[smc]

How do you make someone appear to say something that they didn't really say, so you can create a big political kerfuffle and support your underlying notion that someone just doesn't get how America works, that he isn't one of us, that he is other? The Romney campaign's political ad is an object lesson, along with the deliberate misquoting and taking out of context that has been practiced by the right-wing talking heads.

Here is what Obama said in his speech (it's part of the public record, and it was recorded):

Let me tell you something. There 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. If you?ve got a business, you didn?t build that.

I bolded some of this for a reason. In the Romney advertisement the speech is made to sound as if Obama went right to "if you've got a business, you didn't build that" from "let me tell you something." You can see it here:

http://www.mittromney.com/forms/these-hands0

Watch and listen to Obama's speech, carefully, as presented in this video. The video deceptively edits the remarks by removing a number of sentences so that two different parts of the speech can be made to seem seamless, thus promoting a lie about what Obama actually said. In Romney's case, it allows for the opportunity to have a "business owner" accuse Obama of insulting him, and ask Obama why the president is "demonizing" people who work hard to build a business.

It's complete bullshit.