We All Built It

CORE MESSAGE

We all built the America that made Mitt Romney's success possible -- Romney would tear it down.

Connect: Good leaders give credit for success where credit is due.

Define: Mitt Romney's own success proves the President right -- we all built the America that made it possible.

Explain: We all paid for the massive tax breaks that helped build his personal fortune, the subsidies and tax incentives that helped launch the businesses run by his firm, and the schools that educated the workers they hired.

Expose: The truth is that in America, no one succeeds on their own. Even Romney admits that "a lot of people help you in a business" -- the "people who provide roads, the fire, the police."

Go on offense: Romney's idea of paying back America? Paying taxes to foreign countries, shipping American jobs overseas, and dismantling America's middle class one family at a time.

Flip the frame: We all built America together. They would tear it down.

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ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

ATTACK: "Obama is attacking success."
RESPONSE:

• Americans applaud financial success. In America, playing by the rules should get you a fair shot and working hard should be rewarded.
• But the truth is that in America, no one succeeds on their own. Even Mitt Romney admits that "a lot of people help you in a business" -- the "people who provide roads, the fire, the police."
• When the rich get special tax breaks they don't need, we have to cut our home front funding -- our investments in the great American system that makes all of our success possible.
• In fact, the Romney-Ryan plan would set America on the Path to Poverty -- tearing down the America we all built together.

ATTACK: "Dividing America based on who has money and who doesn't isn't the American way."
RESPONSE:

• Mitt Romney is the politician who's been shamelessly pandering and dividing Americans just to win an election, flip-flopping and pushing disproven lies on everything from Medicare and welfare reform to the "birther" whopper.
• As Warren Buffett says, the only class warfare in America is being waged by his class, and they're winning.
• Just look at Romney-Ryan's top-down class warfare -- it would be Robin Hood in reverse, expected to produce the largest redistribution of income from the rest of us to the richest few in modern U.S. history.
• Romney isn't just the first politician who may be running to be president on the advice of his accountant. He's apparently running to be the country's first Class Warrior in Chief.

MYTH: "Obama has never worked in the private sector, in contrast to Mitt Romney."
RESPONSE:

• Actually, President Obama has worked for plenty of private companies -- 11 of them, in fact.
• Does Romney know how to make himself and Wall Street investors very rich? Absolutely. How to offshore American jobs to China? Yup. Is he a voice for working families? No way.
• Americans need a president who fights for an economy that works for everyone. That means putting jobs ahead of maximizing profits for corporate executives and their wealthy investors.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Tonight's Republican Convention speakers all benefited from the great American system that individuals, businesses, and our government built together, including --

• Mitt Romney amassed his huge personal fortune with the help of special tax loopholes used by the wealthiest of the wealthiest few -- like the foreign tax credit to offset the taxes he has paid to foreign countries -- and the various government subsidies, debt forgiveness assistance, and tax incentives used by his private equity firm.
• Congressman Paul Ryan's family received Social Security survivor benefits when his father passed away, his family business was built on government contracts, and Ryan himself has been on the government payroll nearly his entire adult life -- disqualifying him to be president under Romney's proposed rule for presidents to have at least three years of private sector experience.
• Sher Valenzuela, who is giving a speech on small businesses, credits and openly touts the millions of dollars in federal loans and contracts that enabled her own company to succeed.
• Reince Priebus, the RNC Chairman, attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
• Mayor Mia Love used federal student aid to attend college -- the same student loans and aid she's now trying to cut through her "No Love Plan."
• Gov. Chris Christie's speech will likely highlight the story of his father, who became the first in his family to get a college degree thanks to the G.I. Bill.
• Gov. John Kasich attended public schools from K-12, then Ohio State University.
• Gov. Bob McDonnell attended the University of Notre Dame on a full ROTC scholarship, his father was a U.S. Air Force officer, and his sons currently attend the University of Virginia.
• Gov. Brian Sandoval attended the University of Nevada and the Ohio State University.
• Former Sen. Rick Santorum grew up in an apartment provided by the Veterans Administration, which had employed his parents, and attended Pennsylvania State University and University of Pittsburgh.
• Sen. Kelly Ayotte attended public schools from K-12, then Pennsylvania State University.

And all the attendees owe their thanks to American taxpayers for making the Republican Convention possible --

• The Republican National Convention is being held at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Florida -- an arena that was constructed with $80 million worth of city and county bonds backed in part by taxes.
• The Forum is now owned by the county government, which then leases it back to the Tampa Bay Sports Authority. The Authority itself was created as a public agency in 1965.
• The Republican Party received over $18 million from American taxpayers to help pay for their convention.
• The Republican convention site received $50 million in federal grants for convention security, which is reportedly being spent on "extra police, technology, vehicles, uniforms and gear."

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.