Gibson writes: "The Republican Party having their national convention with a 'We Built This' theme in a stadium made possible by the government spending they claim to hate is the perfect illustration of how silly today's Republican Party has become."
A Tampa police armored vehicle is parked outside The Tampa Bay Times Forum in downtown Tampa. (photo: Brian Blanco/Reuters)
RNC You Didn't Build That
25 August 12
Reader Supported News | Perspective
he entire theme of the upcoming Republican National Convention in Tampa is "We Built This." It's a dig at a remark Obama made at a Virginia campaign event, where he pushed the narrative that government investments in national infrastructure like good schools, good roads and good police/fire protection is essential to the success of the business community. Naturally, the GOP took a few words out of Obama's speech and sold it to a media eager to paint the president as anti-business, even though the stock market is near an all-time high and corporate profits are already at all-time highs.
At a nauseating campaign rally last week dubbed a "town hall meeting" in Manchester, New Hampshire, which turned away Democrats with tickets to the event, both candidates relentlessly harped on Obama's "you didn't build that" remark. The meticulously-scripted event only took questions from fawning supporters, one of whom was a small business owner who also reveled in the GOP's new favorite anti-Obama meme. Paul Ryan's twitter is full of such tired platitudes like: "I'm proud to stand with @MittRomney - a leader who knows that if you have a small business, you did build that!"
Ironically, the Tampa Bay Times Forum arena, the location the Republican Party chose to host a convention with the "We Built This" theme, was built with taxpayer funds, which accounted for $86 million, or 62%, of the total money needed to finance the construction of the stadium. It's a fitting paradox, as the GOP is expected to nominate a guy for president who made his millions tearing down American businesses and selling them to China, and a vice-presidential pick whose past voting history contradicts nearly every one of his current positions.
Like his party's philosophy, Paul Ryan is a walking contradiction. He didn't become a deficit hawk until Barack Obama was elected. The biggest spending bills during the Bush administration - tax cuts for the top 1%, two unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the costly Medicare Part D donut hole - all account for most of the current debt for which Ryan, who voted to add $6.8 trillion to the debt, is using to bludgeon Obama. At the August 20 campaign event in New Hampshire, Ryan managed to speak of 1 in 6 Americans living in poverty as "unacceptable" while keeping a straight face, while simultaneously championing a budget plan that would literally cut taxes for people like himself and Romney, while raising taxes on - and cutting paid-for benefits for - people like those in the audience cheering for him. The $4 trillion in cuts proposed in the Ryan budget is offset by the $4 trillion less in revenue that would be collected. Paul Ryan, like his budget, is a complete fraud.
Republicans like Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor blast big government spending in the press, while simultaneously lobbying for it in private. Ryan's district benefited from spending from Obama's Recovery Act, which used $20 million to make homes more energy-efficient. House Republican Leader Eric Cantor wrote this letter asking for government spending in his own district. Then, once the TV cameras are on, Cantor, Ryan, and the Republicans fall all over themselves to talk about how government doesn't create jobs. And in order to reinforce their false narrative that can't otherwise stand on its own under scrutiny, they fight to get more of themselves elected to office on the premise of "government can't do anything right," and vote down every proposal that would create jobs and improve the economy while saying, "See? We told you government doesn't do anything!"
The Republican Party having their national convention with a "We Built This" theme in a stadium made possible by the government spending they claim to hate is the perfect illustration of how silly today's Republican Party has become. If you're voting Republican in this election and you aren't a millionaire or a corporate lobbyist, you're proving to everyone around that you're just as silly as your politicians.
Carl Gibson, 25, is co-founder of US Uncut, a nationwide creative direct-action movement that mobilized tens of thousands of activists against corporate tax avoidance and budget cuts in the months leading up to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Carl and other US Uncut activists are featured in the documentary "We're Not Broke," which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He currently lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut. You can contact Carl at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and listen to his online radio talk show, Swag The Dog, at blogtalkradio.com/swag-the-dog.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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No, anyone fitting that description is an utter MORON who should lose his voting right.
Yeah, I wish I could pick out who could vote as well, ... you know, it's kind of like George W. Bush said, like you, the best system of government is a dictatorship, as long as he was the dictator.
Come on, comments like this have no place in a real discussion, and I am seeing so many of them here it is like the Huffington Post these days. And if you say the wrong thing everyone descends on your with a -1 ... gee-sus, sadly, this sort of proves that democracy is problematic.
By the time the 'PRIMARIES' have ended, the reality is you have already won or lost the elections because every available seat has been filled by corporate stooges or representatives of the people.
