St. Louis, Missouri (CNN) - Calling it a 'moral failure of tragic proportion,' Mitt Romney argued free enterprise has weakened under President Barack Obama in a speech Thursday.
"But sadly, it has become clear that this president simply doesn't understand or appreciate these fundamental truths of our economic system," he said before hundreds at Production Products, a small minority-owned business that provides ground support equipment to the United States military.
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"This is not just a failure of policy, it is a moral failure of tragic proportion. Our government has a moral commitment to help every American help himself - him and herself - and that commitment has been broken."
The Republican Party's all-but-official presidential nominee touted the fundamentals of a free enterprise system as the answer to reviving the economy.
Romney charges that Obama not upholding these values has led to Americans losing their jobs, disappearing from the work force and living in poverty.
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"That same system has helped lift more people out of poverty across the globe than any government program or any competing economic system. That success of our economic system, of our free enterprise system, has been a bright beacon of freedom for the people of the world. It has signaled to oppressed people to rise up against their oppressors, and it's given hope to the once hopeless."
Obama's campaign said in a statement to reporters that Romney "offered no new ideas and no new policies that would actually grow the economy and strengthen the middle class."
"Mitt Romney has promised to use his experience to turn around the economy, but all he has offered to date are negative and dishonest speeches tearing down President Obama," said Lis Smith, an Obama campaign spokeswoman. "And we know why- his focus in both the private and public sectors was never on creating jobs, it was on helping the wealthiest prosper by any means necessary, even if it meant undermining workers and middle class families."
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Just exactly WHAT would Mittens do differently, besides taking away regulations so the rich can get richer and the poor and middle class pay all the bills left from Bush? I haven't seen ONE idea from this man....all he can do is trash the President. Obama/Biden 2012
It is truly astounding how little the Republicans allow FACTS to get in the way of the ridiculous claims.
F grade, Moral Failure.
Romney is going to run out of zingers pretty soon, and it’s only June. He had better learn a lesson from Sarah ‘Dueling Banjos’ Palin and save his witty one-liners when he’ll really need them; that is in mid-fall when he’s down 10-15 points; or at least until after he’s embarrassed in the summer debates.
Keep talking coward. Bullies always get the beating they deserve in time.
Sure- come up with an economic plan that shields the rich and kicks the poor and elderly to the curb and continues to diminish the Middle Class- that's Mr. Romney's morality.
This guy is a serial liar. There are hundreds of balf faced lies documented (you can find then on the web). His lying about the President started with a TV ad (approved by Mitt Romney) mis-using a snippit of a statement by the President to make it look like he said something completely different than what was actually said.
Just like the Repubs are lying about what Bill Clinton said about the Bush tax rates. Listen to the whole clip – he did not say what those lying GOPers are telling you he said. But then, we've come to expect it with this crowd. No honesty. No honor... And Mitt is the worst among him. His opponents all hated his guts in the 2008 GOP primary. Not fit to be POTUS, period!
There are NO repugs with the moral authority to say anything like that.
Even if there were, it would still be a blatant lie, Etch-A-Sketch.
Romney has better rhetoric. Free market capitialsm is the best system, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary person.
That being said, Romney does not support free markets. Niether party supports free markets, as it would mean a significant reduction in their power and control. Government of the size we have cannot exist alongside a free market. We either have large gov. and a managed economy, or a small gov and a free market economy.
I know mormns don't drink or do drugs (supposedly) but is the Kolob bishop on something?
If somebody shouldn't talk about morals of any kind is this lying animal abusive bully who doesn't know from one day to another what he said that now he is against it. He has no character, no idea what ethics means and is spineless twit!
".....moral commitment to help every American help themselves." And Republicans firmly believe that the way to help every American to help themselves is to give even bigger tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, strip workers of the right to organize and demand safe working conditions & benefits, and remove silly regulations that protect our environment and worker safety. Thank a Democrat for the G.I. Bill, a safe workplace, child labor laws, Social Security, Clean Air Act, food and drug safety, voting rights, civil rights, Americans with Disabilities Act, Affordable Health Care Act. Thank a Republican for corporate welfare, subsidies for oil & gas companies, tax incentives to move businesses overseas, low or no taxes on investment and/or capital gains income, deregulation, efforts to privatize (dismantle) Social Security and Medicare.
@ G WORD, Its Mr Personality against the Middle Class come Nov!!!!!!!!!!
Yo Mitt, you aint worked a day in your life. & why are the LDS so special that they get loopholes when it comes to the Military. How dat be??
