Mitt Romney walks back comments on Olympic troubles as he kicks off UK visit
Last edited Thu Jul 26, 2012, 12:04 PM - Edit history (3)
Source: NY Daily News
Mitt Romney was trying to put his best foot forward with U.K. leaders on Thursday, but the GOP candidate was almost immediately forced to walk back a comment that offended some Brits about the countrys Olympic readiness.
Romney, who ran the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, expressed some doubts when asked by NBC News Wednesday night if London was ready for the Games.
"You know, it's hard to know just how well it will turn out", Romney said. "There are a few things that were disconcerting, the stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials that obviously is not something which is encouraging."
The threatened strike by British immigration employees was called off Wednesday.
The comments got wide attention in England, with major newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph splashing his critique on their websites.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/mitt-romney-walks-back-comments-olympic-troubles-kicks-uk-visit-article-1.1122189
The British press love the Mittens.
Commentary: if Mitt Romney doesnt like us, we shouldnt care
Mitt Romney is perhaps the only politician who could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive.
His derisory comments questioning Britains preparedness for the Olympics in an interview with NBC were a strange way to build bridges with a country that he says should be restored as the umbilical ally of the United States, and a strange way to demonstrate the persuasive qualities needed as leader of the free world.
Mr Romney is the scion of Liverpudlians who sought and found fortune and the freedom to practice the Mormon faith (eventually). His wife Ann has Welsh pedigree.
An foreign policy advisor to the Republican candidate told the Daily Telegraph that a Romney presidency would restore the Anglo-Saxon dimension of the transatlantic alliance.
But his comments to NBC, particularly his doubts about Britons ability to celebrate the games, showed how poorly he understands the land of his forefathers.
more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/mitt-romney/9428764/Commentary-if-Mitt-Romney-doesnt-like-us-we-shouldnt-care.html
Cameron to Romney: We're ready for the Olympics
British Prime Minister David Cameron has offered up a defense of the London Olympics in response to a questioning comment from Mitt Romney - and suggested that Romney had a much easier time overseeing the 2002 Olympics because they took place in "the middle of nowhere."
Speaking to NBC News in London on Wednesday, Romney said "there are a few things that were disconcerting" about the London Games, which begin Friday.
"Private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging," Romney said.
Romney also questioned whether the British people will pull together and support the Games. Londoners have complained about traffic hassles and other inconveniences tied to the Olympics.
more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57480596-503544/cameron-to-romney-were-ready-for-the-olympics/
Who invited him? U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney questions British public's appetite for the Games during visit to London
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2179223/Britain-ready-Olympics-says-Mitt-Romney-questions-nation-willing-celebrate-Games.html#ixzz21jnRxGYZ
get the red out
(13,468 posts)Or have his minions say it (Anglo-Saxon Heritage debacle) and when it hits the papers it wasn't said or he didn't mean it? WTF? The guy is a loose cannon and an idiot! I'm starting to have sympathy with McCain when he said he thought Palin was the better VP choice, he might have been right.
Enrique
(27,461 posts)are we sure he's Anglo-Saxon? maybe we should check his papers...
A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)Part French myself.
Lars77
(3,032 posts)Cause Obama's from Kenya right?
TomCADem
(17,393 posts)... would be enough to make him loved in England. Simply use the dog whistle of referring to a shared "Anglo-Saxon" heritage and just wait for the British to embrace him as a long lost son. I bet he is completely flabbergasted that making a racial shout did not immediately smooth the waters.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)in Britain. Just keep putting your foot in your mouth, mitt. Now you've pissed off Britain and Australia.
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)Even London's Guardian was reporting on the security problems. http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/search/?search=Olympics+%2B+security
Trajan
(19,089 posts)I do not intend to be 'fair' ....
The bastard said it; He is getting called on it, and I could not be more pleased ...
I wish he could fairly speak MORE about this subject ...
highplainsdem
(49,470 posts)indie_voter
(1,999 posts)WI_DEM
(33,497 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)but wouldnt France and Holland be older alles, being that the helped us during the Revolutionary War?
