Romney: Obama's 'you didn't build that' comment not a gaffe, it's his ideology By Justin Sink - Tweet Mitt Romney made an impromptu swing by a Massachusetts body shop Thursday afternoon to again hammer President Obama over the president's suggestion last week that the success of private enterprises in the United States were dependent on public infrastructure and programs. 
 
 Republicans have seized on a moment during a town-hall speech last week where the president, discussing infrastructure like roads and highways, argued that "if you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "It wasn't a gaffe. It was instead his ideology," Romney said. 
 
 
 
 The presumptive Republican nominee — in his home state for a morning visit to his campaign headquarters in Boston — insisted that the president believed "the collective" was responsible for the growth of business. 
 
 
 
 "The president does, in fact, believe that people who build enterprises like this really aren't responsible for it," Romney said. "But in fact it's a collective success of the whole society that somehow builds enterprises like this. My view, we have to celebrate people who started enterprises and employ other people." 
 
 
 
 The governor also hit his familiar refrain, accusing the president of targeting success. 
 
 
 
 "If you attack success, you'll continue to see what we've seen over these past three and a half years, and that's less success … I don't think the president by his comments suggests an understanding of what makes America such a great nation," Romney said. 
 
 
 
 Romney's remarks came hours after his campaign released a new commercial featuring the owner of a New Hampshire metal fabricating company. 
 
 
 
 "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? Did somebody else take out the loan on my father’s house to finance the equipment? Did somebody else make payroll every week or figure out where it’s coming from?" the Romney supporter says in the ad. 
 
 
 
 The Obama campaign has accused the Romney team of ripping the president's remark out of context. In a Web video released Thursday, the campaign accuses the Republican challenger of "launching a false attack," and argued he would "say anything" to get elected. Tweet View Comments On Thursday, his Republican opponent blasted the president, arguing the pair had a fundamentally different idea of how the economy worked."It wasn't a gaffe. It was instead his ideology," Romney said.The presumptive Republican nominee — in his home state for a morning visit to his campaign headquarters in Boston — insisted that the president believed "the collective" was responsible for the growth of business."The president does, in fact, believe that people who build enterprises like this really aren't responsible for it," Romney said. "But in fact it's a collective success of the whole society that somehow builds enterprises like this. My view, we have to celebrate people who started enterprises and employ other people."The governor also hit his familiar refrain, accusing the president of targeting success."If you attack success, you'll continue to see what we've seen over these past three and a half years, and that's less success … I don't think the president by his comments suggests an understanding of what makes America such a great nation," Romney said.Romney's remarks came hours after his campaign released a new commercial featuring the owner of a New Hampshire metal fabricating company."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? Did somebody else take out the loan on my father’s house to finance the equipment? Did somebody else make payroll every week or figure out where it’s coming from?" the Romney supporter says in the ad.The Obama campaign has accused the Romney team of ripping the president's remark out of context. In a Web video released Thursday, the campaign accuses the Republican challenger of "launching a false attack," and argued he would "say anything" to get elected. Source: 
 
 http://thehill.com/video/campaign/239041-romney-obamas-you-didnt-build-that-comment-not-a-gaffe-its-his-ideology ||||| ROXBURY, Mass.—For the third day in a row, Mitt Romney attacked President Obama's "you didn't build that" comment, arguing the president's words weren't an accident but rather a reflection of his hostility toward private business. 
 
 "It wasn't a gaffe. It was his ideology," Romney argued Thursday at a last-minute campaign stop at Middlesex Truck and Coach, a small truck repair shop just outside Boston. "I don't think the president understands what makes this country great." 
 
 Speaking against the backdrop of more than a dozen mechanics, Romney pointed to the repair shop as a symbol of the businesses that have kept the American dream alive. 
 
 "This is the kind of place that has put people to work over the years, over the decades. … Someone else isn't responsible for what he did here," Romney said, referring to the shop's owner. "This is not the result of government. This is the result of people who take risks, create dreams, who build for themselves and for their families." 
 
 Romney insisted Obama's comments suggest he doesn't really understand how business works. And he pointed to a new report showing more Americans sought unemployment last week as more proof that Obama doesn't deserve a second term. 
 
 Echoing comments he made in Ohio Wednesday, Romney cited Obama's inactive jobs council, which hasn't held a meeting in six months, and contrasted that with the president's busy fundraising schedule. 
 
 "You learn something about the president's priorities," Romney said. "The job he's interested in protecting is his own." 
 
 Romney's Roxbury stop was his only public event of the day—and it was added at the last minute, as his campaign seeks to regain the advantage after days of Democratic attacks over the GOP candidate's record at Bain Capital. ||||| Mitt Romney, trying to fend off mounting pressure to release more of his tax returns, stepped up his offense against President Obama on Wednesday, turning Obama’s words against him to argue that the current occupant of the Oval Office is anti-entrepreneur. 
 
