Mitt Romney walks back comments on Olympic troubles as he kicks off UK visit

[maddezmom]

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 country’s 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

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The British press love the Mittens.

Commentary: if Mitt Romney doesn’t like us, we shouldn’t 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 Britain’s 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]

1. So he can just say crap

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]

2. looks like Mitt doesn't get along too well with the Brits

are we sure he's Anglo-Saxon? maybe we should check his papers...

[A Simple Game]

21. He does speak French. Not that that's a bad thing.

Part French myself.

[Lars77]

3. Ango-saxon dimension

Cause Obama's from Kenya right?

[TomCADem]

57. Romney Thought That The White Man Wonder Twins Shout Out...

... 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]

4. Adn that's the most conservative paper

in Britain. Just keep putting your foot in your mouth, mitt. Now you've pissed off Britain and Australia.

[xtraxritical]

50. To be fair, he said nothing that was not widely reported at the time.

Even London's Guardian was reporting on the security problems. http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/search/?search=Olympics+%2B+security

[Trajan]

59. After getting our Liberal faces pushed into the mud time after time the last 30 years ...

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]

5. "...utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive" - Great description of Romney except for "mildly."

[indie_voter]

8. I agree! It's a perfect. I love the mildly because it's such an understatement. n/t

[WI_DEM]

6. So he goes abroad and first thing he does is antagonize our oldest ally!!!!!!

[awoke_in_2003]

15. Yep...

but wouldnt France and Holland be older alles, being that the helped us during the Revolutionary War?

[Jim Lane]

29. I'd consider France our oldest ally.

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]

47. Seeing as they bankrolled a substantial portion of our Revolution, provided us with

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]

7. Mitt certainly is making a good impression, isn't he?

Diane
Anishinaabe in MI & mom to Taz, Nigel, and new baby brother Sammy, members of Dogs Against Romney, Cat Division
"Dogs Aren’t Luggage--HISS!”

[liberal N proud]

9. Romney has diarrhea of the mouth and is constantly needing to clean up his own messes.

[global1]

10. I Don't Think He's Been In Europe For More Than 24 Hours & He Manages To Put His Foot In His Mouth..

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]

11. He could only be an embarrassment to the GOP if the rest of the weren't as bad

or worse than he is!

I have no idea how anyone could vote for him.

[lark]

27. His natural groups are

uber rich, Mormons, racists. Why anyone else would vote for him - can't think of a single reason.

[gopiscrap]

62. you forgot one natural group

low information morons!!!

[tanyev]

12. Mitt takes the gold in the Foot In Mouth competition!!!

[eggplant]

20. Oh, c'mon, give him a break. He's still learning their language. n/t

[JBoy]

13. "For gosh sakes, I didn't comment on the incorrect height of their trees", Romney whined.

What a dipshit.

[Chiyo-chichi]

25. Ha! I love it!

[LynneSin]

14. My god he makes Bush look like a Rocket Scientist

Just saying!

[awoke_in_2003]

16. Scary, isn't it?

[magical thyme]

17. omg. Caribou Barbie really was the better candidate!

[madrchsod]

18. oh my...even evita started off better than mittens.....

[LibertyLover]

19. The way they say that Ann has a Welsh pedigree,

just like she were a dog or a horse was interesting.

[Javaman]

22. He suffers from a chronic case of foot in mouth disease. nt

[xxqqqzme]

40. or to borrow Ann Richards' dig

'He can't help it, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth'.

[tblue37]

65. In her current blog post Salon's Joan Walsh wonders (seriously, not flippantly) whether

maybe he has some sort of personality disorder.

[jeanmarc]

23. Jackass

'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.

[freshwest]

24. +1

[lark]

26. This is a charm offensive?

[calimary]

51. Nope. Just offensive.

Leave out the "charm" part and you're spot-on.

[Historic NY]

28. Imagine the scene he'd make as president, he is clueless

about diplomacy because its always been Mitts way.

[DallasNE]

30. All Of The Charm Of Richard Nixon

To go along with the extreme desire for secrecy. A real disaster in the making.

[gopiscrap]

31. Why is it that it is in the DNA of all Republicans

to disregard or make up facts?

[PatSeg]

32. God, I hope they don't serve him cookies

[MADem]

36. "I'll bet this treacle is Karo Syrup!"

"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]

49. I can see the repulsed look on his face now

Those were perfect!

[smirkymonkey]

52. No they didn't, but he turned up his nose at a serving of crumpets.

[brooklynite]

33. So, not only did he insult our greatest ally...

...he "flip flopped" an hour later.

[nolabear]

34. Moonwalk Mittens, the Walkback Kid.

God Save the Queen!

[MADem]

35. Can't wait for his gaffes in Poland and Israel!!

Wonder if he's got a bunch of Polish and Jewish jokes in his repertoire....? Come on, Mitt, you can do it!

[maddezmom]

37. did you see this yet? Netanyahu: Romney Lying About Their Friendship

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 don’t 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]

38. "We share common experiences"....... Such as?..... nt

[MADem]

41. OUCH. The hits just keep on coming, don't they? nt

[maddezmom]

42. CBS is covering it now

¬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]

43. Fareed Zakaria is calling Mitt an idiot, too--politely, on CNN.

He said he should have been "bland" instead of sticking his foot in it!

[maddezmom]

45. Just posted his most recent article

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]

53. "Great Friendship" = We both want to blow up Iran.

What a total idiot.

[JoePhilly]

39. This is what will happen in Isreal ... "Hey's what's that round thing over there, a donut?"

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]

44. Uh-oh....but what about MANDAZIS????

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]

46. "Are these from 7-Eleven?"

[MADem]

48. Hilarious!!!!

[ThoughtCriminal]

54. Mitt could have given walk-back lessons

to Michael Jackson.

Practice, practice.

[DFW]

55. "Walks back?" Listen to 750,000 Londoners tell him it's too late!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19007127

[maddezmom]

56. LOL

[Amonester]

58. Unfit-Mitt plays Etch-A-Sketch everywhere he goes.

[Herlong]

60. How was he even walking

With both feet in his mouth?

[Thor_MN]

61. Does he know that Michael Jackson (non Anglo-Saxon) popularized Moon Walking?

[sofa king]

63. I heard that he wants to walk home.

[JoePhilly]

64. Looks like Mitt kicked off an actual Apology tour.

[wordpix]

66. I'm sure the Brits love that Mitt's spread it far & wide that they don't have enough security

Thanks, Mittens, we really appreciate your letting the crazies know that.