Ann Romney fibbed during keynote, father didn't "build it himself"

During her Republican convention keynote, Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, told America of how her father "built" his own business all "by himself":

"He moved to a small town in the great state of Michigan. Michigan! There he started a business, one he built by himself, by the way."

The business was called Jered Industries.

Here's the thing. Jered Industries was a defense contractor. This business was not "one he built by himself, by the way." You and I built it with our taxes.

This is what is so duplicitious about the Republicans - the culture of deception is so ingrained in them that they even send their own wives on national television to twist the truth before millions of Americans in order to score political points about Democrats.

The President's point, when he spoke of "building it" - and the fact-checkers long-since confirmed this - was that even entrepreneurs had help from the government, whether it was the roads and the postal service, or in the case of Ann Romney's father, the millions in government contracts that kept his business afloat (her father's business was also designated as a "small business" by the SBA at one point, which likely means it got other special government favors). Obama's point was that government can be good, do good, and even in the case of Ann Romney's father, create jobs.

Read carefully the "history" of Jered Industries, and note the government contracts influence.

Jered LLC started its walk in maritime construction over sixty years ago. Founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1946, Jered began as a general engineering design firm serving commercial and government markets. As the company grew, a major portion of the projects undertaken were in the marine field, particularly with the U.S. Navy.

In 1964, Jered purchased the marine deck machinery lines of the American Engineering Company (AEC) and the C.H. Wheeler Company (CHWC). For over 80 years, these organizations designed and manufactured steering gear, deck cranes and deck machinery for the Navy. Many key AEC and CHWC personnel joined Jered, providing experience and knowledge to complement and strengthen Jered's overall position in the marine machinery field. As a result of these acquisitions, Jered became one of the leading designers and manufacturers of steering gear systems for today's U.S. Navy.

Building on this experience, during the 1970s Jered became a major source of naval machinery products including deck cranes, weapons and cargo elevators, steering gear, anchor windlasses, deck edge aircraft elevators and special material handling systems. It was during this time that Jered'sDeck Edge Aircraft Elevator became the U.S. Navy standard. Jered continues to work diligently to ensure it maintains this distinction today.

In January 1980, Jered was acquired by Vickers PLC, a diverse engineering group, based in the United Kingdom. Jered remained under their ownership until July, 1997 when it again became U.S. owned and a designated "small business" under the guidelines of the U.S. Department of Labor Small Business Administration.

In 1992 Jered relocated its operations to Brunswick, Georgia, occupying an 185,000 sq. ft. facility on 110 acres of property adjacent to the Georgia Ports Authority. The larger manufacturing base has enabled the company to expand the diversity of its product range.

So yet again, Romney/Ryan lied to the American people. They seem to do that an awful lot.