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Romney in Illinois: Obama Can't Create Jobs Because He's 'Never Had One'

Presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor makes Friday morning campaign stop in Rosemont.

 

Shaking hands and smiling for cell phone cameras at a Rosemont diner Friday morning, presidential candidate Mitt Romney promised supporters that he would put Americans back to work. 

“The No. 1 issue in America is the strength of our economy,” he said. “And on that issue, this president’s a lightweight. Now it’s not because he’s not smart, it’s because he never worked in the free economy. He’s never had a job in the free economy. It’s hard to create a job if you’ve never had one.” 

Romney made his first campaign stop in Illinois at Pancakes Eggcetera shortly after 7 a.m. Friday. While U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky led a protest against Romney's stance on Planned Parenthood in front of the diner, Romney greeted fans in the restaurant's parking lot. He spoke for about a minute (watch the video), then introduced Rosemont Mayor Bradley Stephens, Illinois State Treasurer and Romney campaign chair Dan Rutherford and U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert. 

Related: Schakowsky Protests Romney’s "Irresponsible" Stance on Planned Parenthood

“To have Governor Romney here is a real thrill,” Biggert said. “It’s great that Illinois is in play, for once.”

Rutherford told the two dozen fans gathered outside that Romney would be going on from Illinois to Puerto Rico, then returning to make appearances in Peoria on Monday and in Chicago on Tuesday. He said Romney would make another appearance somewhere in the suburbs on Tuesday, when voters go to the polls in Illinois. 

According to the latest tallies from the Associated Press, Romney is leading the pack of GOP candidates with 495 delegates; his closest competitor, Rick Santorum, has 252. To win, a candidate must have 1,144 delegates. The latest poll by the Chicago Tribune / WGN TV shows Romney and Santorum neck and neck in Illinois, with Romney at 35 percent and Santorum at 31 percent. 

“If you’ve been out to vote, go out and do it again,” Rutherford joked. 

After shaking a few hands outside, Romney disappeared inside the restaurant for the taping of an interview with Fox and Friends, then gave a short speech to supporters seated at booths and tables. He began by talking about a 17-minute documentary-style video the Obama campaign released on Thursday. As Obama campaign manager Jim Messina told ABC News, the documentary is designed to put the country’s current economic state — and the president’s reponse — “into perspective.”    

But Romney said the video, shot by Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim, failed to show the realities of the American experience. 

“I found it interesting that he could find nothing wrong with the president, nothing negative to say,” Romney said. “I thought, well I’ll give you some help.”

“You could make a call to some of the moms that are having a hard time paying for gas,” he continued. “You could also talk to some of the people who are having a hard time getting to and from work, given the price of gasoline.” 

Obama, Romney said, had failed the country when it comes to gasoline, energy, and most of all, the economy. 

“What I bring to this race is 25 years in the private sector,” Romney said. “I understand how the economy works not because I debated the economy in Congress, but because I worked in the economy.” 

Supporters Say Economy is Their No. 1 Issue

Fans of Romney said it was his business experience that garnered their support. 

Nancy Pratt, of Wilmette, said she and her husband, who runs his own architecture firm, are “huge supporters” of Romney.

“I know business, he knows business,” she said of the candidate. “We need someone who’s just going to roll up their sleeves and get the work done.” 

Pratt said her husband’s business was significantly affected when the economy began to spiral downward in 2008.

“We’re just doing what we can to survive,” she said. “He definitely has seen a huge drop in his income.” 

Patrick Wohl, a senior at Maine South High School in Park Ridge, said he was excited to vote for Romney during the first presidential election in which he was eligible to vote.

“I came here to see what he’s all about,” Wohl said. “I think you need a business man to take this country back to prosperity.”

Pancakes Eggcetera Gets an Economic Stimulus 

Counting a stack of bills at the cash register as the candidate took off with an entourage of Secret Service, a waitress said the restaurant had done well that morning.

“This is an economic stimulus,” said Rutherford, gesturing to restaurant owner Marty Ferraro. “Marty here at this restaurant loves the business.” 

Concluding his speech, Romney also remarked on the restaurant’s moniker.

“Pancakes Eggcetera,” he said. “This is a very novel name.”

Ferraro said it was his idea, and Romney moved on to his most important message for supporters: get out the vote. 

“You’re allowed to vote multiple times,” he said, pausing for effect. “By getting a friend to go with you.” 

“This is Chicago, right? I had to clarify.”

