By D.J. Rippert
Of terrorists and tiramisu. Barak Obama claims he killed Bin Laden but then says business owners didn’t build the businesses they founded. At least, that’s the perception some people have regarding President Obama’s comments. Several groups are taking exception to both of these claims. A web video featuring retired special forces officers challenges President Obama for taking too much credit in the Bin Laden operation and a bakery in Virginia refused to host Joe Biden in protest over Obama’s “you didn’t build that” statement. Since this blog is Virginia focused, I’ll concentrate on the Virginia bakery and leave the Bin Laden commentary for others.
Get me out of ole Virginny. One can only imagine that Joe Biden must be pretty happy to be leaving the Commonwealth of Virginia for the friendly confines of Washington, DC. His road trip through Virginia has been a public relations nightmare. First, he forgot the name of the state in which he was speaking and referred to Virginia as North Carolina. Then, he forgot what century it is. Then, he forgot what political position Paul Ryan holds. Then, he drew the ire of America’s first black governor by claiming that Republicans were going to put people back in chains. But what really takes the cake is a Radford bakery’s refusal to sell poor Joe Biden a doughnut.
Obama and Biden = Crumb and crumber? Chris and Kelly McMurray run a local Radford bakery called, “Crumb and Get It”. They founded the business and both work hard to make it a success. In fact, Mrs. McMurray had just finished working 24 hours in a row when Joe Biden’s advance team wanted to hold a “photo op” with the McMurrays at Crumb and Get It. The McMurrays told the Biden advance team, “No”. It seems that both McMurrays were put off by Barak Obama’s “you didn’t build that” remark which he blurted out during a campaign stop in Roanoke, Va. The advance team tried to convince the McMurrays that the Biden visit would be good PR but the McMurrays held their ground. Ultimately, Joe Bag O’ Doughnuts got his breakfast elsewhere.
Icing on the cake. It seems that Joe Biden made it back to D.C. from his disastrous road trip through the Old Dominion. Barak Obama (metaphorically) stroked his silvery hair, wiped his wet eyes, gave him a hug and publicly announced that Mr. Biden would, indeed, be his running mate in 2012. What an odd campaign. Obama – Biden sent the sitting VP on a campaign tour through a battleground state and had to end the tour by confirming that the sitting VP is still on the ticket.
Wilde Ride. Oscar Wilde once wrote, “Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!” To Democrats, Old Joe is like a favorite uncle after perhaps one too many martinis. Quirky. Funny. A conversation piece. I guess I am a pessimist here. I don’t see a quirky uncle, I see a … well… a hole. In my lifetime one president was assassinated, attempts were made on two other presidents and a fourth resigned. I seriously question whether Joe Biden has the considerable mental capacity required to be President of the United States. Obama’s refusal to deal with this serious flaw in the Democratic ticket is an example of both his lack of experience and his runaway hubris.
This is a story that just keeps on giving …. It seems that Secret Service agents from Biden’s protective detail came back to the bakery that refused to host Joe Biden and thanked the proprietors for standing up to Biden and bought a quantity of cup cakes.
It seems that Joe Biden is disliked by even his own secret service detail!
http://washingtonexaminer.com/secret-service-bought-cupcakes-to-thank-baker-for-turning-down-biden/article/2505119#.UC1qPI5FvQl
The bakery was also flooded with customers after refusing to be a photo op for Biden. In fact, the unexpected surge in business had Crumb and Get It running out of inventory by mid afternoon.
Of course, the Biden advance team tried to convince the McMurrays to agree to the Biden visit by saying it would be good for business. It seems they may have gotten it wrong. Refusing Biden was good for business. No word yet on the level of business today at The River Street Grill – the shop where Biden was served.
The Secret Service story is not surprising: Biden is a notorious bully of “subordinates”, a fact witnessed many times by others.
Regarding policy and judgement, I vividly recall an interviewer recently suggesting to John McCain that VP Biden brought Foreign Policy experience and expertize to the Democratic Ticket.
