Clear Contrast

CORE MESSAGE

 Working families paying more so millionaires can pay less is not the America we want.

Connect: In America, we still believe that working hard and playing by the rules should get you a fair shot.

Define: Mitt Romney and Washington Republicans actually want middle-class Americans to bear more of the burden so oil company CEOs and their hedge fund managers can pay less.

Illustrate: Their plans are all the same: they'd end Medicare as we know it to pay for new tax giveaways for their millionaires, Big Oil, and the rest of the 1% funding their campaigns.

Discredit: We tried tax handouts to the richest few and they never trickle down to the rest of us. We tried giant tax breaks for big corporations and they shipped our jobs overseas. 

Contrast: President Obama says we're all better off when "everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules."

Values: It's simple. Our economy works best when we value working families and everyone contributes their fair share. Politicians who don't get it have no business leading America.

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ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

ROMNEY ON RYAN: The Ryan budget plan is "bold and exciting" -- it's "very similar to the one that I put out."

• They're nothing new: the Romney-Ryan budget would end Medicare as we know it to pay for more massive taxpayer giveaways for Big Oil, millionaires, and the rest of the 1%.
• The GOP plan would throw millions of Americans out of work, take money out of the pockets of regular Americans, and give up on investments that make America competitive in the world.
• Tax giveaways for the richest 1% don't get the economy moving or create jobs because millionaires and billionaires don't need or spend the money -- they just hand it over to their hedge fund managers.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The GOP budget would actually make the debt worse by providing $3 trillion in corporate and millionaire tax giveaways, with an average of $150K for the richest 1%.
• At the same time, the GOP budget would end Medicare as we know it, throw millions of Americans off their health insurance, and cut more than $3 trillion from programs that vulnerable families rely on.
• Like the latest budget plan from Republicans in Congress, Mitt Romney's $11 trillion tax plan would overwhelmingly go to a tiny number of the wealthiest few -- including himself -- while cutting the Social Security and Medicare that Americans invest in all their working lives.
• 70% of Americans, including the majority of Republicans, want to keep Medicare as it is today, instead of replacing it with coupons as the House GOP and Mitt Romney have proposed.
• Three-fourths of Americans, including nearly 70% of Republicans, support the Buffett Rule. And America does better when the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.
• In the last six years, Republicans got 7 out of 10 Congressional campaign dollars spent by corporations that benefit the most from tax loopholes passed by those politicians.

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working. See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.