It happens every American election season. The candidates go on a stump-speech tour, and amid the pressure to gain on the campaign trail, at least one of them slips and says something that makes people go "...wait, what?" The media picks up the soundbite and eventually, it ends as fodder for the opposition party. The rest is history, as they say.
And while we’ve seen quite a few slipups and oopsies from the Republican lineup this year, President Obama has been relatively untouched by this high season of political punditry. That is, until his “You didn’t build that” remark came up during a speech in Virginia last Friday. Though it was meant to emphasize the government’s role in fostering the growth of American businesses, when taken out of its original context, it didn’t sound pretty to say the least.
The quote was promptly isolated as an “attack against American business,” copied and pasted throughout the conservative political blogosphere, as well as on Tumblr and Reddit, where people began pairing up Obama’s soundbite with historic photographs of modern-day inventions and architectural feats. Mitt Romney’s campaign and the Republican Party didn’t want to miss this golden opportunity either. By Monday, a satirical poster of Obama’s quote set to the background image of the Wright Brothers’s maiden flight appeared on the Republican Party’s website, GOP.com. Check out the gallery for more highlights, and visit Know Your Meme for the full listing.
Why yes, you’re practically guaranteeing you’ll get my vote with that statement. There’s no way that opinion could backfire on the American people!
He has... the most interesting presidential stance in the world.
Not to bring religion into this, but this is practically atheism in a nutshell.
Pssh, you call that innovation? Ever heard of a bird, Wright Brothers?
Whose Starship is that? Jefferson built it, not you.
And the kicker: Obama, speak for yourself.