If you haven't noticed, the corporate stooges have completely taken over the primaries, only about 10% of those eligible vote so it's an easy win for the corporations and mass media.
Want your vote to count, then start voting in the primaries.
A big percentage of the Regressive vote is out of pure hatred for the Black Man in the White House. They know the Ryan budget is going to attack women and kill Medicare, and many of the social and infrastructure programs that benefit them, but BLIND HATRED has triumphed over common sense.
Then there's the BIG LIE about what Barack Obama hasn't done. They blast the Stimulus, but you've seen Regressives cutting ribbons at Stimulus projects, and many applied for Stimulus funds - INCLUDING PAUL RYAN. Economists agree that 2.5 to 3.5 Million jobs were created after Bush tanked the economy, losing 800 MILLION jobs/month.
And regarding "You Didn't Build It", I'm originally from Cincinnati, (in the most Conservative county in OH, Hamilton County - Boehner territory). In the late 1990's, the GOP-controlled county commissioners bought the Riverfront Stadium property from the city for $1 Million. They then launched a campaign to build a stadium for the Bengals, who were threateninng to leave. Reds owner, Marge Schott, said "What abut us?". So they pushed thru a bond issue during a spring primary to build TWO STADIUMS - ALMOST $1 BILLION! This is happening all across the country, and the TEAM OWNERS GET ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE PRIVATE BOXES, AND ALL OR A BIG % OF THE CONCESSIONS!
They didn't build it - they BILKED it!
Local, state, and federal government entities everywhere should get forensic accountants to see how much has been BILKED from contracts, loans, bond issues, pension funds, fee for service health care providers, Medicare Advantage providers (Advantage for who), and SGLI payments to the intended insurance beneficiaries. Seems they skim far and wide, and I don't think we can afford their "stewardship" anymore.
I notice the US Chamber of Commerce champions small business but supports those who take them to the cleaners.
Just for laughs, why don't we compare small business history in recovering from the Great Depression to see why they keep abusing those they use as an excuse, while turning a blind eye to staggering multi-trillion dollar bailouts to the very guys who got us into this mess (and still claim we owe them on falsely appraised "assets," and their derivatives bets they made with our deposits).
They have it all figured out how to keep the profits and make the taxpayers pay for the losses. What can we expect if R&R get in the white house? I don't see anything good.
"Houston, (pause) Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed."
Those words sparked the some of wildest cheering and joyous celebration I've ever been a part of. We heard them over a tiny screen b/w portable tv the gas station attendant, Chris Kuntz, had snuck in to John Adams’ Shell station on the corner of Granby Road and East St. I'll bet a lot of other people remember exactly where they were and who they were with (no matter how many years since we saw them). Kennedy's May 25, 1961 speech started the ball rolling, for me when the guidance counselor told me I couldn't go to a trade high school like I wanted, since anyone with the ability to learn had to prepare for a career in rocket science if that was where they would be most useful. I didn't make it to the rocket scientist stage but did end up on a path useful to many programs and actually made it to the 6594th Recovery Control Center room to listen in as the last Apollo (18, unofficially) returned from the Apollo-Soyuz mission. We heard the live results from the tiny procedural glitch that left them inhaling nitrogen tetroxide fumes and later recovery anomalies, 6 years and 4 days after Armstrong's moon landing (6 years to the day after the Hornet picked the Apollo 11 capsule and crew up).
(Part 2 of 3 follows)
(continued from part 1)
After 20 years in weather support, I got to work for an aerospace company that like many others had people who would "cheat," and put in hundreds of thousands of hours extra time for free, so people like Astronaut Cady Coleman could come to the plant and describe watching a launch from the very closest possible point, while holding the hand of a young child of one of the crew. She described the unbelievable roar, shock waves of sound and the hard-to-fathom Shuttle reaching 100mph when barely clear of the tower, but being able to reassure the child, “Your dad will be ok, everyone did the very best job they could possibly do.” The guys that were putting in 75 hours a week, started putting in even more, reaching a hundred or so, on occasions you will never find in bills sent to the government auditors (and never, ever, complained about).
(part 3 follows)
(continued from part 2)
Neil Armstrong’s Australian interview, his last, reveals what he was thinking as he made up, on the spot, “This is a small step by (a) man, a giant leap for mankind.” He felt he was just the guy on the schedule that was there when everything went well enough that they could actually land. The last part of the quote came from thinking about the 400,000 people (on the more official team) that got us to that point.
