The more i hear about Mitt Romney, the more he reminds me of Sarah Palin. He came to the UK and ticked off the Government by questioning their readiness to host the Olympics prompting Carl Lewis to quip that some Americans really shouldn't travel abroad and Michael Johnson to apologise for his fellow countryman.
After Britain, he then went to Israel and angered the Palestinians by saying that the reason the Israel economy was doing better than the Palestinians was all down to culture. Not the 425-mile-long wall fencing them in or the military jackboot they hold on their throat, culture.
To finish the trip which was supposedly to show him as an International statesman, he heaped praise on Solidarity who immediately released a statement distancing itself from Mr Romney saying he had supported attacks on unions in his own country.
His first foreign trip of his presidential candidacy hasn't gone quite as well as he might have hoped.
Now safely back in the States he has gaffed by referring to the scene of the latest recent deadly gun attack at a Sikh temple as a a 'sheik' temple.
The Republican politician, challenging President Barack Obama to become the next American president, said: "We had a moment of silence in honour of the people who lost their lives at that sheik temple.'
To compound his mistake, he then repeated it by saying: 'Among them are the fact that people, the sheik people, are among the most peaceable and loving individuals you can imagine, as is their faith.'
Mr Romney's spokesman, Rick Gorka, who i imagine is going to be a busy man explaining away his bosses slip-ups as the vote nears, insisted that the mix-up was a mispronunciation of similar sounding words. Good job he didn't try and comment on the Shiite Muslims while in the Middle East then.
President Obama must be thanking his lucky stars that the Republicans have put up such a poor opponent to try and take his job. I look forward to some lines to rival Sarah Palin's 'standing with our North Korean allies' and the proximity of Russia to Alaska gives her foreign policy experience.
No need to call the removal van just yet Obama.
13 comments:
the palestinians don't like him - hmmmmmm, that is zero votes lost.
he mispronounced "Sikh" - hmmmm that's 37 votes lost...
it is really sad that the republicans make so many mistakes and the democrats never err...
no, what is sad is that some people point every republican error and over look every democrat error...
you don't really want us to counter with all the Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and especially all the Biden gaffs do you? really?
q
Counter all you like, i'm no fan of Obama either. I would guess if Obama did all this then we would be lampooning him instead but he never, Romney did and he did it on the World stage so that makes him fair game. As Palin found out, if you are mocked and laughed at from the start then nobody listens to what you say, they are goading and just waiting for the next cock up.
You could at least acknowledge my 'Shiite Muslim' line, that was the tiny kernel of humour that the whole post was written around and i'm quite proud of it. It's from the old joke:
Muslim - 'Im a Shiite Muslim'
Christian - 'That's okay, i'm not a very good Christian either'.
Well, I laughed.
The word is that this Wade Michael Page dropkick thought that Sikhs were Muslims. Hmmmm... maybe it's time to start paying more attention to various minority groups... This includes knowing the names of various world leaders and also how to pronounce their names.
Kinda 'politics 101' for any potential Presidential candidate, I'd have thunk...
@Q: So you're saying that Obama actually says as much stupid shit as Romney, Palin, Dubya (etc.) but it never gets reported by that goshdarn 'liberal' media? If you're right, then holy crap, talk about Hobson's choice... although I realise Biden's got a few 'bushisms' in his CV... (I think telling a wheelchair-bound man to 'stand up' is my favourite)...
cheezy, obama isn't the only democrat but he has said brilliant things like "...the other 53 states..." you might know the USA only has 50. then there was bill clinton "i did not have sex with that woman..."
lucy i don't know what i missed. sorry. i'm usually tired and you brits see humor that the rest of us aren't sophisticated enough to understand (remember that i'm a texan and understand the things that dubya says...). i work with several sikhs and find their values, beliefs rather admirable.
q
cheese,
even if obama didn't make gaffs and does make a lot (especially without the teleprompter) has he prosecuted war less than W? Has he earned that nobel peace prize? Has he demonstrably helped any economy other than china's? Has he reduced bigotry in the USA? has he saved the environment?
i guess it doesn't matter since he doesn't make any gaffs... or am i misinterpreting you?
q
looks like i was wrong. this just in:
(CNSNews.com)- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) told a recent gathering of the Women’s Political Committee that the spirits of suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul spoke to her at the White House.
Pelosi said she heard them say: “At last we have a seat at the table”.
Q
"has he prosecuted war less than W?
That one's a yes. On the basis that he hasn't told lies in order to start any new ones. His record is still quite poor though. People who expected a pull-out from Afghanistan by now are obviously disappointed (i.e. I didn't though).
"Has he earned that nobel peace prize?"
That one's a definite NO.
"Has he demonstrably helped any economy other than china's?"
I think this one can't yet be answered with either a yes or a no. Not only is it too complex to sum up with one word, but the jury's still out. A bit like over here, the USA's economic woes built up through many years of mismanagement, and were never going be cured in just one term. The best you could have wished for was to 'stop digging'. I've got American friends who think that's exactly what Obama's been doing (i.e. not digging any deeper), and a couple that don't.
"Has he reduced bigotry in the USA?"
I don't know. People like the 'birthers' have made their bigotry quite conspicuous, but this doesn't mean there's actually more around, or any less. Pretty hard to measure, this one, I think!
"has he saved the environment?
A bit like the economy, I'd say the jury is still out. However the League of Conservation Voters (advocates for the environment) recently graded him at a B+... (Dubya got an F)... Personally I don't know enough about it.
"i guess it doesn't matter since he doesn't make any gaffs... or am i misinterpreting you?"
I think what you've misinterpreted is the entire subject of the post. The way I understand it, it's a rather bemused reflection upon how people who are applying for the job of 'most powerful person on the planet'...
- can have such a terrible command of the English language,
- don't take the time to learn the names of significant world leaders, or who the different factions are in world trouble-spots,
- can't even remember the names of people they're hosting press conferences with,
- get flummoxed beyond words by a simple question like 'what magazines do you read?'
- etc, etc, etc....
To me, the quality of the candidates is revealed in moments like this, and at least partially explains many Americans' contempt for government officials... if these are the best & the brightest that the public sector can offer up, in a country that boasts so many talented people.
ok, to get back on point then, consider this. the scrutiny and coverage have both excalated radically in the last 50 years. in 1960's when leaders and would be leaders gaffed the press missed most of it and they covered up the rest. by the 90's the cover up had ended (the mainstream press covered up democrat gaffs, the talk radio press uncovered the deomcrat gaffs). now every word that is spoken is recorded, tweeted, facebooked, videoed, and blasted to the world within seconds of having been spoken. every gaff is noted and shared... i suspect nobody could survive unscathed...
in addition, i would say the amount of "public" words spoken has increased radically since a 1% swing in voters determines the victor...
q
ps - david, you are a jerk
Haha... I don't think David has even commented on this thread.
Still, you're not wrong!
Right on cue, I see Mittens has done it again - introducing Ryan as "the next President of the United States!"
cheezy, obama introduced biden as "the next president" when he announced biden as his vp 4 years ago... yep, he did the exact same thing as romney.
q
"Well, you know, there's an old saying in Crawford that goes a little something like this... F&ck it up once, shame on... shame on you... F&ck it up twice... erm... um... You can't f&ck it up again!"
Haha... Yes, I recall Obama doing that too...
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