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)Consider that, in the War of the American Revolution, Britain was trying to keep us subjugated to the crown, but French military support helped us win our independence.
Take that, you Tea Party nitwits.
Of course, I agree with you that Britain is also a key ally and shouldn't be gratuitously insulted.
MADem
(135,425 posts)military leadership and guidance, and even helped design our nation's capitol, well, yeah, I would have to agree with you!
France was our pal back when the Brits were trying to give us the "Naughty Colonial" beat-down! They are certainly an older ally than the Brits..!
catbyte
(34,721 posts)Diane
Anishinaabe in MI & mom to Taz, Nigel, and new baby brother Sammy, members of Dogs Against Romney, Cat Division
"Dogs Arent Luggage--HISS!
liberal N proud
(60,422 posts)global1
(25,417 posts)a couple of times. He's trying to walk back the comments already. I thought a businessman is supposed to be more savvy than Mitt is? What an embarrassment to himself, the Repug party and this country. He's picking up where Dubya left off. It's no wonder why America under BushCo was so hated.
How could anyone vote for such a nincompoop?
NYC Liberal
(20,153 posts)or worse than he is!
I have no idea how anyone could vote for him.
lark
(23,367 posts)uber rich, Mormons, racists. Why anyone else would vote for him - can't think of a single reason.
gopiscrap
(23,821 posts)low information morons!!!
tanyev
(42,964 posts)eggplant
(3,933 posts)JBoy
(8,021 posts)What a dipshit.
Chiyo-chichi
(3,617 posts)LynneSin
(95,337 posts)Just saying!
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)magical thyme
(14,881 posts)madrchsod
(58,162 posts)LibertyLover
(4,788 posts)just like she were a dog or a horse was interesting.
Javaman
(62,608 posts)xxqqqzme
(14,887 posts)'He can't help it, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth'.
tblue37
(65,802 posts)maybe he has some sort of personality disorder.
jeanmarc
(1,685 posts)'Jackass' is the word that comes to mind. Our friends across the pond make jokes about us and we make jokes about them, but we do have a bond, and while understanding that bond, each side of the pond can recognize a jackass immediately.
lark
(23,367 posts)calimary
(82,039 posts)Leave out the "charm" part and you're spot-on.
Historic NY
(37,500 posts)about diplomacy because its always been Mitts way.
DallasNE
(7,420 posts)To go along with the extreme desire for secrecy. A real disaster in the making.
gopiscrap
(23,821 posts)to disregard or make up facts?
PatSeg
(48,464 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)"I'll bet the mash in this 'bangers and mash' is instant mashed potatoes!"
"I'll bet this spotted dick was made with instant Jell-O pudding!!"
PatSeg
(48,464 posts)Those were perfect!
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)brooklynite
(95,643 posts)...he "flip flopped" an hour later.
nolabear
(42,067 posts)God Save the Queen!
MADem
(135,425 posts)Wonder if he's got a bunch of Polish and Jewish jokes in his repertoire....? Come on, Mitt, you can do it!
maddezmom
(135,060 posts)Netanyahu: Romney Lying About Their Friendship
Netanyahu: Romney Lying About Their Friendship
byTeam Sarah4Choice
Bibi Netanyahu told Vanity Fair:
I remember him (Romney) for sure, but I dont think we had any particular connections, I knew him and he knew me, I suppose.
~Bibi Netanyahu, July 2012 in Vanity Fair Interview
But, to hear the pathological liar, Mitt Romney, tell it the two were as thick as thieves (no pun intended) while they both worked at Bain Consulting Group in the 1970s (not to be confused with Bain Capital.)
Romney to the New York Times:
ROMNEY: "We (Mitt & Netanyahu) can almost speak in shorthand. We share common experiences and have a perspective and underpinning which is similar."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/26/1113809/-Netanyahu-Romney-Lying-About
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021024474
Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,537 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)maddezmom
(135,060 posts)¬snip¬
Netanyahu has pushed back at the notion that he and Romney have a close relationship.
