Video & Multimedia
Related: About this forumPic Of The Moment: Romney Fails Commander-In-Chief Test
Transcript And Audio: Third Presidential Debate
Follow @demunderground
pacalo
(24,721 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Mitt Romney's Nonsensical Middle-East Geography
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/10/romney-iran-syria-route-sea-map.html
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)Neato etcher, though!
Amimnoch
(4,558 posts)I'm wanting to put in on one of the "mixed" political boards I frequent. There's one thread going on right now with this topic that would make several of the neocon's heads explode by throwing this into it.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)FailureToCommunicate
(13,989 posts)A late debate night, a long day of work, and now, to relax with DU...
Thanks for the laughs!
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)Mittsy's forgotten Iraq on his wee Etch-a-Sketch! Or perhaps Iran has invaded Iraq and prevailed in yet another blistering border war, in his goofy little mind! And India probably has no idea what to do with all the extra room!
ProudProgressiveNow
(6,129 posts)putitinD
(1,551 posts)flamingdem
(39,304 posts)yardwork
(61,416 posts)Edit - for example, see post 12 below.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Hey Mittens, this isn't a beauty contest
flamingdem
(39,304 posts)to see a video mash up of Romney's debate performance and Ms. South Carolina?
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Like the Romneys?
marasinghe
(1,253 posts)you'd figure the asshole at least knew the geography around "his gang's oil wells". oh, well; seems he fails that test as well.
cleduc
(653 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Or which countries he can see from the doghouse atop the Rolls
Bainbridge Bear
(155 posts)Russia from my house". Rethugs seem to have a real problem with geography, and just about every other form of book larnin'
BainsBane
(53,001 posts)He studied hard, but didn't cut it. It's clear he has never thought about foreign policy before this election.
Mali was also a gaffe: It's Sub-Saharan Africa, not the Middle East.
MH1
(17,537 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)Iraq, maps notwithstanding, has no decent littoral. The Shatt al Arab waterway is still a mess. They're the ones in need of an additional option when it comes to the sea, though the Med is a long way away.
If Iran wanted access to the Med, they've still got a few pals in Lebanon. They already HAVE a measure of "access" to the Med through their buddies, but they don't have shit in terms of seapower.
Maybe, though, he confused Iran "shipping" arms to Syria (something SECSTATE has chastised them for just a few weeks ago) with actual SHIPS that float on the water, and that all got confused in his sweaty little head.
I was giving Shittsy the once over during that debate, and I gotta say, the sweating was noticeable, the blinking and fake "kiss me once and kiss me twice and kiss me once again" simper on his face was very off-putting, and I got the sense that the guy really needed to poop--BAD.
Ever need to drop a deuce in the worst way, and there's no facilities available? Particularly when there's a bit of a rumble in the tumble, and things aren't sitting right, and ya really have the need to just sit on down and BLAST OFF--that's kind of the feeling I was getting from watching the guy, that his stuff was just all a-boil, and he should have visited the loo before the debate started....he looked like "BEFORE" in an ad for IMMODIUM AD!
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)at Mormon Missionary school. Funny he didn't get Iran next to France. Dumb ass.
eridani
(51,907 posts)Why in bleeding hell do you think they call it the PERSIAN Gulf?
Cha
(295,901 posts)your inimitable grading, EarlG! Rofl
Did his debate coach tell him that? Something he thought he remembered from a long ago geography class?
brush
(53,469 posts)Not to mention Geography.
NBachers
(17,001 posts)drnb
(3 posts)The problem with this "gaffe" is that Romney seems to be correct. Iran is building a Navy base in Syria to gain easy access to the Mediterranean Sea.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,150 posts)In reality, there is no such base. Try linking to a real-world report about this (the fake DEBKA claim from 2011 about this doesn't count - DEBKA is a propaganda outfit that makes things up for tactical gain).
yardwork
(61,416 posts)Who writes these scripts?
