Romney's Rough Day

[knapplc]

Mixed bag of results for Romney in Poland. Walesa appears to endorse him without actually endorsing him, but the Solidarnosc party embarrassingly kicks him to the curb:

Poland's Solidarity Union Rebukes Romney Upon Former Leader's Endorsement

 

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney may have earned an apparent endorsement from former Polish president Lech Walesa on Monday, but no such kind words were coming from Poland's storied Solidarnosc (Solidarity) trade union, which Walesa and others founded in 1980.

 

Upon Romney's visit to the Gdansk shipyards, the site of historic Polish worker strikes during the Soviet era, Solidarnosc issued a press release saying it is "in no way involved" in the Romney meeting with Walesa and had no "initiative" to invite the American candidate to Poland.

 

The union expressed dismay at Romney's anti-union stances in the U.S., saying it would stand alongside the AFL-CIO, the American labor federation that has endorsed Obama and remains highly critical of Romney.

 

"Regretfully, we have learned from our friends in the American trade union central AFL-CIO representing over 12 million workers about Mitt Romney's support for the attacks against trade unions and labor rights," Andrzej Adamczyk, the head of the union's international department, wrote. "In this respect, I wish to express... our solidarity with American workers and trade unions. [solidarity] will always support the AFL-CIO in their struggle for the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively."

[knapplc]

Putting a cap on Romney's Rough Day (Week):

 

But the Mitt misfire that most defies explanation was his uncharacteristically caddish comment about his wife’s passion for dressage and Rafalca, the horse that she co-owns, who is competing in the Olympics. Ann Romney embraced dressage as part of her therapy after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, so there is an uplifting subtext to her passion for precision riding.

 

When the Republican candidate was asked in an NBC News interview whether he intended to watch Rafalca compete in London, Romney replied: “This is Ann’s sport. I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on. She will get a chance to see it. I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well.”

 

Even though the former Massachusetts governor is an avid horseman himself, the tenor of his remarks made it seem like he would much rather watch the Olympic finals in parcheesi.

 

LINK

 

Pretty decent analysis of how/why Mitt bungled this trip. Seems there was a Romneyshambles at every stop.

[strigori]

Romney seemed to be effected by Foot in Mouth Disease on his mini-World Tour. Not quite to Dan Quayle levels, but close at times.

[Comish]

Seems like a few here are buying into the lame stream media’s take on this trip 100%.

 

In London, he answered a question about whether or not the security was up to snuff. As a guy that had run an Olympics, he answered (not as a candidate), but as guy who has been there when he said there were some troubling things concerning readiness. Not PC, but essentially correct. The Brits got their panties in a wad. Big deal.

 

In Israel, he did just what he set out to do and that was drawing a contrast to Obama (without mentioning or criticizing BO by name on foreign soil –a standard courtesy) in terms of his strong support for their back. He made his point forcefully and garnered some stateside respect because of it.

 

In Poland, he gained the tacit endorsement of Lech (a stark contrast to the endorsement of tyrants like Hugo, who endorses BO). I’ll take that contrast anyday. Of course the labor movement is going to lambaste him just like the AFL-CIO here. Totally predictable

 

But, typically the press focus was on so-called gaffes. The so- called journalists yelling at him today at a holy site was beyond embarrassing. Can you imagine an “unbiased” journalist screeching at Obama….”Have your gaffes overshadowed your trip”?

 

If you read his speeches in Israel and Poland, they are substantive and deserve far more distribution and discussion they they received.

 

Of course, my friendly adversaries on this board will see it differently, but I felt compelled to point out the other side.

[knapplc]

The "holy site" thing was completely overblown. The Mitt hit the fan on several occasions during this trip, and overall it was a PR disaster, but that particular event was mostly press BS in my opinion.

 

Granted (and this doesn't give the press any excuse, it's just what happened) Mitt did pretty much refuse to speak to them for the vast majority of the trip, even during four-hour flights when they were with him on the plane. If I'm Mitt or a handler, that's exactly what I do because when you put a microphone in front of him he's gaffe-tastic (maybe he should consider a teleprompter?), but even still, that doesn't give the press the right to lob questions at him like that - and it certainly doesn't give them the right to lob exceedingly stupid questions at him.

 

I don't have any qualms pointing out Romneyshambles when I see them. But I also have zero problems with calling out the press when they're wrong, too. And they were in the wrong there.

 

I wonder how much trouble the guy who told the press to kiss his a$$ and "shove it" is going to get into.

[strigori]

In London, he had both the mayor of London, and the British Prime Minister take shots at him. Both are conservatives by the way. Great way to start off a relationship with a world leader Romney would have to work with a lot.

 

In Israel if basically took a 180 on what the Obama's stance has been. A huge no-no. You do not go on foreign soil and call for different policy. its bad form. He is taking more heat for his comments (using incorrect numbers at that) regarding the economies of the Jewish settlers and the Palestinians saying 'culture' was a determining factor.

