Mitt's lead footed, "No Apologies" Euro Tour--could we be missing something?

[bklyncowgirl]

While we're all having a good giggle over Mitt's apparant tin ear for the niceties of international diplomacy, could it be that he's actually doing some of this deliberately in order to create a greater contrast between him and Obama?

There were plenty of people who loved Bush's in your face swagger and see Obama's quieter rhetoric as somehow apologizing for America even though Obama is in reality far more effective against America's enemies than Bush ever was. There's a longing on the GOP side to assert American dominance and "leadership" and a real disdain for anything remotely European.

Could Romney really be that clueless as to how his remarks are going to be perceived in London or is he playing to the jingoistic tendencies of voters at home?

[avebury]

1. Romney doesn't care. He doesn't live like the

rest of us peons.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. There's a difference between swagger and clumsiness

Even if Romney's various muck-ups were deliberate, they have been clumsy - even to the casual observer. If Romney's still trying to solidify his base with such tactics in late July, the thing is long gone for him anyway. He's long past a pivot point to the center, and these types of Clark Griswoldesque shenanigans definitely do not play to the center.

The bigger point might be this: we perhaps spend too much time looking for secret ways in which Romney's endless stream of screw-ups and campaign no-no's might in fact be a plot. He can't be this bad, can he? Well, yes. Yes, he can. Sometimes, the other guy is just bad. There's no secret intent. Only our own fantasies of Republican superiority would make us think that Romney's incompetence is actually some kind of secret competence.

[longship]

3. My favorite

"backside of 10 Downing Street"

To understand this fuck up, you have to consider cultural differences.

backside is buttocks in the UK.

10 Downing Street in the press means the PM's press secretary, as in "10 Downing Street says..."

So Romney, unwittingly, was making a comment about the PM's press secretary's buttocks.

Subtle to us Americans, but a delicious faux pas. The Brits are probably still giggling about this one.