Subject: CTR TPs: AMERICA RISING: ANTI-AMERICAN BUSINESS AND ANTI-GENEROSITY, ROUND TWO
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 17:19:01 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*​**AMERICA RISING: ANTI-AMERICAN BUSINESS AND ANTI-GENEROSITY, ROUND TWO*

*ATTACK: **The right-wing attack group, America Rising, is at it again
today, attacking Hillary Clinton and General Motors for their involvement
with the Clinton Global Initiative, which is holding its annual meeting
this week in New York.*

*KEY POINTS: *

• America Rising came out swinging today against two core American values –
American-owned businesses and the virtue of generosity.

• America Rising wants to defile the work of the Clintons so badly that
they are willing to make fun of the American value of generosity and
criticize General Motors, an American-owned company, for its support of the
Clintons’ charitable work.

• The Clinton Global Initiative has helped improve the lives of over 430
million people in more than 180 countries and has worked to secure $103
billion to spur innovative solutions to make the world a better place.

• The Clinton Global Initiative is nonpartisan and brings together the best
minds from the government, business, nonprofit and academic sectors
throughout the globe to find solutions to the world's most pressing
challenges.

• America Rising is led by Mitt Romney’s former 2012 campaign manager, who
must have forgotten that Romney himself has praised the Clinton Global
Initiative for its “astounding impact” and for demonstrating “the
effectiveness of entrepreneurship and social enterprise.”

• This is just like when America Rising attacked Bill Clinton for buying
watches from Shinola, a Detroit-area start-up that makes their watches in
America using American-made products. Our response is the same as it was
then: Made in the USA is the way to go. So is kindness. It’s a sad day when
America Rising has to be reminded of that.

*BACKGROUND:*

*Romney: “I have watched the astounding impact of this Initiative from
afar.”* “Since serving as President here in America, President Clinton has
devoted himself to lifting the downtrodden around the world. One of the
best things that can happen to any cause, to any people, is to have Bill
Clinton as its advocate. That is how needy and neglected causes have become
global initiatives. It is that work that invites us here today. As I have
watched the astounding impact of this Initiative from afar, I have been
impressed by the extraordinary power you have derived by harnessing
together different people of different backgrounds, and different
institutions of different persuasions. You have fashioned partnerships
across traditional boundaries -- public and private, for-profit and
nonprofit, charitable and commercial.” [Romney remarks to CGI, Wall Street
Journal, 9/25/12; Video]

*Romney: “The Clinton Global Initiative has also demonstrated the
effectiveness of entrepreneurship and social enterprise.”* “The Clinton
Global Initiative has also demonstrated the effectiveness of
entrepreneurship and social enterprise. You endeavor to not only comfort
the afflicted, but to also change lives [through] freedom, free enterprise,
and the incomparable dignity of work. Free enterprise has done more to
bless humanity than any other economic system not only because it is the
only system that creates a prosperous middle class, but also because it is
the only system where the individual enjoys the freedom to guide and build
his or her own life. Free enterprise cannot only make us better off
financially, it can make us better people.” [Romney remarks to CGI, Wall
Street Journal, 9/25/12; Video]