Mitt Romney.....gaffe machine! Let's take a nostalgic trip reviewing them!

[rinsd]

Just recently - MANCHESTER, NH -- Right off the bat at a health-care forum here, Romney took a clear swipe at Giuliani's recent comment that he would be rooting for the Red Sox because he always supports the American League. Romney asked, "Anyone here a Red Sox fan?" And after the cheers he asked if they were also Yankees fans. To laughter he said, "You're one or the other, but probably not both, right?"

But is Romney the best messenger to make this dig? Earlier this year while stopping by the Iowa-Iowa State college football game, Romney told reporters that he was rooting for both teams.

RINSD note - the Romneys also own a stake in the YES network, the Yankees broadcasting station.

Most disturbing At an "Ask Mitt Anything" forum this morning in Bettendorf, Iowa, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was quizzed about whether any of his five sons are serving in the U.S. military.

USA TODAY's Susan Page, who was there, reports that this was his response:

"The good news is, we have a volunteer Army and that's the way we're going to keep it. My sons are adults. They've chosen not to serve in the military in active duty and I respect their decision in that regard. ... And one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."

Just plain funny



Here are some more gaffe's as compiled by the Boston Phoenix

http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid9677.aspx

10) Cardinal error
As Romney heads to Rome for Boston archbishop Sean O’Malley’s elevation to cardinal in March, a Romney spokesperson says the two men are friends, and that the archbishop asked the governor to make the trip. But this doesn’t square with O’Malley’s account. “I’ve met him a couple times — don’t know him well,” the archbishop tells the Boston Globe . Worse, O’Malley says he didn’t invite the governor. (O’Malley’s spokesperson later says Romney did receive an invitation that “was similar to that extended to the general public.”)

9) The price is wrong
After the London subway bombings in July 2005, Romney briefly rides Boston’s T to reassure the citizenry. At a press conference beforehand, the governor incorrectly identifies the price of a subway token as $1. (It’s $1.25.)

8) What’s in a name?
During a radio appearance for the 2002 campaign, Romney forgets the name of his running mate, Kerry Healey. Explaining that Healey will help broaden the GOP ticket’s appeal, Romney says, “That is what has drawn me to Sherry.” Also, while discussing his efforts to woo conservative Democrats, Romney calls former Massachusetts governor and Reagan supporter Ed King “Frank King.”

7) He likes gay people
In 1994, while running against Ted Kennedy for the US Senate, Romney assures the Massachusetts Log Cabin Republicans that “as we seek to establish full equality for America’s gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent.” (Remember, that opponent is Ted Kennedy. Romney gets the endorsement.) During his 2002 gubernatorial campaign, Romney operatives distribute bright-pink fliers at Boston’s gay-pride festival that read: “Mitt and Kerry wish you a great Pride weekend! All citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual preference.” Two years later, during his speech at the Republican National Convention, Romney likens the threat from same-sex marriage to the menace of Islamist terrorism.

6) Not that there’s anything wrong with that
During Boston’s 2005 St. Patrick’s Day breakfast, Romney — who is Mormon, and whose great-grandfather Miles was a polygamist — jokes, “I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman . . . and a woman . . . and a woman.” The governor recycles this line during Don Imus’s 2006 St. Patrick’s Day broadcast, thereby undercutting his own campaign to convince evangelical Christians that Mormons aren’t really that weird.

5) Mission accomplished
In December 2005, announcing his intention not to seek re-election the following year, the governor basically says that everything in Massachusetts is peachy. “Frankly, what’s happened is that we got a lot more done than I expected we would,” Romney explains. “I’ve got the job done I set out to do.” Three months later, a panel appointed by Romney to study the case of Haleigh Poutre — a 12-year-old adoptee who was savagely beaten in September 2005 and nearly allowed to die, only to recover miraculously — recommends major reform of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services.

4) And when it got cold, we threw those remnants on the fire
In 1994, Romney allows his wife, Ann, to detail the couple’s background in an interview with the Globe. Mrs. Romney offers the following Dickensian account: “They were not easy years. You have to understand, I was raised in a lovely neighborhood, as was Mitt, and at BYU , we moved into a $62-a-month basement apartment with a cement floor and lived there two years as students with no income. It was tiny. And I didn’t have money to carpet the floor. But you can get remnants, samples, so I glued them together, all different colors. It looked awful, but it was carpeting. We were happy, studying hard. Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time.”

3) A foolish consistency, etc.
Debating Ted Kennedy during their 1994 Senate race, Romney offers a passionate defense of abortion rights, referencing his mother, Lenore, in the process. “I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country,” Romney says. “I have since the time that my mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a US Senate candidate.” Later in the debate, Romney says a relative once died after an illegal abortion, and adds: “Since that time, my mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter, and you will not see my wavering on that.” Romney subsequently wavers on that, telling Fox News’s Chris Wallace in 2006 that he is “very firmly pro-life.”

2) Rock that vote
In 2004, Romney recruits 131 Republican candidates to run for the Democrat-dominated Massachusetts legislature, introducing his “Reform Team” at a gala ceremony in May of that year. Come November, however, the Republicans actually lose three seats, thereby allowing Democrats to retain veto-proof majorities in both chambers.

1) Tough job, but somebody ... er, scratch that
After the Boston Red Sox win the 2004 World Series, Romney decides to personally dismantle the REVERSE THE CURSE sign hanging from a bridge over Storrow Drive. In the course of his labors, the governor causes a massive traffic jam and gives himself a nasty bump on the head.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Amusing, but not damaging--we'll have to do better than this!

[rinsd]

2. Simply framing the candidate as gaffe prone has its advantages.

Though I agree there not much meat on those bones to gnaw on.

[durrrty libby]

3. After all these years of bush gafforma, I guess everything

looks mild in comparison