Related Topics: 2012 March Primary, 2012 Republican Presidential Primary, Jan Schakowsky, Mitt Romney, Planned Parenthood, and Presidential Candidate Visits

Joe

12:45 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Born on third base and thinks he hit a home run!

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Sally

5:45 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Best comment I've seen in a long time.

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Dan Arenov

6:22 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Obama scored because people were too stupid to research what he stood for before he ran for president. At least Romney has been a producer...Obama is a destroyer of growth.

Dan Z

1:24 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Good story. Romney will win the primary by 10 points.

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mom4two

11:26 am on Monday, May 14, 2012

Dan C,
President Obama is coming back in 2012! I think you should start embracing the idea from now, it wont be so traumatizing for you later on when it actually happens :) God Bless!

Jon Hall

1:29 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Romney's held the same job for 6 years, CEO of his election. The guy's a loser, and his job performance speaks for itself.

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Dan Z

1:55 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Loser? Really? You really should get out of your house more often.

For starters, Romney was the valedictorian of his college, worked as a missionary, got a JD/MBA from Harvard, successfully turned around several companies at Bain, created over 100,000 American jobs, turned around Bain & Company and made it basically the best at what it does, saved the Olympics from scandal, accomplished bipartisan reforms in Massachusetts while balancing the budget every year and leaving a budget surplus, has been married to his high school sweetheart for 30+ years, has five successful kids and tons of grandkids, and has earned and given away tens of millions of dollars.

You, Jon, are the real loser with such an uninformed post.

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Dan Arenov

6:33 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Jon Hall, that might be the stupidest post i've seen from a lefty.

You do realize that Romney is not an elected official at present time.

Compare and contrast to our president...who has had over 75 fundraisers in the last six months when the election is not even for another 7 months...and what's even worse about that is that he didn't even have to face primary opponents! And with everything that's going wrong in this country, our president has basically been playing hookey, or not giving his all to his duties while he hosts $35,000 a plate dinners.

You do know that, don't you, Jon Hall? well, consider yourself informed now.

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Bucephalus

7:17 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Perhaps Dan you can clarify what Mitt was doing between 2008 and 2011 because everything he said then sure sounded like he was running for president. But apparently I'm just a simple, easily confused "liberal" (thanks Vortex for that clarification) so I'm sure I COMPLETELY misunderstood what Mitt was doing.

Also, I'm interested in knowing when you believe it would be acceptable for Obama to "run" for reelection. Everytime I've watched one of the GOP debates, I've heard them saying why Obama doesn't deserve reelection. It would seem reasonable that if the GOP is allowed to say he shouldn't be reelected that he should be able to say why he should be reelected.

Bucephalus

1:44 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

"It’s hard to create a job if you’ve never had one.”

I simply don't understand this logic. Just because you've done something doesn't mean you can create it. This who idea assumes that creating and doing something are identical skill sets. They aren't.

I've driven a car, but I have no idea how to make one.

There are many things for which you can criticize Obama's handling of the economy. But this claim is just absurd.

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Nightcrawler

1:54 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

This just in on Bain Capital. I know, I know, Romney doesn't work there anymore, but if this is the kind of company he sees as the backbone of our economy, I sure hope he doesn't get a chance to do anything about it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/world/asia/bain-capital-tied-to-surveillance-push-in-china.html?pagewanted=all

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Dan Z

1:58 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Obama's solution to virtually every problem is to increase federal government involvement and expenditures. That's probably a result of the fact that he's spent his whole life in government jobs, where merit and accountability do not apply. That's Romney's point.

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Vortex

4:04 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

"I've driven a car, but I have no idea how to make one."

So why did you believe Obama's claims in 2008 that he knew how to create jobs?

We knew he was clueless, but your liberal media was too busy getting chills up their leg and fawning all over him to actually ask any questions. Now we know the answer -- Obama only knows how to create Government jobs, Union Boss jobs, and heavily subsidized Green jobs. None of those work without other people's money.

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Bucephalus

4:21 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Wow dude, check your attitude. Your quote of mine has absolutely nothing to do with the assumptions you've leveled at me.

What claims do you know that I bought into? Are you psychic because if you are I would LOVE to make your aquaintence. You just assume that because I'm skeptical of an argument made by Romney, I'm some Obama lover.

Is it really that hard to appreciate the fact that the world doesn't revolve around you and perhaps other people might have differing opinions that do not make them less intelligent and less worthy of respect, or at least tolerance?

