For weeks, the Romney campaign have used an out-of-context quote from President Obama as the backdrop to their “We Did Build This!” tour, a series of speeches and press conferences featuring a parade of small businesses that have directly benefitted from government loans and contracts.

It’s a theme that will carry over to the Republican National Convention next week, as the event organizers have titled Tuesday evening’s primetime session “We Built This!” [..]

The Tampa Bay Times Forum, usually the home to the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL team and other large-scale events, was built in 1996 for $139 million, 62 percent of which was provided by the taxpayers of Florida.