Canards and political fundraisers.

I do not usually comment on fundraisers because I believe both parties are equally guilty of stretching facts into fiction, but this is regarding a recent R fundraiser, where I was asked to contribute my money.  The basis of the request for money was based on a statement made by Obama that I just could not believe, so I tracked it down myself.  The request went something like this:

Dear Friend:  "At a recent campaign in Roanoke, Va, President Obama had a simple message for small businesses, "If you have got a business, you did not build that, somebody else made it happen.  The president could not be more clear in his view that the men and women who put their time, energy and resources into building and growing a business are not to be rewarded with the fruits of their labor, but rather punished with higher taxes and burdensom regulation.  The choice this Nov could not be clearer - either we follow the president down the road of more government and less growth and opportunity, or we take a new path of limited government and unlimited opportunity."

I believe President Obama's words were taken out of context, literally lifted from the middle of his remarks in Roanoke and then run as a stand alone, attached to this fundraising letter.  I will not print the entire speech here from Obama, too long, and it is available everywhere.  I have watched the key passages on YouTube, listened to the President's voice and watched his face and eyes carefully.  He was saying that none of us individually, small business people or not, "is responsible for this system that has allowed you to thrive."  The word THAT refers to the American system, and that is simply telling the truth.  To be attacked by the R opponents for doing so describes and defines them, not President Obama.  The U.S. is us.  All of us.  We the people.  You did not build a perfect union and neither did I.  We did.  And the construction continues.

Are we not all responsible for our "state of the union."  Obama walked into a pretty sad state when he entered the White House.  Did you really think it would be cleaned up by now?  He held both houses of Congress for 2 years and the R in the Senate filibustered every piece of legislation that they could, preventing Congress from doing much of anything at all that would be helpful.  If they had not blocked or threatened to block everything, maybe Obama could have done more to help the economy.  Actually, the government could have done much more to turn the economy around, but was too restricted by R objections, mainly designed to prevent Obama from succeeding or to do anything effective.  Then they want to discuss his "failing record."  Canard.  Romney is going to repeal a healthcare law?  Ha!  He cannot do that.  No one in this country can change a law except Congress.  Ask him about his healthcare plan in Mass.  It is eerily the same, and those folks seem quite satisfied with it.

Canard is a nice word for lying, often for political purposes, usually created by people with an agenda to sway opinion.  Fair game, I suppose, for both parties, but it is rather offtensive when it is used as above in writing to request contribution money from a voter's pocket.