To which, McCain replied: That’s absurd. Joe Biden has been wrong on every major foreign policy issue since 1972, the year he joined the Senate.
what BLATHER! Do you think the bakery built the roads that bring them their supplies? How about the water/sewer that they likely depend on? How about the public rights of way that govt grants the electric company to supply them with electricity? How about the police, fire and rescue they probably depend on?
you take this for granted. Go “build” your bakery in Haiti or some other 3rd world country and see how that works.
In the direction we’re headed that’s where we’re going: a 3rd World Country.
Poor LarryG – He can write (albeit without much success using the shift key) but he can’t read.
First, you have to understand Obama’s comments and how they’ve been interpreted. When Obama said, “you didn’t build that” many people assumed that he was referring to the businesses they ran. Go back and watch the video. It’s not the only interpretation but it is one interpretation. While I don’t know, I assume that the McMurrays interpret Obama’s remarks as saying they didn’t build the bakery business, not that roads don’t matter.
More importantly – where did I ever write that I agreed with the McMurray’s interpretation of Obama’s remarks? So, when you ask if I think the roads are important you are asking the wrong person. You should ask the McMurrays.
not unless you think we’re going to tear up the existing infrastructure that already exists.
the point here is that we have, as a country, invested in infrastructure, roads, the electric grid, water/sewer, fire, police, emergency and disaster infrastructure – paid for with taxes that have, in turn, supported, empowered private entrepreneurship.
Go to a 3rd world country and see what we take for granted here do not exist there. roads are dirt. sewer runs in the streets. water is bottled and expensive. the electric grid is a joke. All businesses have bars and other security. if your place catches on fire, too bad. If you fall ill.. you get yourself to the hospital which will be lucky to have water/sewer and electricity.
and what is this infatuation with Biden from the right? It’s downright comical.
“interpretation” is a lie, plain and simple. It’s NOT what Obama said.
that’s what is going on now days. Outright lies proffered by those who think that people are dumb and listen to sound bites and nothing more.
At a literal, linguistic analysis level, the statement is clearly ambiguous: Does the ‘that’ refer to the business or the enabling infrastructure referred to in the previous sentence? You can’t tell for sure.
Obama was being very provocative in that speech. He was pushing the envelope and he kind of blurted out something that could easily be misinterpreted – which it was.
Then, he quickly put out an ad that was very soft spoken and reasonable. Why? Because he knew he went too far in the speech. He knew his words could be misinterpreted in the speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0yK5NakN2o
The difference between Obama and LarryG is that Obama can admit when he screwed up.
Good for Obama putting out that ad. I have no problem with politicians making mistakes, I only have a problem when they don’t stop and clear things up.
go set up your bakery in a country that does not invest in infrastructure and see how well you do… how well you “build that”.
these guys take all of this for granted. Obama is making the point that we have always invested in our infrastructure and it has powered our economic vitality and now – we’re saying that taxes are not needed for infrastructure…that the private sector will provide it. Go to a 3rd world country and see how the private sector provides it.
….and the irony here is that this is exactly the point that DJ makes about transportation infrastructure – yet the man aligns himself with Ryan who says the private sector should do highways ….. ironic…..
it’s almost like the Union blue collar types that vote Republican. It makes no sense.
the speech was CLEAR and UNAMBIGUOUS. You had to stretch to make it into something else – and they did.
they’re doing the same thing with the Medicare issue and with the unemployment waivers issue.
they are lying out their butts and you know it and you are supporting them.
congrats.
It’s really sad that this otherwise wonderful blog has to put up with a pathetic contributor like DJ. I really can think of anything insightful he’s ever written about.
It is inexcusable to rely on the claims of some local reporter (who actually spent 12 years at Fox News!) regarding the Secret Service rumor.
You should hesitate before latching onto Chris and Kelly McMurray as capitalist entrepreneurs right out of a Randian drama. Crumb and Get it was opened originally in Blacksburg in 2007 and then in 2009:
“It is inexcusable to rely on the claims of some local reporter”.
Yes, yuck! Local reporters! Well, I sent Rachael Maddow an e-mail asking for her opinion but she hasn’t had the time to respond.
Perhaps you have a more authoritative source than a (hold your nose) “local reporter”.
