FILE UNDER: How Dumb Are *You* ? - Do You Want a Serial Liar For
President ?
-- After the conservative blogosphere used a
selectively edited Obama campaign speech to suggest
that the president belittled the achievements of small
business owners, the Romney campaign released an attack ad
featuring New Hampshire small business owner Jack Gilchrist as
a counterpoint.
In "These Hands," the Romney campaign repeated
the out-of-context quote, "If you've got a business,
you didn�t build that. Somebody else did that."
Jack Gilchrist, the owner of Gilchrist Metal Fabricating
in Hudson, New Hampshire, incredulously asks, "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? ...Through hard work and
a little bit of luck, we built this business. Why are you demonizing
us for it?"
In context, Obama�s speech was not "demonizing"
small business owners but simply challenging the idea
that wealthy and successful individuals have never benefited
from government services.
And, as it turns out, Jack Gilchrist is no different.
The New Hampshire Union Leader reports today that Gilchrist
benefited from millions of dollars of government loans and contracts
to get his business on its feet:
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.
Gilchrist wisely took advantage of these funds, which
help small businesses like his survive in their early years.
He also took a U.S. Small Business Administration loan
in the late 1980s totaling "somewhere south of" $500,000, plus
matching funds from the federally-funded New England Trade
Adjustment Assistance Center.
In a lesson on basic government spending that Romney
himself could learn from, Gilchrist succinctly explained:
"I'm not going to turn a blind eye because the money came from
the government. 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."
Watch the Bogus Romney ad:
http://youtu.be/fLZpMFbxyxU
Links here:
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/07/23/570621/romneys-you-didnt-build-that-attack-ad-stars-businessman-who-received-millions-in-government-money/