They suggested that the president was telling business owners that they didn’t create their own business, taking the “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that” remark out of context.

In a campaign ad, the Romney campaign spliced out the “roads and bridges” which is what the president was referring to as “that” when he said “you didn’t build that.”

In the TV ad, Romney features an offended New Hampshire businessman, saying, “My father’s hands didn’t build this company? My hands didn’t build this company? My son’s hands aren’t building this company?”

In 1999 the business in question, Gilchrist Metal, “received $800,000 in tax-exempt revenue bonds issued by the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority ‘to set up a second manufacturing plant and purchase equipment to produce high definition television broadcasting equipment’…” In addition, in 2011, Gilchrist Metal “received two U.S. Navy sub-contracts totaling about $83,000 and a smaller, $5,600 Coast Guard contract in 2008.

The businessman, Jack Gilchrist, also acknowledged that in the 1980s the company received a U.S. Small Business Administration loan totaling “somewhere south of” $500,000, and matching funds from the federally-funded New England Trade Adjustment Assistance Center.

“I’m not going to turn a blind eye because the money came from the government,” Gilchrest said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m getting some of my tax money back. I’m not stupid, I’m not going to say ‘no.’ Shame on me if I didn’t use what’s available.” by Jake Tapper
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...and-contracts/

[Seti-Alpha 5]

Mitt Romney has criticized President Obama for his “you didn’t build that line,” when it came to businesses. The president was making an “it takes a village” argument, which the Romney campaign and conservatives have roundly panned.

But in 2002, during his speech at the Opening Ceremonies at the Winter Olympics -- the games in which Romney was lauded for turning around the management -- Romney made a similar argument about Olympians.

"You Olympians, however, know you didn't get here solely on your own power,” said Romney, who on Friday will attend the Opening Ceremonies of this year’s Summer Olympics. “For most of you, loving parents, sisters or brothers, encouraged your hopes, coaches guided, communities built venues in order to organize competitions. All Olympians stand on the shoulders of those who lifted them. We’ve already cheered the Olympians, let’s also cheer the parents, coaches, and communities. All right! [pumps fist].”




Romney's It Takes a Village Speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIGpIlbuw8o

[T'Pol]

Romney took it out of context and twisted it to make it sound like something else. Obama actually said

"Somebody invested in roads and bridges, if you've got a business, you didn't build that, somebody else made that happen.

Romney also left out the most important part of the speech

"The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together."

He meant that the taxpayers and government built those roads and bridges, without which the private sector would not be able to develop or function.

[XRISTO]

Ball Office Products, another small business in the Romney ads, received a $635,000 Small Business Administration loan. Yet they're upset that anyone would suggest that they received help from the government.

[RonTiger]

Romney is a billionaire

[XRISTO]

The star of the most recent Mitt Romney campaign ad criticizing President Barack Obama for arguing that government can play a constructive role in helping business has major business dealings with government entities. Dennis Sollmann, the owner of Sollmann Electric Company, appears in a Romney web ad that plays off the president's now infamous "you didn't build that" line.
Sollmann says in the ad. "He was trying to say: ‘Hey, you didn’t build that business on your own. The government helped you build it.’ And that’s what ticked me off more than anything." An electric construction company in Sidney, Ohio, Sollmann Electric has done work on commercial, residential and industrial properties. It has also serviced "hospitals, government and educational" facilities -- many of which rely on taxpayer funding. Neither Sollmann nor his company returned a request for comment as to how much money in government contracts they have earned. But a quick Google search turned up several instances in which the company either sought out or worked directly with government entities. According to notes from a Jan. 26, 2006 meeting of the Ohio School Facilities Commission, Sollmann Electrical Company was rewarded a $915,117 government contract for work in the Trotwood-Madison City school district.
Notes from a May 31, 2007 meeting of the same body show that Sollmann Electrical Company placed a $1,080,700 bid to do work in the Dayton County School District. This was the lowest bid offered and the commission recommended that it be finalized.
According to notes from a May 25, 2010 meeting of the School Facilities Commission, meanwhile, Sollmann Electrical Company was awarded a $1,689,829 government contract for work in the Miami East school district. Sollmann was also a contractor for work on the Horace Mann School in Dayton, Ohio, according to an Ohio School Facilities Commission form filled out in April 2008. Horace Mann is a public school, an official there said.

In November of 2011, Sollmann made a $274,792 bid with the Ohio Department of Administrative Services to do work on a building expansion at Rhodes State College, another public school. The first project listed on Sollmann's own website is the work the company did building St. Marys Memorial High School and St. Marys Middle School in St. Marys, Ohio. A St. Marys official confirmed that they are public schools housed in a complex that was recently rebuilt.
Sam Stein

[Seti-Alpha 5]

Here's two more that you left out who feigned outrage in the ads while at the same time receiving government assistance in some form or another for their business.

Steve Miller, president of Millwood Inc., appeared in the Web ad for "We Did Build This."

"I couldn't put my faith in the government or the banks -- no one wanted to talk to me," Miller said, describing the rough start to his business.

However, Millwood received a state tax break of $44,226, Ohio Department of Development records show.

The president of Service Spring Corp. also participated in the campaign. The company received a $70,000 Ohio Workforce Guarantee in 2005.

[MEMBER_FDIC]

Originally posted by RonTiger; Romney is a billionaire

You could be right. He claims to be worth only 250 million but some tax professionals speculate that he could be worth billions instead because of his secret bank account tax shelters in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and the fact that he refuses to release more than two years of tax returns. Of the two that he has released, 2010 is incomplete.

[frail]

I have removed a lot of incendiary and uncivil posts in this thread. Please discuss the issues, not each other. If you have a gripe with someone's conduct please bring it to the attention of the forum moderators.