On The Right Track

CORE MESSAGE

We're moving forward, but if we switch to Romney's plan, it won't just be Big Bird out of a job.

Connect: The unemployment rate is now down to 7.8% -- a 44-month low and a sign we’re moving forward.

Define: Romney said at the debate that his economic plan is to fire Big Bird and the rest of Sesame Street by cutting off their funding, just like he would fire two million Americans in two years by cutting off investments in America.

Expose: Romney would rather use the money to pay for more special tax breaks for the wealthiest few like himself.

Contrast: Tax breaks for the wealthy and going easy on Wall Street led to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Been there, done that. Why return to failed Bush policies?

Look forward: Under President Obama, the American people created jobs for 31 straight months -- putting five million back to work and sending the unemployment rate in the right direction. We have to keeping moving forward.

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Bonus Tweet: Mitt Romney’s "jobs plan"? Fire Big Bird. http://bit.ly/Oagnq2 #SupportBigBird

ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

ROMNEY: "Romney will create 12 million jobs when Obama couldn't."
RESPONSE:

• Actually, Americans are set to create 12 million jobs over the next four years if Romney does nothing -- but he's trying to take credit.
• That job growth comes despite the sabotage by Republicans in Congress who'd rather keep millions of Americans jobless just to put one man -- President Obama -- out of work.
• Economists say Romney's plan actually means massive layoffs -- two million jobs lost in the next two years alone.
• So Romney's doubling down on trickle down, which led to the worst job growth since WWII but did make the richest few even richer. We have been there, we tried it their way, and it didn't work. We can't go back.

ROMNEY: "Letting tax cuts for the wealthy expire will kill jobs."
RESPONSE:

• It's ridiculous to say cutting taxes for rich people creates jobs. Tax cuts for the wealthy don't help our economy grow -- and that's something that both nonpartisan research and any American still pounding the pavement for a job could tell you.
• The real job creators are working people with money in their pockets -- customers who keep our businesses thriving and hiring.
• American families are concerned about jobs, what those jobs pay, and making ends meet -- but Romney's more concerned about giving the richest people like himself even more special tax breaks.

ROMNEY: "I'm not trying to cut taxes for the wealthy."
RESPONSE:

• Actually, Romney said it himself that he wants to cut taxes for the wealthy, "including the top 1%." You can also see his tax plan for yourself: it's full of special tax breaks that only go to the wealthy.
• His $5 trillion tax plan really would cut taxes for a wealthy and raise them for working families -- making a middle class family pay $2,000 more so a multimillionaire can pay $250,000 less.
• Let's also remember what Romney said behind closed doors about half of America, including working families, students, and seniors: they're irresponsible dependents who aren't paying taxes.
• No wonder his tax plan would make you pay more so the richest few can pay less. It's as if Romney thinks that struggling people aren't struggling enough and our middle class isn't already bearing enough of the burden.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Under President Obama, the private sector has created five million jobs over the past 31 months, bringing the unemployment rate to a 44-month low.
• Mitt Romney's "jobs plan" would mean massive layoffs -- two million jobs lost in the next two years alone.
• Any way you look at their plans, independent study after study confirms that the Romney-Ryan agenda would raise taxes on the entire middle class -- hitting working families especially hard --  just so the richest few can pay less.
• As a way to address the deficit, Romney wants to eliminate all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including PBS (home to Sesame Street), amounts to 0.00012% of the federal budget in 2011. Click here to see how tiny that funding is compared to the budget.
• Romney and other Republican politicians keep targeting the Americans who keep our country running, even though they’ve been hit hard by layoffs and cutbacks in their wages and benefits.
• In fact, as a result of the current pay freeze, federal workers are already paying for a $60 billion contribution over 10 years to the deficit.
• If public sector employment had grown since the official start of the recovery by the average amount it grew in the three previous recoveries, we'd have nearly 2 more million jobs today.

 
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.