He, as always wanted to stay useful, so taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati for 8 years, after flying to the moon. In his path through life, his dad had taken him to the Cleveland Air Races when he was two, but his first ride in an airplane came when he was 6, in a Tri-motor, on July 20, 1933 (33 years to the day before he landed on the moon). He became an Eagle Scout and wanted to apply to MIT but an MIT grad dissuaded him from going to MIT and led him to the Holloway (Naval ROTC) program, instead.
For those who claim to have simply built their business, please consider what they, our country, and mankind throughout the world, got for helping make Neil Armstrong “useful.”
The BIG THEFT is in the works!
3 new churches were built by the city to help ease out residents, despite clear first amendment prohibition on establishment of religion.
The city made promises to replace homes and broke those promises. Affordable homes were built in a corner of the neighborhood in an earlier project. Hundreds of frail elderly residents were displaced to turn this into a luxury high rise called Urban Style Flats.
The city is currently adopting a new flat tax with an exemption for property worth over $10 million. This was written for billionaire Ed DeBartolo.
Tom - can you give me a link to the data you supplied, please?
http://www.pennyforpinellas.net/2007/11/post-election-surprise-450m-taxpayer.html
Most of this data comes from my memory, I am a resident of the part of this neighborhood not yet demolished. I served on a city planning commission that was ignored.
The news about the city using federal money to build churches has never been reported. Three churches in very old small buildings were to be relocated using federal funds. To sweeten the deal the city gave them funding to build brand new structures instead of letting them move into comparable buildings.
http://www.pennyforpinellas.net/2012/08/stop-unfair-st.html
The news about Eddie DeBartolo has only been indirectly reported. His Tyrone Mall property has the highest value in the city ($115 million)and will receive a 91% exemption. I attended the public hearing where Mayor Bill Foster mentioned him by name. http://forums.leoaffairs.com/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=136635
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/21/Southpinellas/Did_price_seal_fate_o.shtml
"The Housing Authority said it would cost $22.3 million to fix the building in 2007, but a St. Petersburg Times analysis found the estimate may be inflated. A 2003 Housing Authority report said it would take $6.3 million to modernize the property." http://www.tampabay.com/news/growth/article1025672.ece
http://m.cltampa.com/tampa/st-pete-to-elderly-get-out/Content?oid=2031088&show=comments
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/02/07/Southpinellas/Graham_Rogall_sale_pu.shtml
They built a 30 foot stage for Bain (buyers not builders) to walk across and announce the plant was closing and they were all fired.
Mr. Romney, you didn't build that company or stage you are ironically standing on. The people 'before' you did!
Trouble is there are slimy Rovean people discussing the RR (Railroaders) strategy. They're sequestered in "quiet rooms" plotting, pitting, pulling and twisting their handlebar Mustaches.
I don't know how Romney will make it through debate 1 against Obama. To be safe, however, we should welcome Romney to our Homeland Security world with a pat-down for transmitter plants.
Brings back memories of the Bush/Kerry debate where Bush had the big bulge behind his neck and under his shirt. Strange thing, nobody ever questoned that. Of course technology is so much better today, you can only imagine where Rmoney's receiver will be.
Mitt Romney, 2002: “You Olympians, however, know you didn’t get here solely on your own power. 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.”
Mitt Romney, 2012: “[Obama] says if you’re successful, you may think you’re successful because you’re smart, or you’re successful because you work hard. I don’t know where he was going with that idea because, you know, in this country, we value people who work hard to improve their skills and to get education to get smarter.”
Sooooooo . . . it’s one thing when YOU say it, but it’s totally different when Pres. OBAMA says it?
And here's another one that ticks me off: ". . . in this country, we value people who work hard to improve their skills and to get education to get smarter.”
We just won't pay them a living wage and then when those ungrateful swine get "uppity" and start demanding better wages we'll just move those jobs somewhere else--and we can also take a big fat tax deduction for doing it!
And now that the Regressives have destroyed most unions, BlueReview, they can just fire the "uppity" worker without cause.
I say let the Republicans put their money where their mouths are. If you are a registered Republican, you get an infrastructure bill. Subscription / pay per use, whatever. A monthly bill to use the roads, bridges, sewer, military and everything previously subsidized by the government, you get an nauseatingly itemised bill.
The Left and the independents would carry on as usual since they would inherit the infrastructure.
Then the Republicans can build whatever they like and brag to each other about how self sufficient they are.
Yes, this does apply to democrats, too.
I often refer people to www.politifact.com and recommend they examine the "truthometer" where both parties and individuals are checked on exactly what they are saying versus the facts.
I recommend it to you as I do everyone.
Check out www.politfact.com it it's very good.