There is a clear difference between a local reporter who interviews someone, provides a quote, context, etc., and someone who said “I heard from other people than a Secret Service agent came back, etc.” You know that, you just don’t want to admit that it is possible that some rumor was concocted out of nothing because the rumor is pleasing to your interpretation of the story.
Let’s be clear, there is more than enough for you to be gleeful about without the Secret Service agent thrown in.
I admit that there is a chance that the whole secret service thing was made up. I am just not sure how I’d verify that other than going to Radford and asking questions – which, unfortunately, I don’t have the time to do.
But – repeating something that was written in a local paper (with attribution) seems reasonable to me.
Sorry – used an old log in. That was me, DJRippert.
DJ, there was no attribution. Just “I heard X.”
Also, FreeDem, since you are a self-proclaimed authority on journalism with nothing but distaste for “local reporters” ….
Perhaps you can let us all know where you found the information about Crumb and Get It Cookie Co in Blacksburg? You know, the paragraph after paragraph of text you apparently “cut and pasted” from somewhere into your comment.
Was that your original work? I guess it must be since it isn’t sourced.
Joe Biden once plagiarized five pages of a fifteen page paper. He got an “F” once his cheating was uncovered. However, he claimed that he didn’t understand footnotes and the college let him try again. He passed the second time. Interesting that the college accepted his excuse about not understanding footnotes. Most people would be expected to understand footnotes, no? But Joe, well … he needs extra help from people I guess. Always has, always will.
Reminds me of Joe the Plumber.
No. I will defend DJ. He is a real live person who owns a business and is frustrated with the Local, State, and Federal governance and process.
But in this case, he’s strayed into right-wing sound bite territory and is too willing to accept, what he calls an “interpretation” which is little more than an outright manipulation of something that Obama said – with the motive to gin up their right wing base and to give a forum to folks like the owner of the bakery to unload on this administration – regardless of what the truth is.
And for that DJ loses points, gets demerits.
He’s signed on to folks who have no problem lying about the issues because basically they are afraid to forthrightly face the American people with their real agenda.
Their basic sales pitch is: “Obama is not one of us and he is “bad” and “trust us”, we’ll do good stuff if you elect us but please don’t ask for details much less the truth of what we will do.
LarryG -
Once again, I never said that I accept the interpretation. Please read what I write. I said, “Barak Obama claims he killed Bin Laden but then says business owners didn’t build the businesses they founded. At least, that’s the perception some people have regarding President Obama’s comments.”.
I stand by that. Some people have the perception that Obama said business founders did not create their businesses. Do you dispute that?
In fact, Obama himself quickly put out an ad with a very conciliatory tone after this “you didn’t build that” speech. He never claimed he was misquoted. He said his words were taken out of context.
Here’s what really happened (in my mind):
1. Obama put on a barn burner, Class warfare speech in Roanoke. He was deliberately provocative.
2. He used sloppy wording and sentence construction as he talked about people building businesses. He never intended to say that people who have successful businesses didn’t build those businesses but his worlds left that open to interpretation.
3. He was quickly pilloried for his comments. The short sound bite about “you didn’t build that” started to circulate and it became an anti-Obama rallying point.
4. Obama realized that his sloppy wording would do him more bad than good so he put out his conciliatory ad.
Romney once said, “Corporations are people”. He doesn’t think corporations are people. He was describing a school of legal thinking that has been around for 100 years. However, he worded his comment poorly and he paid the price.
Life goes on.
I actually give Obama a lot of credit for putting out the ad he put out.
I’ve been highly impressed with DJ blogs. He’s obviously a highly intelligent and accomplished fellow, a man of independent and sagacious viewpoints, derived from deep experience in the real world. I’ve certainty benefited from them. We must be open to lively debate, that’s what this country is all about.
“After reading this post, my interpretation is that DJ lives in his parent’s basement because he cannot survive in the real world interacting with actual people. I’m not saying that is the only interpretation, just that it is one possible interpretation.”.
I always love it when people using pseudonyms post comments about what people who use their real names do for a living.
I run a software company, Freedem. I live in a house I own in Great Falls. I own another house on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. All of this has been documented on various blog posts over the years.
