Democracy Has Prevailed.

September 21, 2012

Mitt Gets It Wrong. Again.

From Politifact:
After getting criticized for saying that 47 percent of Americans are "dependent on government" and "believe the government has a responsibility to care for them," Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign fired back by accusing President Barack Obama of supporting redistribution of wealth.

First, a 1998 tape of Obama surfaced in which he said, in part, "I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot."

Then, Romney brought up the topic during a Sept. 19, 2012, appearance in Atlanta.

Romney said that Obama "really believes in what I’ll call a government-centered society," according to an account in POLITICO. "I know there are some who believe that if you simply take from some and give to others then we’ll all be better off. It’s known as redistribution. It’s never been a characteristic of America. There’s a tape that came out just a couple of days ago where the president said yes he believes in redistribution. I don’t. I believe the way to lift people and help people have higher incomes is not to take from some and give to others but to create wealth for all."
Besides the fact that Romney got it wrong about what Obama actually said (from NBC News):
Following a few hours of internal confusion yesterday, NBC News obtained exclusive access to the full-length video of Barack Obama’s remarks at Loyola University in 1998 -- all but defusing the Mitt Romney campaign's efforts to use a brief clip from the fourteen-year-old video against the president.
Politifact finds that Romney's assertion that Redistribution "has never been a characteristic of America" as a "pants on fire" lie.

No comments: