Loyola at center of Romney-Obama debate
Posted by gjohnson7 on September 24, 2012
By Gabe Johnson
Loyola University Chicago is part of the national presidential debate.
After taking heavy fire for controversial footage that surfaced earlier this week in which he said 47 percent of Americans are dependent on the government, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has used a 14-year-old clip of rival Barack Obama speaking at a Loyola University Chicago student forum to fire back.
In the clip, Obama, then an Illinois state senator, explains that he believes in the redistribution of wealth, but that it must be done in a way that fosters competition, works in the marketplace, and also fosters innovation at the local level.
Here’s a portion of the story from the Chicago Sun-Times:
While campaigning in Utah on Tuesday, Romney toned down his remarks, saying he supported helping those in need, but opposed “redistribution.” In an attempt at a push-back, conservative blogger Matt Drudge led his popular Web site with a link to a 1998 audio recording of Obama, then an Illinois state legislator, talking at a conference at Loyola University in Chicago.
In the audio clip, Obama says: “I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody’s got a shot.”
Romney’s attempt, however, appeared to fall short of drowning out Day Two of intense coverage stemming from a secretly recorded video tapes in which Romney tells a group of wealthy donors in May that 47 percent of Americans take handouts and “my job is not to worry about those people.”
In 2011, the Tax Policy Center reported that 46 percent of Americans did not pay federal income taxes. However, data from the group also indicates that many of those same people pay federal payroll taxes, local income taxes and property taxes.