Now, let me take a shot – Freedem:
You are some kind of political lackey. Not smart enough to get paid but enough of an ideologue to spend most of your free time hanging out with people exactly like yourself. When you grew up you had aspirations of running for office but that takes too much courage, dedication and discipline for a person like you. So, you spend a lot of time putting up yard signs for liberal candidates who generally fail to get elected. You can’t understand any viewpoint other than the liberal Democratic dogma you have been spoon fed since you were raised by your hippie parents.
How am I doing there, FreeDem?
DJ, it was a joke, in reference to your “I know Obama didn’t really say that you didn’t build your business, but other people interpreted it.” Lighten up.
I’m a libertarian who tends to vote Democratic, but not always. By definition I hang out with people who I disagree with. Have you MET libertarians? If you have five libertarians in a room you’ll have at least ten different perspectives on politics.
FreeDem – Our man Jim Bacon is, per his own description, quite the libertarian. So, I not only have met libertarians, I write on this blog at the invitation of a libertarian. Anyway …
I vote Republican about 65% of the time. The only campaign contributions I have made over the last 10 years have been to Democrats. And nobody, and I mean nobody holds the Republicans in our General Assembly in lower esteem that I do – well, except perhaps Dick Saslaw.
Stick to hating the General Assembly, it’s a more unifying topic.
re: “interpretation and perception”
Any simple viewing of the Obama video will clearly show what the President said and his meaning.
Only those who think lying is “okay” would say otherwise.
and that’s how the GOP is operating now. They will not debate on the merits and they have gotten into this habit of simple ignoring the realities and constructing their own idea of what they want to believe.
How else do you explain the still significant numbers of the GOP who still believe that Obama was not born an American, that he is a Muslim – that the state dept has a Muslim “plant”, etc.
It defies rationality.
“Any simple viewing of the Obama video will clearly show what the President said and his meaning.
Only those who think lying is “okay” would say otherwise.”.
I just disagree. And I have liberal friends who are ardent Obama supporters who disagree as well.
Take the speech at three levels:
1. Overall – It was a class warfare, anti-business, anti-entrepreneur speech overall. His comments about entrepreneurs working hard but, let me tell you, lots of people work hard had nothing to do with infrastructure or government support. It was a poke at those who believe they have succeeded based on their own merits.
2. Infrastructure – At a certain point in the speech Obama started to talk about businesses being dependent on taxpayer-supplied infrastructure. It was at the end of this section he made the unfortunate, “you didn’t build that” sentence.
3. Sentence – Obama, at one point, makes a statement that says something like, “If you have a business you didn’t build that.”.
Now ….
1. Overall – I see Obama’s speech as being anti-business and anti-entrepreneur. That was his intention and he probably succeeded beyond what he should have hoped. Given this overall context, I was ready to find something to metaphorically shove up Obama’s nose.
2. Infrastructure – I understood the section of the speech where he wants everybody to see that business in the US depends on government supplied infrastructure and services. I see this as a pretty naked set-up for demanding higher taxes but I take his point.
3. Sentence – I can view the offending sentence in either the context of the section of the speech pertaining to infrastructure or in the context of the overall anti-business, anti-entrepreneur tone of the whole speech. Personally, I took the sentence in the context of the infrastructure section. Others took the sentence in the context of the overall anti-business tone of the speech.
Obama overplayed his hand in Roanoke and he knew it. Regardless of how you draw the lines among the subjects, verbs and adjectives in the sentences of the speech, the tone was angry, anti-business, divisive and oriented toward class warfare. Had he been more careful with the specific wording of sentences, nothing much would have come of it. However, he was sloppy. He opened a door for interpretation and he served up an almost perfect sound bite of a sentence. The result was what should have been expected. He got his ass handed to him.
Now, Obama is a savvy guy. He knew he struck more of a nerve than he intended. He knew that he served up a perfect sound bite and he knew that he couldn’t believably say, “I never said that.”. So, he channeled Barry White and put out an extremely conciliatory ad about ow much he loves businesses and businesspeople.
Obama blew it with the speech and the went into corse correction mode with the ad. My opinion? Good for him! I wish he would apply the same sensible analytical skills to the US economy that he seems able to apply to his speeches.