Ganja Ninja
(15,953 posts)Fail!
Dog Gone at Penigma
(433 posts)And Iraq is between Syria and Iran ......which doesn't give Iran any access. A port base only gives Iran advantage if they get their navy into the Med......and that requires getting them out of the Persian gulf, which can be easily contested by a lot of countries -- and INTO the Med through the Suez Canal.....where it is even easier to stop them.
Unless you are suggesting Iran plans to portage their navy through Iraq?
Because the only place easier to destroy a navy from above than in the water would be across land -- if they could move the larger ships that way at all.
So unless Syria offers them an air pump like the ones for flat tires on the outsides of SuperAmericas, to reinflate their little blow-up boats, so what if Iran plans to build a naval base in Syria?
Syria is late to the Arab spring, but it is only a matter of time until the current regime tumbles. Subsequent regimes are less likely to be pro-Iranian.
I just LOVE this picture - applause, applause!
47of74
(18,470 posts)FailureToCommunicate
(13,989 posts)pediatricmedic
(397 posts)That certainly is the right phone for the corporate elite who like exploiting people.
Hepburn
(21,054 posts)Apparently he is not smarter than a 5th grader.
joanbarnes
(1,715 posts)UndahCovah
(125 posts)Rmoney probably meant the Mediterranean sea. He should have specified though if he to avoid any questions. And I suppose Assad is Iran's only ally, even though they don't share a border.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)Lebanon
China
Russia
India
Pakistan
Cuba
Iraq (Google it)
Afghanistan (even though you never hear it in the media they really are allies!)
Venezuela ( and other Latin American Oil Allies of Venezuela)
North Korea
The "Stans" and regions bordering Afghanistan and Southern Russia that are controlled by fundamentalist Muslim sects that are loyal to the Iranian Religious leaders.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Maybe with a committee working for a day or two
tclambert
(11,080 posts)They'd have to go around Iraq or Turkey, since according to Mitt they don't have any other allies. Besides, one of the big threats with Iran is their long coastline on the Persian Gulf, which they could potentially close, especially at the Straits of Hormuz. An awful lot of the world's oil moves through there. Iran's own seacoast is critically important.
donqpublic
(155 posts)As far as Mitt knows, the Mediterranean is the only "SEA" he has taken yacht. Regular trips to Southern France, Southern Spain, and Monaco will skew your geographic sensibilities.
stubtoe
(1,862 posts)GEOGRAPHY!
Shuhered
(200 posts)Wow, this is ridiculous Mittens. I can forgive your general lack of geography if you will just release the 2000-2009 tax returns in full. Please do so now as I am an undecided voter idiot imbecile dumbass who just hasn't had enough data in these last 2 years of this election cycle. Heehee, gotcha!!! Already voted for Obama here in Iowa, by mail. Vote People!!!!!
classof56
(5,376 posts)As for your Obama vote--Way. To. Go!!
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
valerief
(53,235 posts)spooky3
(34,302 posts)Ganja Ninja
(15,953 posts)could be so fucking stupid. For a country that is so important and plays such huge role in the world the general lack of knowledge regarding geography is appalling. It's especially annoying when we have fought not 1 but 2 wars in the last 20 years in a country that shares a border with both Syria and Iran.
Initech
(99,913 posts)Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)...the everything they got from college was bought with money rather than actually studying and learning. Look at Dubya. Four years at Yale didn't make him any smarter. Money gets you in, and money gets you a passing grade and money gets you the diploma. Which means you can spend those years bullying and playing jokes on professors rather than actually learning anything.
Initech
(99,913 posts)Coyotl
(15,262 posts)Yavin4
(35,356 posts)And the globe won't have any labels.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)We could have avoided two wars
Uncle Joe
(58,112 posts)Thanks for the thread, EarlG.
Dooley99
(1 post)....Obama's visiting 57 states and that he only had 1 more to go. Hilarity ensues!
merrily
(45,251 posts)the route through Syria is by far less expensive and less time consuming. Especially if you don't want to depend on having access to the Suez Canal.