DON'T Vote Republican at any level, clean out the states too.
DO VOTE, don't ever set out another election and let this happen to us. Our livelihoods depend on it. Vote straight Democratic, don't get any know-nothing Tbaggers in any office.
Great country huh?
Yeah. Good luck finding a judge that doesn't have a stock portfolio.
Anybody remember the firing of US attorneys back in December 2007?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/26/opinion/26mon4.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/02/AR2008100203681.html
By the way, Shillary is FAR to the right of President Obama. If you think she'd be "jailing Wall Street" you haven't paid ANY attention to her history.
Whoever really said it nailed it. Without highways, business would not be built or able to be supplied with goods. Since they did not build the roads, how can they say they built their businesses alone. The GOP is alone out there in this egocentric belief that those who succeed, do it alone.
But as The New Hampshire Union Leader reported: "In 1999, 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,” according to a New Hampshire Union Leader report at the time…
Last year, Gilchrist Metal also received two U.S. Navy sub-contracts totaling about $83,000 and a smaller $5,600 Coast Guard contract in 2008, according to a government web site that tracks spending."
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/07/23/570621/romneys-you-didnt-build-that-attack-ad-stars-businessman-who-received-millions-in-government-money/
I saw Jack Gilchrist in an MSNBC interview, Blue Review, admitting that gov't money helped build his business. Don't remember when or which show, but it was right after the debut of the Rmoney ad.
How many businesses have been built off those of us educated to build that? Somewhat like a high tech version of the New Deal, many have gone on from the opportunities and educations made possible by a more far sighted government.
I will not be content to sit back and watch other nations grab the initiative, and build the ground support we once did. If they pass us as we sit on the side of the road, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
Where would any of our great infrastructure projects be without the support only our government has historically provided?
In cases like Wendell Wilke's court battle, TEPCO was bought out by the TVA project so the power infrastructure could expand much faster and broader than private industry could keep up with. Lincoln got the railroads going in admittedly imperfect public private partnerships, much as the Interstate highway system was built. How much profiteering goes on is debateable, I think it had been decreasing, but government did get the ball rolling in so many too-big-for-pri vate-investor/r ent-seekers to start infrastructure projects.
Hoover believed in doing the big research and getting big projects started before letting private investors try to improve and sustain them.
But what really boggles my mind is the gullibility of those who drink the Republican Kool-Aid. It's almost reminiscint of the disciples of Jim Jones. How can anyone be so devout that they will believe anything even when it leads to their own destruction?
Forget the stadium, it's but a shell! How about the microphones, podiums, tables, chairs, kitchen appliances & all the dishes to serve their gluttonous appetites? Betcha they all have a sticker on them saying, "Made in China."
What's the median income for most of the service industry waiting on Rmoney's party? Minimum wage. (Especially in a state like Florida, which is as anti-union as it gets.)
Then, of course, like a poster said, Ryan's family made their wealth via government hand-outs to "build" their highway infrastructure empire. Yeah... these Nefarious Napoleon Nincompoops are about as "Made in America" as a 2012 Olympian uniform.
"Dishonest", "Greed-Driven", "Murderous" and "Amoral" all apply to the Repub elite, and "Moronic" and "Bigoted" to the people who put them in office.
As for Repub voters, one can not reason with them, because facts, reason and logic play no part in their thought processes, if one were to apply such a generous term to the slithering of the worms in their heads while they absorb the lies and hatred fomented (and validated) by the Limbaughs and Fundie Preachers in our midst.
This is the reality, it's not "Silly" and these are the people we live with in this country, and they are seeking dominion over all. If we do not take the threat that they are seriously, stop calling them "silly" and crush them at the ballot box, our future is gonna be bleak..
My advice to non-Repubs: arm yourselves, reduce your dependence on a societal infrastructure that may well fall apart if these amoral scumbags and their zombie acolytes win the day. Also consider shoring up connections/coo peration with decent humans instead of just watching your nation fall apart under the stewardship of a coalition of sociopaths and mindless zombies.
They're in hiding, MainStreet - in their sumptuous dwelling places. Only the worst of the scum, Cheney, dares to show his face when he thinks it necessary. In this case the SCUM rises to the top!
Never a more chilling scenario under the sunny skies of Florida.
Becuse business is BY DEFINITION anti-citizen, anti-government , and anti-human.
Whole it's not realistic to say do away with it, it's also intolerable to allow it ANY input -at all- of ANY kind, into the government we formed to protect the individual from its awesome comparative power, resources, and demonstrated inherent greed, devastation of the irreplaceable commons, and abuse of the individual to gain its profits.
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