“It was a poke at those who believe they have succeeded based on their own merits.”
Boohoo! How dare Obama hurt the feelings of those self-proclaimed self-made men who think they’ve only succeeded based on their own merits.
I’m trying to stay out of these partisan nonsubstantive discussions (bad for my indigestion), but please don’t put down my man Joe. He’s a nice guy, a guy I’d like to have a beer with, and just like me and most of my friends every once in a while he says something that doesn’t come out exactly right. But I give my friends (and myself) a little leeway because I know what they meant and I know they mean well. That’s how people get along. DJ’s article doesn’t take that approach – instead it’s mocking and clever, argumentative and small-minded. It’s an approach that will be appreciated by those who hold similar views and find it rather funny and entertaining to together mock (bully?) those they don’t like. But it’s no way to get along. Unfortunately, this is indicative of where our politics are (and I admit I find Mittens and Rambo Ryan (LOL) hilarious, so forgive me), but we can do better.
“But I give my friends (and myself) a little leeway because I know what they meant and I know they mean well.”.
Neither you, nor your friends, are one heartbeat away from becoming the President of the United States.
Joe Biden was asked to make a campaign swing through Virginia and build momentum for Barak Obama. He failed miserably. It wasn’t just the gaffes. His use of “putting y’all back in chains” deeply offended Doug Wilder – a Virginian, Democrat, former governor and African American.
Biden’s performance in Virginia was so poor that Obama had to reiterate that Biden would be on the ticket once Biden got back to DC.
Richard, I am sure you were among the very first to mock Dan Quale for mis-spelling potato. However, you give a buffoon like Joe Biden a pass.
Obama’s choice of Joe Biden as his running mate is a serious mistake. It is yet another indication that Obama is not up to the job of being President of the United States.
As for mocking Joe Biden – there is no need. Joe Biden is self-mocking.
What’s the point of even responding? You don’t like Joe Biden. OK. But there’s nothing substantive here, unlike what your normal screeds, and that’s disappointing. The way you write this says more about you than him.
Romney and the GOP is playing “gotcha” politics with the “you didn’t build that” and Joe Biden.
Why are they obsessed with Biden? Every politician these days in the 24/7 news cycle WILL make gaffs. Remember Obama trying to toast the Queen at the wrong time?
this is just plain ignorant.
and the thing with the “you did not build that” was and is symbolic of what government does to support entrepreneurship and individuals succeeding.
Try getting ahead in a 3rd world country. No matter how hard you work, you will likely fail. We take for granted things like our interstate highway system, water/sewer, fire, rescue, police – the reason why people from all over the world come to America for opportunity that does not exist in many other countries.
The President supports the role of govt in providing the things that enable people to succeed. The knuckle draggers would turn us into yet another 3rd world country with the rich living in walled enclaves and traveling with body guards.
Here’s what Ryan and Romney can do. They can present their plan for balancing the budget. They can present their plan for Medicare – not 4 different ones that “might” be done.
Instead they are playing games and evading substantiative discussions of real issues.
It’s almost as if they think that by tearing down Obama/Biden – people will vote for them.
Nope. They are going to have to convince people that they actually have a plan for creating jobs and getting to a balanced budget – and how to get health care costs under control.
None of this is coming from them so far – just tomfoolery and foolishness which seems to suit DJ “the clown show” guy just well. I guess he’s gotten so used to Virginia’s clown show, the’s just fine with the national GOP version of it.
re: DJ and Joe Biden. Truth be known, DJ probably never had a thought about Biden until the right wing echo chamber that has his attention now got spun up on it.
and the “interpretation” gambit of what is clearly the GOP lying out their butt – with good effect I must admit… how can one “interpret” the words in a speech that can be easily obtained and verified word-for-word, unless of course – someone wants to cherry-pick from the context and then pretend to “interpret”.
the GOP purposely manipulated the context and DJ says he’s “okay” with it because it’s “plausible”.
the only way I’d put any stock at all in the Bakery guy is if the guy actually voted for Obama and then the speech (and policies) caused him to change his mind.
Most of these folks voted against Obama to start with and have been hardcore opponents from the get go – just waiting for the opportunity to pile on.