{"id":86,"date":"2012-08-07T18:29:44","date_gmt":"2012-08-07T18:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/wordpress\/?p=86"},"modified":"2012-08-07T18:44:10","modified_gmt":"2012-08-07T18:44:10","slug":"you-keep-using-those-words-i-do-not-think-they-mean-what-you-say-they-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/you-keep-using-those-words-i-do-not-think-they-mean-what-you-say-they-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"You Keep Using Those Words. I Do Not Think They Mean What You Say They Mean."},"content":{"rendered":"

The entire “you didn’t build that<\/a>” issue is premised on deliberately pulling Obama’s words out of context and insisting that they mean something they don’t. \u00a0Now the Romney team is doubling down, in effect Photoshopping the video to reiterate their misrepresentation. \u00a0What are we to make of a presidential campaign built entirely around lies?<\/p>\n

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More deceptive video editing from the Romney campaign<\/a><\/h1>\n
By\u00a0Greg Sargent<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I don\u2019t suppose there\u2019s any point in noting this, but the Romney campaign just released a\u00a0new Web video<\/a>\u00a0that again deceptively edits Obama\u2019s \u201cdidn\u2019t build that\u201d speech to completely change its meaning.<\/p>\n

The video again features a business owner who was angered by Obama\u2019s remarks. But the audio of Obama\u2019s speech is edited to fuse two disparate parts into one, cutting out key lines in order to make it sound as if Obama said business owners didn\u2019t build their businesses. Crucially, the reworked audio conceals the fact that an edit was made.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Obama\u2019s speech sounds, as represented by the Romney video (the point at which the deceptive edit occurs is marked by the words \u201cedit here\u201d):<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been successful, you didn\u2019t get there on your own. You didn\u2019t get there on your own. I\u2019m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something.\u00a0[Edit here.]<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019ve got a business \u2014 you didn\u2019t build that. Somebody else made that happen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The audio is made to sound as if that was one continuous passage (it is customary in such videos to include a visual cue signaling an edit; this doesn\u2019t). Here are the words that were removed (in bold):<\/p>\n

Let me tell you something.\u00a0There are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. 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.<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019ve got a business \u2014 you didn\u2019t build that. Somebody else made that happen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m going to engage Romney\u2019s defenders one more time on this. They claim that the full speech was worse than the decontextualized \u201cdidn\u2019t build that\u201d comment, and that he plainly demeaned success. But the Romney campaign is not just claiming that Obama demeaned success \u2014 it is also making the\u00a0very specific charge that Obama claimed business owners didn\u2019t build their businesses<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the Romney video quotes the business owner saying the following: \u201cPresident Obama said that if I own a business, I didn\u2019t necessarily build it. That was a very insulting remark to make.\u201d Even if Obama demeaned success, he still didn\u2019t say what this business owner says he did.<\/p>\n

The Romney camp doesn\u2019t think the general claim that Obama demeaned success is enough; they also need this specific claim, too, in order to inflict maximum damage. And the only way to make that specific claim is to lie about and distort what Obama actually said, with deceptive editing like this. Worse, the video conceals that an edit was even made. Even those who insist Obama\u2019s full speech did demean success should be able to cop to this specific ongoing distortion \u2014 this specific lie. It is not a small lie; this specific lie has been central to Romney campaign events, statements, and videos for weeks now.<\/p>\n

Paul Krugman\u2019s\u00a0question<\/a>\u00a0continues to remain relevant: \u201cHas there ever been a candidacy this cynical?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n