Romney's Foreign Fumbles
If Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s overseas trip was intended to demonstrate his readiness to handle foreign affairs smoothly and lead during dangerous times, it was a dismal failure.
Indeed, Romney “imploded” says Martin Bashir ( journalist, MSNBC host).
Bashir’s post Blunderer in Chief (published July 29 on Huffington Post) argues that while Romney’s “campaign in the United States is embellished, defended and refined by the support of right wing media, billionaire backers and relentlessly negative attacks on the President, in London it was just Mitt -- pure and simple. And it was calamitous. Plenty of commentators have remarked upon Mr. Romney being tone deaf when it comes to the circumstances of ordinary Americans. But he appears to be blind, too.” For more, click here.
Romney looks like a good presidential candidate 'if you turn the sound off", scoffed Arianna Huffington in a recent HuffPost radio debate between Huffington and Torie Clarke about "foreign' policy.
Romney Flops in Europe, a July 31 post on Spiegel Online International, conveys:
“He'sonly been abroad for a week, but the Palestinians are accusing him of racism, the Brits are annoyed and Polish union leaders don't like him. Mitt Romney's trip to Europe and the Middle East has been marred by one fumble after the next.”
“…. His visits to Britain, Israel or Poland didn't go very well. The result has again been rejection of one kind or another. And the candidate has only himself to blame for this gaffe-filled tour.”
To read the rest of that post, click here.
And per The Daily Beast's July 31 post by Robert Shrum The Ugly American: Mitt Romney's Disastrous Overseas Excursion:
"Romney went overseas to show he was qualified to be president—but seldom if ever has any such an effort made someone look so foolish so fast, with so much blowback coming from across the political spectrum."
" Mitt’s London follies were more than a case of political life imitating Saturday Night Live. What he revealed was both his shallowness in foreign policy and the more pervasive flaw of a candidate who reflexively gets things wrong when presented with the unexpected— or sometimes, even on something that should have been entirely anticipated and vetted."
To read the rest of that post, click here.
Incredibly, Romney’s camp contends the trip abroad was successful, getting good reviews. Per a CNN political correspondent:
“In the estimation of Mitt Romney and his top campaign aides, there were no gaffes, no mistakes, no ill-advised statements on the Republican candidate's overseas trip.”
“The poorly timed comments at the Olympics? No big deal. The remarks in Israel that inflamed the Palestinians? Overblown. The off-color word to the press by a Romney aide Tuesday? In the heat of the moment.”
“For Romney, the trouble began in Britain, when he publicly questioned whether London was ready to host the Summer Olympic Games.
British Prime Minister David Cameron retorted that it was far more difficult to organize the Olympics in a world capital than in the "middle of nowhere," a not-so-subtle dig at Romney's Games in Salt Lake City. London tabloids dubbed Romney "Mitt the Twit."
...." Israel brought more controversy. In one of the great stage-crafting moments of his campaign, Romney delivered a stout defense of Israel's right to exist. He warned Iranian leaders that weaponizing the country's nuclear program would lead to war.
However, Romney also outraged Palestinians leaders with his talk of Jerusalem as the undisputed capital of Israel. He commented at a fundraiser in the same city that "culture" can partly explain the economic disparity between Israelis and Palestinians, inflaming the already raw feelings in the region.
Romney was in no mood to answer questions from his traveling press corps about his "from the heart" straight talk. He took only three questions from the journalists after his overseas trip.
After Romney paid tribute at the Polish Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, members of the traveling press attempted to ask about some of his perceived gaffes, only to be shouted down by the campaign's traveling press secretary.”
Click here to read the rest of Was Romney's trip 'a great success' or gaffe-filled disaster?
