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Friday, July 27, 2012

Britain on Mitt Romney: Worse Than Palin

       This trip was meant to be a vacation from all the struggles Romney has suffered in the last 3 weeks, all the questions about his murky history at Bain Capital which he had intended to make the centerpiece of his campaign, the calls even by conservatives that he release his tax returns to the American people as every Presidential candidate since his father, George Romney, has.

       His vacation was supposed to start in Britain where he could bask in the reflected glory of the Olympics-calling to mind the last part of his resume he actually wants to talk about, his time at the Olympics in Salt Lake City.

       He is not off to a good start. Say this: if the American people really don't get who Mitt Romney is, the British people seem no more impressed:

       "Earlier today British Prime Minster David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, shot back at Mitt Romney for saying London’s preparation for the Olympics was “disconcerting.” “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere,” Cameron said referring to Romney running the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City."

       http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/07/26/593261/johnson-romney-olympics/

        Oh boy. I thought this trip was supposed to impress us by all the photo ops with foreign leaders. This first one with David Cameron is not a keeper. Actually, no one seems impressed by Mitt over on the other side of the pond.

       "Later, London Mayor Boris Johnson, also a Tory, called out Romney in a speech at an Olympics event before to tens of thousands of people in London’s Hyde Park:
JOHNSON: I’ve never seen anything like this in all my life. … people are coming from around the world and they are seeing us and they are seeing the greatest city on earth. And there are some people who are coming from around the world who don’t yet know about all the preparations we’ve done to get London ready in the last seven years. I hear there’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we’re ready. He wants to know whether we’re ready. Are we ready? Yes we are!

        This is typical Mitt in mouth disease. Standard practice. Remember the time the Obama Administration got the photo op of them hanging at that Pittsburgh bakery shop after Mitt insulted cookies asking if they bought them at a convenience store? Ooooh, that was one for the books:

       "All Bethel Bakery wanted was to welcome Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to its Pennsylvania town with some locally-made cookies".

        "Instead, the gaffe-prone candidate inadvertently insulted the plate of baked goods that was presented to him at a campaign stop in Bethel Park on Wednesday, guessing it was from a convenience store."

       "I'm not sure about these cookies. It doesn't look like you made them. Did you make those cookies? No... they look like they're from a local 7-Eleven bakery or whatever," Romney told one of the voters he sat down with at a meet-and-greet event, according to video published by ABC affiliate WTAE Pittsburgh"

        "Bakery owner and president John Walsh was understandably taken aback. "When I heard it, I thought, 'Oh, my goodness. This guy has no idea how beloved this institution is that provided these cookies," he told the local station."

        "In the video, Romney appears he is trying to make a joke about the cookies, but -- as his jokes often do -- it fell flat."

        "CookieGate," as Bethel Bakery has labeled the incident, is yet another example of the former Massachusetts governor trying to relate to regular American voters but coming off as elitist. During his campaign,he told a group of unemployed Floridians he is also "unemployed," and said he likes NASCAR because he has "some great friends" who own teams. Those awkward moments make Romney, whose net worth is estimated at 300 million dollars, look like an out-of-touch car-elevator-owning multi-millionaire."

      http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/330597/20120419/mitt-romney-accidentally-insults-local-pittsburgh-bakery.htm

      Mitt speaks the international language all right saying things that nobody likes:

       "In terms of winning British hearts and minds, Mitt Romney's attempt to burnish his credentials on the international stage as a potential future world leader has fallen at the first hurdle. His achilles heel was lack of diplomatic tact – a pretty crucial skill for anyone with leadership ambitions."

       "The reaction from the UK media to the Republican presidential hopeful's charm offensive was decidedly lukewarm on Friday morning. "'Nowhere man' Romney loses his way with gaffe about the Games," wrote the Times, while the Daily Mail quipped over a double-page spread: "Who invited party-pooper Romney?" The Independent seized on the play doing the rounds on "omnishambles" – the quip first coined on the satire The Thick Of It but cleverly appropriated by the Labour leader Ed Miliband: "Romneyshambles: Mitt begins his trip with a swipe at London." And to really put the boot in, a quote from one British diplomat in the Times described the former governor of Massachusetts's performance as "worse than Palin" – a reference to the gaffe-prone Republican former vice-presidential candidate."

       http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2012/jul/27/mitt-romney-uk-media-olympic

       Yeah, Mitt gives a great charm offensive, in that he has no charm and he's offensive.

        "On day three of his overseas tour, Mitt Romney woke up to unfriendly headlines from the British media, who continue to trash him for telling NBC News that he found preparations for the Olympics here "disconcerting."
         "Mitt the Twit," declared The Sun tabloid, condemning Romney as a "wannabe president."
          "The Independent headlined their take on Romney's trip, "Romneyshambles"—accusing him of not only committing a diplomatic gaffe but later "the cardinal sin of U.S. politics, flip-flopping" on his criticism."
          "The Daily Telegraph suggested Romney's "Olympic gaffe" had overshadowed his trip to London. Meanwhile, the conservative Daily Mail slammed Romney as "devoid of charm, offensive and a wazzock."
          "Romney's comments led newscasts on both Sky News and the BBC on Thursday night and early Friday morning, just hours ahead of the Olympic opening ceremonies here."
           "Is this guy really prepared to be president?" one Sky News reporter asked in his Thursday night report about Romney's day in London. The reporter trashed the GOP candidate's comments as "just daft."
           Here he is folks, Mitt Romney, King of all diplomacy.
           "Romney has repeatedly tried to dial back his criticism, first in a news conference Thursday outside 10 Downing Street, where he had met with British Prime Minister David Cameron, who had been publicly critical of Romney's remarks earlier in the day."
           Like the Independent said, Mitt's again flip flopping. Turns out on the British Olympics like on so much else,  he was against before he was for it

       

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