Maybe Romney's sentence could have been more fully developed, but his geography was not ludicrous.
tclambert
(11,080 posts)He probably doesn't think geography is important. In the case of Iran, it clearly is. And saying Syria is Iran's only ally is even more ludicrous.
longship
(40,416 posts)Thanks, EarlG
R&
BainsBane
(53,001 posts)These should qualify as the foreign policy gaffes Myth's advisers were worried about.
jimbo92107
(18 posts)I agree that he blew the map test, but I also agree with Lawrence O'Donnell's assertion that we aren't really trying to figure out who is the best debater, but who will be the best president. Thus, the participants should have access to reasonable resources during the debate, including maps.
On the other hand, here's Mitt Romney trying to look presidential by shooting from the hip during a presidential debate. He may have looked like a take-charge kinda guy, but by assuming he had an accurate map of the Middle East in his head, he made an absolute ass of himself.
What Romney's map gaffe reveals is a man who is perfectly willing to shoot his mouth off, even when he's not sure of his facts. Even worse, he'd be willing to bet you ten thousand dollars that he's right, even when he's completely wrong. Mitt Romney has made himself very, very rich by always acting like he knows exactly what he's talking about, even when he is clueless.
As a businessman, Romney's full-speed-ahead personality results in an easy-come, easy-go career. However, an American president cannot have the personality of a riverboat gambler. When the fate of a nation and a world are in your hands, you need to be willing to take your time making large decisions, like when to go to war.
Romney doesn't like being careful. He plays business like a game, and he treats politics the same way, like a game. In the real world, a leader with this attitude can leave a lot of wreckage in his wake.
Response to EarlG (Original post)
Post removed
tclambert
(11,080 posts)Romney really doesn't seem to understand the geography of Iran or why that's important. And you have to at least understand the importance of the Straits of Hormuz and Iran's long coastline on the Persian Gulf.
EvolveOrConvolve
(6,452 posts)You waited four years for THAT???
Enjoy your pizza..
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)politicaljack78
(312 posts)I can see Hannity grasping for straws on this "Iran though having access to water bodies to both the North and South does not have access to a real sea. To the north, the Caspian Sea is just a big lake because it does not connect to an Ocean like the Mediterranean Sea does. And to the South the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman are Gulfs not Seas. Iran has allies in Northern Iraq that allow them to freely get to Syria via land, in reality Northern Iraq is really Iranian so they do share a border with Syria. And once the Iranians get access to the Mediterranean through Syria, they get to the Atlantic Ocean and attack the United States with their large Navy, thus we need more battleships." Sad, but I can see this happening after Hannity's comments on horses being used in Afghanistan.
iamthebandfanman
(8,127 posts)and even if iran is building a 'navy base' in syria (btw , ive heard rumors of work on land bases.. this is the first about a navy base)..
there is noway in hell that iran is going to premptively strike Israel.
Do people realize the consequences of that type of action?
I mean,
its the same thing as China..
its just not in their interest to do it.
its just not.
how does starting a war with a bunch of nations that are capable of wiping your major cities off a map from a safe distance benefit you at all?
it doesnt.
simple fact is.
sanctions are working. iran is freaking.
they have two options.
one is attack and start a war they cant win..
and the other is
'talk' and atleast pretend to be slowing down their programs...
given their history, i think ill pick the latter. call me crazy.
crunch60
(1,412 posts)is good at bullshitting enough of the people enough of the time to have gotten this far, and he has the Plutocrats running this country behind him with their $$$$. He's a corporate pimp, and doesn't give a jack diddle about most of us.
DeeDeeNY
(3,352 posts)Biggest headline after the debate.
Oh, wait.
Response to EarlG (Original post)
Post removed
Response to EarlG (Original post)
Post removed
alp227
(31,961 posts)go to 0:30 mark.