Romney: US is not a kibbutz
Republican presidential candidate slams Obama's claim that American businesses rely on help from society, government; draws fire after mispronouncing word 'Sikh' as 'sheikh'
WASHINGTON – "It’s individuals and their entrepreneurship which have driven America. What America is not (is) a collective where we all work in a kibbutz or we're all in some little entity," Mitt Romney said Tuesday.
"Instead it’s individuals pursuing their dreams and building successful enterprises which employ others, and they become inspired as they see what has happened in the place they work and go off and start their own enterprises," the Republican presidential nominee sad during a fundraiser in Chicago.
'I couldn’t believe he’d actually said it.' Obama (Photo: AFP)
The presidential hopeful recently returned to the US from a tour abroad, which included a visit to Israel. During the visit, Romney expressed his support for the Jewish state and said the US has "a solemn duty and a moral imperative" to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability."
By referring to the kibbutz as the antithesis of American individualism, Romney was trying to capitalize on President Barack Obama's controversial argument that businesses in the US rely on help from society and from the government.
Sikhs protest in New Delhi (Archive photo: AP)
"The other day when the president said that remarkable thing, I couldn’t believe he’d actually said it," Romney said during the fundraiser at a Maggiano’s restaurant in Chicago. "I was incredulous. I read what the president said was if you have a business you didn’t build it, someone else did that. He didn’t really say that did he? And then I went and read the text and in fact he had said that."
Romney's remarks were first reported by the website Buzzfeed.
The Republican candidate recently drew fire from the Democrats after he mispronounced the word "Sikh" (seek) as "sheikh" (sheek), a word with an altogether different meaning. A sheikh (sheek) is an Arab leader. Sikhs (seeks) trace their religion to South Asia.
A Romney spokesman said the candidate simply misspoke while discussing the shootings in Wisconsin that killed six members of the religion Sikhism.
During a fundraising event in Des Moines, Romney said "I was in Chicago earlier today. We had a moment of silence in honor of the people who lost their lives at that sheikh temple."
"I noted that it was a tragedy for many, many reasons. Among them are the fact that people, the sheikh people are among the most peaceable and loving individuals you can imagine, as is their faith."
The spokesman, Rick Gorka, said ''he misspoke. It was the end of the day. He mispronounced similar sounding words. He was clearly referring to the tragedy in Wisconsin. You clearly heard him talk about it earlier today in Chicago."
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