"We did not know each other that well," the Israeli leader told Time Magazine in May, speaking of the time the two worked together at Boston Consulting Group. "He was the whiz kid. I was just in the back of the room." Netanyahu added that the two men had only seen each other a handful of times over the years, according to Time.
That characterization doesn't exactly square with the "unusually frank exchange of advice" between the men described in the New York Times article.
"Romney's relationship with Netanyahu is one of acquaintance rather than friendship as far as I can tell," said Indyk. "It's interesting that while the Romney campaign plays it up as a great friendship - that's the way the New York Times reported it - that's not something you hear from the prime minister's office."
more:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57480120-503544/on-israel-romney-sees-opening-against-obama/
MADem
(135,425 posts)He said he should have been "bland" instead of sticking his foot in it!
maddezmom
(135,060 posts)Mitt Romney's Foreign Policy: Failure to Launch
Mitt Romney picked a bad day to launch a blistering attack on Barack Obama's foreign policy. As Romney was speaking to the annual gathering of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, charging Obama with weakness, betrayal and mendacity, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal released a new poll. It turns out that on "handling of foreign policy," Americans prefer Obama to Romney by 15 points.
Romney's principal charge against Obama is that he has angered America's allies and emboldened its enemies. Again, it turns out that some recently released data contradict the claim. The Pew Foundation released one of its global surveys in June, soliciting opinions from several countries around the world. When asked if they have "some" or a "great deal of" trust in President Obama, the numbers are overwhelmingly positive. In Britain, for example, which is Romney's first stop on his foreign tour, 80% of people trust Obama, compared with 16% who trusted George W. Bush. All countries surveyed have much higher approval ratings of America in 2012 than they did in 2008, when Bush was President. (It's fair to note that the numbers have come down from their 2009 highs, just after Obama's Inauguration, when expectations were soaring.)
In order to give substance to his claim that Obama has let down our allies, Romney dwells at length on a minor issue: the supposed humiliation of the Poles and Czechs over the building of an antimissile system. That is presumably why Romney chose to visit Poland, a country where he thinks attitudes toward Obama will be distinctly cool. That narrative is often repeated on the right. On July 23 the conservative commentator George Weigel of National Review argued that the Poles are extremely nervous about this election, worried that Obama might remain in the White House and continue his allegedly anti-Polish policies.
¬snip¬
Mitt Romney is a smart man who has had much professional success. But even Republican insiders have admitted to me that he has been strangely amateurish on foreign policy. His campaign, they note, is not staffed by the obvious Republican foreign policy heavyweights--people like Robert Zoellick, Richard Armitage, Richard Haass and Stephen Hadley. As a result, he has blustered about Russia's being our greatest geopolitical adversary (actually it is a second-rate power), seems willing to start a trade war with China, is vague yet belligerent about Syria and Iran and has gone back and forth on the timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Romney faces a tough problem. President Obama is the first Democrat in nearly 50 years to enter an election with a dramatic advantage in foreign policy. (The last time was Lyndon Johnson vs. Barry Goldwater in 1964.) Unless Romney can craft a smart, strategic alternative, that gap will only get wider.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2120500,00.html#ixzz21l0bM5Yf
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021026027
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)What a total idiot.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)And then in Poland ... "Hey look, more donuts!"
"I saw donuts in America once ... and clearly, Obama doesn't understand the common foods of our cultures."
MADem
(135,425 posts)Donuts are FOREIGN, actually....well, some donuts! Not Bain Capital-Owned DUNKIN Donuts....but those KENYAN donuts....why, those are a sign of un-American non-Anglo-Saxon breakfast leanings...my friend!
http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/breads/mandazi-kenyan-donuts/
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)ThoughtCriminal
(14,131 posts)to Michael Jackson.
Practice, practice.
DFW
(54,930 posts)Amonester
(11,541 posts)Herlong
(649 posts)With both feet in his mouth?
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)sofa king
(10,857 posts)JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)wordpix
(18,652 posts)Thanks, Mittens, we really appreciate your letting the crazies know that.