In retrospect, this is probably a quote Mitt Romney wishes he could take back.
The clip comes from the opening ceremonies at the 2002 Winter Olympics, at which Romney reminded the athletes, “[You] know you didn’t get here solely on your own power. For most of you, loving parents, sisters or brothers, encouraged your hopes, coaches guided, communities built venues in order to organize competitions. All Olympians stand on the shoulders of those who lifted them.”
Of course, the current iteration of Romney presumably finds this offensive. After all, President Obama believes successful businesses are the result of individual initiative and public institutions, and Romney spent nearly all of last week arguing that such a belief is “foreign,” an attack on success, proof of radicalism, and an effort to denigrate private enterprise.
If Romney wanted athletes to share the credit for their success with families and communities — they didn’t get there solely by their own power, he said — by his own standards, Romney was trying to vilify the hard work of Olympians, at the Olympics, no less. In case there’s any doubt, it’s obviously pretty silly to believe Romney was attacking athletic success when he said Olympians didn’t get there all on their own — about as silly as Romney’s major offensive last week, which was based on an out-of-context presidential quote he ended up agreeing with anyway.
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