Apparently not from Mr. High-and-mighty-Vortex.

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Dan Arenov

6:32 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Obama creates jobs the only way he knows how. He passed a trillion dollar spending bill and then passed out the money to anyone who he knew would support him down the line by "contributing" some of that money back to him.

the stimulus was a green energy/ union slush fund.

He has zero business acumen.

I'll vote for Romney. The right guy at the right time.

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Deadcatbounce

10:14 am on Saturday, March 17, 2012

Listen, Obama's doing the best he can w/ the mess he inherited from Rutherford b Hayes

John Russillo

1:58 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Don't worry, Romney won't be visiting IL anymore. He need not bother coming here for the general election.

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CZ Sommers

2:16 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Never had a job? Obama's millionaire daddy didn't give him a free ride like Mitt's daddy did. Obama has earned a paycheck by working hard his whole life, as an attorney, a college teacher, and yes, a community organizer. At all of these jobs, you would be fired or laid off if you didn't succeed. Mitt never had to worry about that-he had his millions already in the bank.

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Dan Z

2:52 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

As a practicing attorney and a student at the University of Chicago when Obama was there, I'd love to hear you tell me all the hard work he did in these positions. He got the U of C job because he was an up and coming politician from the area. He didn't prepare for class and taught Con Law, which is like American History. His course load was the lightest in the school and he didn't really research. His career as an attorney was brief and unaccomplished.

"Romney never had to worry about that- he had his millions already in the bank." What specifically are you referring to? Why don't you spend some time getting a little more informed about the issues and then you can make a comment based on reality, not just your imagination.

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Dan Arenov

3:13 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

to add to Dan C's reply, Obama taught radicalism in college.. he taught CRT, critical race theory, he taught Alinsky material, he teamed up with Ayers to chair the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which gave away over 100 million dollars of Annenberg's money to radical groups in Chicago.

CZ, Romney is a producer of wealth. Obama is a destroyer of wealth. You need to do a little research on our president.. we all know that he got a free pass when he was running the first time. It ain't gonna happen again.

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Sally

5:46 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Hey Double Dans,
I find this facinating. Do you really think the Republicans have a chance? I've yet to meet anyone from any party that thinks so. You have to admit you haven't much to offer this go around.

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D46 Resident

8:34 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Dan C, as a "practicing attorney" I would expect you to realize that national polls mean nothing, since the president is not elected by popular vote. But if it makes you feel better to read only the polls that support your twisted ideiology, go right ahead.

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Sally

9:48 am on Saturday, March 17, 2012

"The Republicans have no chance" = look at the candidates. I've voted both ways over the years but I'm just sayin' that this year the republicans have little to offer. If your money is on Romney then please explain why he hasn't been able to pull ahead of the likes of Santorium and the old guy yet.

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Dan Z

10:02 am on Saturday, March 17, 2012

Sally- have you ever heard of the concept of circular reasoning? "Just look at the candidates" does not add anything other than say I believe this because I believe it. Then your second argument is essentially the same- just saying what your opinion is without supporting it.

Obama, Reagan and many other eventual presidents didn't seal the nomination until June. We're still in March. The race isn't open and closed because the Republican Party decided to make the delegates proportional rather than winner take all this year, unlike previous years. The result of that is to allow lesser candidates to continually accumulate some delegates and hang in the race longer. Romney will seal the deal, at the latest, on June 5th when several big states vote. All you need to do is study presidential history and you'll know Romney is not "historically weak" as some of the more liberal media outlets like to say.

D46- true the president isn't elected based on pure popular vote, but to say that national polls "mean nothing" is clearly wrong. No president has ever been elected with a national approval rating under 48%. Obama is at 41% now, and I expected it to get even lower when gas prices rise steadily over the summer. If you really think Romney has no chance, you've been fooled.

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Sally

10:08 am on Saturday, March 17, 2012

Dan C, sorry if I hit a nerve here. I was indeed expressing my opinion. I understand your arguement but in my opinion, in most of the previous examples of a late nominee, it was because there was more than one viable option. This does not seem to be the case this year. It seems to be that they are choosing the least weak candidate.

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faithful

11:38 pm on Sunday, March 18, 2012

Romney gave away his inheritance to a few universities who he trusted would help kids get a good education. He worked his way to where he is now. Obama had a hidden agenda : to distribute wealth (tax payers' monies).. that was his goal and he is accomplishing it. Class warfare. See Professor Bell's video about "white boys". He was Obama's teacher and Obama embraced this man's teachings.