Dude, love Romney. This election is about the fundamental identity of America. And Romney just hit the nail on the head.
Obama's ideology ruins countries.
Moral Failure Huh?? Yea, Real Man cuttin off a gay guys hair!!!! You were a Bigot then & youre a Bigot Now!!!!!!!! Fine, Prove me wrong, Stop trying to make it Hard for BLACKS to Vote!!!!!!!!!!!! Mitt, Mitt, MItt , Why you Runnin!!!!!!!!!!!!
What's a "Moral Failure" is to have five(5) sons and not one give service to the U.S. Military and for Romney campaigning to be Commander in Chief", that's morally wrong and we all need to let him know it. Have respect for our Military.
RS- what your comments based on? Just your assumptions about Republicans that aren't based on any facts? What specifically do you think Romney will do to kick the poor and the elderly?Please enlighten us. All Obama has done is tried to make sure the rich get poorer so the government can get bigger without providing any solutions to help the poor get richer. And you want that again for the next four years?
What has Obama done to the economy that makes it any different then how it was when he was running. If anything Obama has made the economy worse.
"A moral failure of Tragic proportions..." What a cheapening of the meaning of moral and tragic. The Civil war might qualify for that description, Or to not allow the MS St Louis,a boatload of Jewish refugees, to enter the country in 1939 was a moral failure of tragic proportions. This type of rhetoric clouds the issues. What does he mean anyway? What exactly has Obama done that is a Moral failure? Who suffered the tragedy? Just more rhetorical BS.
How can Romney improve the economy and the nation's deficit problem when he openly promises to increase military presence abroad and increase the defense budget? His "solutions" are no better than Obamas. The only candidate in this election (that will last until November) that is serious on jumpstarting the economy is Gary Johnson.
Considering Obama has made the rich more rich and all the rest more poor I would say that is SPOT on. Obama is president for only the Democrat special interest groups that supports democrats. All others well see you congressman.
Obama has done a horrible job with the economy. We are in no better shape now than we were before we elected him. Rather than taking the economy in a new direction, Obama committed many of the same mistakes as President Bush including further bailouts for the banks. He then made the incredibly communistic move of purchasing part of GM. I am not saying that Mitt Romney has all the answers when it comes to fixing our economy, but he cannot possibly do as bad as the president that we have now.
I'm sure Mitt's a nice guy, and I might have him over for lunch or mow the lawn, but there's no way he's qualified to be pres. Not intellectually, spiritually, or morally. Big business guy, sure. Not ready for the SHOW, though.
There are MILLIONS of people that became unemployed under the former GOP economy!!! Mitt is claiming that President Obama's economy is a moral failure??? Again, pathetic! The current economy, although slowed by continual opposition and obstruction from this version of the Republican party, is gaining ground little by little. Mitt is not being a very moral individual, let alone politician spewing this version of GOP untruth!!
It's so funny to me , that back in 2007 and 2008 . Romney said nothing of the upcoming economic crash and recession .
He is so hedged economically . He wins if America Fails or Prospers.
If he is such the grand wizard of business , why didn't he see the economic crash and why didn't he warn us?
Romney / GW Bush
We brooke it , now trust us to fix it 2012 ?
Here's my list of Romney has actually said he would do... He'd of allowed the auto industry to fail. He'd ask illegal immigrants to "self-deport themselves". Following the Ryan Plan he'd hand Social Security and Medicare over to Wall Street – destroying both programs. He'd have fewer regulations on the banking industry. He'd have little or no regulations on polluters. He'd consider Russia our greatest threat – who knows what that means. It's hard to guess at who he plans to go to war with... Iran? China? Syria? All of the above? He's flip-flopped on every other issue.
How can Romney talk of morals,he has none.He wants deregulation,he wants anti union competition giving unions a push out the door if he has a chance..He wants cheap labor,private or public,much like the outsourced corporations he sent to China have had for competitiveness,he wants profits above anything else.His investors are like vultures waiting for a Romney kill,so they can pick off the bones before ridding the nest of the stinking skeleton.That's Bain, the venture capitalistic group that ruined corporations and lives nationwide,very few survived their onslaught..If you did survive your corporation was greatly deminished because of the financial loss put on it with Romneys borrowing tactics that stripped all equities down to nothing,making them unfavorable to be bought by others for refinancing to help in any restartup plans. His agenda was simple,profits before people,profits above everything else for he and his investors.