 For the second day in a row, the presumed Republican presidential nominee seized on a statement excerpted from a speech Obama made Friday in Virginia. At issue was the president’s quote: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” 
 
 The flap over Obama’s comment has been building for days, fueled by Republicans who say it betrays a mind-set hostile to business. 
 
 “It shows how out of touch he is with the character of America,” Romney told a rally here. “This idea of criticizing and attacking success, of demonizing those in all walks of life who have been successful, is something that is so foreign to us that we can’t understand it.” 
 
 Though potentially damaging in isolation, the president’s words taken in context refer to the idea that the groundwork for success is laid by others. 
 
 “Somebody along the line gave you some help,” Obama said. “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.” 
 
 And Romney himself — campaigning through swing states such as Ohio, whose 7.3 percent unemployment rate is nearly a full point below the national average — has argued that Republican governors have helped create a climate in which businesses can grow. 
 
 “I was on a bus trip a few weeks ago, you may have seen, across Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan. . . . I was in Indiana, Wisconsin, and these are the states headed by Republican governors, and you know what? They are doing the right things, and it’s making a difference,” Romney said. “It’s time to have the principles of your state here applied in Washington.” 
 
 Romney, animated and at ease as he took questions from the audience, also suggested that Obama cares more about getting reelected than creating jobs. 
 
 “In the last six months, he has held 100 fundraisers, and guess how many meetings he has had with his jobs council?” Romney asked. “None. Zero. Zero in the last six months. So it makes it very clear where his priorities are.” 
 
 Meanwhile, Romney’s backers continued to express concern that he could sustain more political damage by his continued refusal to release more than two years of tax returns, an issue they say is also becoming a distraction from Romney’s message about the economy. 
 
 The candidate has released one year of returns and has promised to make his 2011 return available once it is complete. In April, he filed for an extension on his 2011 return, something his campaign said is similar to what he has done in other years; he has also made public an estimate of his tax liability. 
 
 White House press secretary Jay Carney added to the pressure Wednesday, telling reporters at his daily briefing: “If you are going to run for president, it’s not necessarily comfortable, but it’s become a tradition, and it’s an important one. You make your tax returns available because you think the American people deserve that kind of transparency.” 
 
 A number of prominent conservative voices have also urged Romney to release more of his returns. Among them are two of his former rivals for the Republican nomination, Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, as well as the editorial board of the National Review. 
 
 The chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, Wayne MacDonald, said Wednesday that while the decision whether to release more tax returns is ultimately up to Romney, “there’s certainly an upside” to revealing more about his personal finances. 
 
 “Certainly, I don’t think Mitt Romney has anything to hide, and probably the best thing to do is to eliminate any chance for [Democrats] to make this an issue,” MacDonald said in an interview. 
 
 But several other state-level party officials said Romney has released enough financial information. 
 
 Florida GOP Chairman Lenny Curry said that by calling for the tax returns, Obama “wants people to be jealous of and resent wealth” and that the president “is without question wanting a street fight in this campaign.” 
 
 If Democrats want more financial information from Romney, Curry added, they should pass a law requiring it. 
 
 Some Democrats on Capitol Hill have sought to do just that. On Wednesday, Rep. Sander M. Levin (Mich.) and Sens. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) and Carl Levin (Mich.) introduced legislation that would require candidates to disclose 10 years of tax returns. 
 
 Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, who was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, said that while it is up to Romney to choose whether to release more of his tax information, that decision should not be a crucial issue in the campaign. 
 
 “You know what Americans care about? They don’t care about Mitt Romney’s tax returns,” McDonnell said. “They care about their tax returns.” 
 
 Felicia Sonmez and David Nakamura contributed to this report.
– Mitt Romney is apparently looking to turn a President Obama comment from last week—"If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen"—into a campaign theme. Romney says the comment, which the Republican candidate has focused on for three straight days, "wasn't a gaffe. It was his ideology," Yahoo News reports. "The president does, in fact, believe that people who build enterprises like this really aren't responsible for it," Romney said at a Boston-area truck repair shop. "My view, we have to celebrate people who started enterprises and employ other people," he added, according to the Hill. The Obama camp, for its part, says the president was making the point that businesses use roads, infrastructure, and other public amenities, a view that Elizabeth Warren expressed to much acclaim earlier. Meanwhile, Ann Romney says not to expect any more tax returns from her husband, the AP notes. "We've given all that people need to know," she said on ABC today, a quote that's getting plenty of traction on the left.