Par Golfer

2:42 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

I was at the event this morning - Mitt is great - just scary how people in this state have the feeling you can spend more money than you take in and not go broke. I recall Mitt giving in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity? Biden=$0 Al Gore=$0. He also gave away his inheritance too. What jerk would do that? We need someone who's not into having his "career" be WDC. Mitt will go there to help the country and get a balanced budget amendment passed to keep all these career politicians in line.
Must have been tough for BO going to those private schools in Hawaii. What a horrible existence. Going to college & traveling worldwide with no visible means of support? I notice that Michelle likes vacations & lobster. Those poor 1%er's. Oh I'm sorry - it's OK for a democrat to be a 1%er's and not "share the wealth" because as Biden said at the $10K a plate dinner - the GOP doesn't understand the poor people like we do. PLEAZZZZZZZZZZZE

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Dan Arenov

3:22 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Great point about Romney's history of being charitable. No surprise.. studies have shown that conservatives are much more likely to contribute to charity than liberals.

Liberals love spending everyone ELSE's money on special interests that they support, instead of putting their money where their mouth is.

Obama hosts a $35,000 a plate fundraiser today. He will talk about how conservatives are out of touch with the common man... attendees will put up the $35,000 and then next year they will expect loans for 'green businesses' in the millions. Who pays for that? we do.

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The Q

3:26 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Dan you mean they expect green handouts in the Billions....seems fair, you bundle a half million in campaign contributions and somehow you get loan backstops for a billion bucks approved and fasttracked by the Obama admin. But these stories dont even survive a few days with our liberal media in the bag for Obama.

The Q

3:15 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Dems dont get jobs they get hand outs.....

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Dan Arenov

6:35 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

We'll be like Europe where the kids riot because they are ENTITLED to a job.

Yes, it sucks to be out of work, but don't look for your gov't to create the jobs.. we need the gov't to get out of the way.

Oh. that's right..they are Europeans...they've been getting socialist slanted education for 50 years now.

Maybe we still have a chance.

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Bucephalus

7:13 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

You mean we'll have Germany's trade surplus of 13.1 billion euros (equivalent to a surplus of $65.016 billion for us)? Or were you talking about Sweden's life expectancy, which is two years better than ours? Perhaps you meant Norway's 3.8% unemployment rate? Maybe Poland's 3.8% GDP growth for 2011?

Jon Hall

7:07 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

Hey there Dan and the rest of you cute little mittens. I've got news for you. The IOC and the elders of the Mormon Church saved the Salt Lake Olympics. Mitt was hired to be front man and cover for the locals, like Earl Holding and Sen. Hatch who engineered federal land swaps, property condemnations, and earmarks from Fed and state to build new highways and hotels. That's how Holding was able to Hatch the Men's and Women's Downhill to Snow Basin. The IOC and its worldwide "Olympics Family" and 45 sports governing bodies produce the games. Lacking oversight at the top of the organization, brown bags became embedded in the business. Same game as got SL the games was the culture of running the games.

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Janet Templeton

9:35 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

I had the pleasure of meeting Mitt in Boston a long time ago. He's a good man, loyal husband and father and a very smart business man....something DC hasn't seen for a long time. He almost beat Ted Kennedy in a very Kennedy state...that says a lot. There's something to him other than his religious views.

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Jeff S.

8:23 pm on Sunday, March 18, 2012

Romney made his wealth by buying struggling companies, gutting them, and then selling them off for profit.

Yeah...he's a real job creator. Horsesh*t. We all should be inspired by the great American businessman he is. Whatever.

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Max

11:09 pm on Monday, March 19, 2012

Jeff, If Mitt can go to DC and do that, he's got my vote.

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Smarty

8:31 pm on Friday, March 23, 2012

I love how very poor people and kinda/relatively poor people argue about how really rich people will get richer using the futures of their children! It's like watching pro football, you cheer for your team and wear the colors, but the players leave in a Porsche if they win or loose! Where does this leave you? Right where you are standing, you idiot! The people have the power! We are just too much of a weenie to stand for anything. Keep arguing politics like good robots and keep waiting for the change you think that you are affecting. Hopefully you can get a good write off or better, a war! We could put all our boys to work and unemployment will drop like a rock! It's a shell game and it doesn't matter if you are the donkey or the elephant, you are still the ass!

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