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.

jeff2sf wrote:...
3. I don't like this. And by this I mean what the Democrats are doing. This is b.s. The fact checkers say it's b.s. and Romney is actually 100% right when he says Obama's just trying to distract from his record. He's literally 100% right about this.

jeff2sf wrote:Smooth, stop. That was an accurate use of the word literal.

jerseyhoya wrote:

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.

WhiteHouse.Gov

Youseff wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:

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.

WhiteHouse.Gov

So? All seams more than reasonable.

Youseff wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:

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.

WhiteHouse.Gov

So? All seams more than reasonable.

jerseyhoya wrote:

Youseff wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:

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.

WhiteHouse.Gov

So? All seams more than reasonable.

Depends if he's telling people they didn't build their businesses or didn't build the American system. If it's the latter the only problem is using 'that' to refer to something he said two sentences earlier. Telling people they didn't build their business seems rude though.

Elizabeth Warren said and possibly wrote:There is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory... Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.

jeff2sf wrote:1. I don't think they paid him "just" 100K. I think they paid him "at least" 100K. Probably because there's a form that says tell us your salary and the highest box to check was "100K +"

Swiggers wrote:The problem is the word "build." In the literal sense, the passage is correct, but in the figurative sense, it isn't. And most people interpret "build a business" in the figurative sense. Extremely tone-deaf writing there.

Youseff wrote:I guess you're better at reading nuance and subtext than me because I don't see him saying that at all.

jerseyhoya wrote:

Youseff wrote:I guess you're better at reading nuance and subtext than me because I don't see him saying that at all.

He said "If you've got a business -- you didn't build that."

I think you're looking too hard at nuance and subtext and not looking at the plain English of what he said. It's either badly written or poorly delivered.