 

In Poland the Solidarity party is the group in large part responsible for overthrowing communism (its amazing how in this country right wingers call unions socialistic, do that in Poland and you will start a fight) and, yeah Romney should have expected bad press from them, as he is opposed to everything they stand for.

[carlfense]

Seems like a few here are buying into the lame stream media’s take on this trip 100%.

Actually, it sounds a lot more like you are buying the "non-story" spin from the mainstream conservative media.

 

It's a big deal when an inexperienced candidate goes on an overseas trip to showcase his foreign policy and has scorn-inducing gaffes at nearly every stop.

 

It matters when the gaffes rise to the level where the candidate is compared unfavorably to Sarah Palin.

[knapplc]

Seems like a few here are buying into the lame stream media’s take on this trip 100%.

Actually, it sounds a lot more like you are buying the "non-story" spin from the mainstream conservative media.

 

It's a big deal when an inexperienced candidate goes on an overseas trip to showcase his foreign policy and has scorn-inducing gaffes at nearly every stop.

 

It matters when the gaffes rise to the level where the candidate is compared unfavorably to Sarah Palin.

 

And it's important to note that this scorn isn't coming from American spin doctors or the "liberal press." It's coming from foreigners, many of whom got their first real experience with Romney on this trip. Sure, they could look to the mainstream Fox News #1 in all the land spin on Romney and take their cues from their glowing praise (unless they watched Fox during the primaries, when most Fox pundits hated Romney), but instead they looked at the man himself, listened to his words, and reacted negatively.

 

This isn't some "spin" from the American liberal press. This is Romney making a shambles out of his first foreign visit, all on his own.

 

Sure, the right-wing spin doctors are out in full force with their chorus of "it wasn't that bad..." but frankly, if that's the best they can say, that's concerning in the extreme.

 

 

 

It's looking more and more like the best way to make Mitt Romney look bad is to give him a microphone and let him speak. And it's very scary that he's within several points of the president right now.

[sd'sker]

he insulted his hosts or the occupied nation. also, he praised israeli healthcare, which is very similar to obama's (and his own). those are the big ones, but the point was for him to prove he could be diplomatic and represent this nation abroad, he utterly failed. that is an objective fact; however, it is up to you whether or not his international presence matters.

[Comish]

Seems like a few here are buying into the lame stream media’s take on this trip 100%.

Actually, it sounds a lot more like you are buying the "non-story" spin from the mainstream conservative media.

 

It's a big deal when an inexperienced candidate goes on an overseas trip to showcase his foreign policy and has scorn-inducing gaffes at nearly every stop.

 

It matters when the gaffes rise to the level where the candidate is compared unfavorably to Sarah Palin.

 

And it's important to note that this scorn isn't coming from American spin doctors or the "liberal press." It's coming from foreigners, many of whom got their first real experience with Romney on this trip. Sure, they could look to the mainstream Fox News #1 in all the land spin on Romney and take their cues from their glowing praise (unless they watched Fox during the primaries, when most Fox pundits hated Romney), but instead they looked at the man himself, listened to his words, and reacted negatively.

 

This isn't some "spin" from the American liberal press. This is Romney making a shambles out of his first foreign visit, all on his own.

 

Sure, the right-wing spin doctors are out in full force with their chorus of "it wasn't that bad..." but frankly, if that's the best they can say, that's concerning in the extreme.

 

 

 

It's looking more and more like the best way to make Mitt Romney look bad is to give him a microphone and let him speak. And it's very scary that he's within several points of the president right now.

 

It is truly amazing that in certain minds.................anything that ISN'T critical of Romney MUST come from right-wing spin doctors or Fox. Why, the man has no skills, no message, just a bungler. How objective.

 

What I find scary is that BO is within several points of Romney despite 3 1/2 years of demonstrable cluelessness.............

 

But we've got three months for this to play out. I'm guessing when folks find out for themselves who/what Romney is (rather than gobbling the entire line of a subservient press in love with BO), that he will be viewed in a different light.

[knapplc]

This is a good point, Comish. Can you tell us who/what Romney is?

[carlfense]

This is a good point, Comish. Can you tell us who/what Romney is?

That depends.

 

[Yossarian]

This is a good point, Comish. Can you tell us who/what Romney is?

 

He's not Barack Obama.

[knapplc]

This is a good point, Comish. Can you tell us who/what Romney is?

 

He's not Barack Obama.

 

I didn't expect such candor, but that's pretty obviously his only necessary qualification for Republicans. Thanks, Yossarian.

[carlfense]

This is a good point, Comish. Can you tell us who/what Romney is?

 

He's not Barack Obama.

 

I didn't expect such candor, but that's pretty obviously his only necessary qualification for Republicans. Thanks, Yossarian.

I think it was Yossarian who has said that he would vote for Pee Wee Herman over Obama.

 

That certainly says something . . .