Associated Press
Protesters clash with police in front of the U.S. embassy in Cairo.
Mitt Romney has spent several days blasting U.S. officials who criticized the anti-Islam film that has provoked so many enraged demonstrations in the Middle East and North Africa. The U.S. Embassy in Egypt issued a statement -- six hours before protests in Cairo -- condemning "efforts to offend believers of all religions" and "firmly rejecting" the bigoted YouTube video.
This, if we're to believe Romney's own rhetoric, outraged the Republican candidate. Romney said the statement "sympathized" with protestors and issued an "apology for our values," which he considered "terrible." He added that the U.S. embassy "suggest[ed] that there's something wrong with the right of free speech."
For anyone who understands English, it's hard to know how Romney reached these conclusions, but as Benjy Sarlin noted, there's another problem -- in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Romney echoed the same sentiment he condemned.
"Well, I haven't seen the film. I don't intend to see it. I you know, I think it's dispiriting sometimes to see some of the awful things people say. And the idea of using something that some people consider sacred and then parading that out a negative way is simply inappropriate and wrong. And I wish people wouldn't do it. Of course, we have a First Amendment. And under the First Amendment, people are allowed to do what they feel they want to do. They have the right to do that, but it's not right to do things that are of the nature of what was done by, apparently this film. [...]
"I think the whole film is a terrible idea. I think him making it, promoting it showing it is disrespectful to people of other faiths. I don't think that should happen. I think people should have the common courtesy and judgment -- the good judgment -- not to be -- not to offend other peoples' faiths. It's a very bad thing, I think, this guy's doing."
At this point, Stephanopoulos moved on, but I have a follow-up: what's the difference between Romney's condemnation of the bigoted video and the U.S. Embassy's?
By his own reasoning, is Romney sympathizing with Muslim protestors? Is he apologizing for our values and suggesting there's something wrong with the right of free speech?
If the Republican campaign can explain why Romney can denounce a bigoted film but the U.S. Embassy in Egypt can't, it'd certainly help advance the larger conversation.
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You mean Romney said one thing and then said the complete opposite. I've never heard of him doing that! Chicken Little must be out because only something as catastrophic as the end of days would dare cause Gov. Romney to say or do something like that.
How can Mittens be held responsible for keeping things straight if he never mastered Kindergarten skills?
The Friday after the Democratic Convention, Chris Matthews discussed how he used to define the Parties: the Democrats were the "Mommy" party, taking care of domestic policies, and the Republicans the "Daddy" party, taking care of the military and foreign policy. I have extrapolated on the idea that Chris made, the Democrats now the Parent Party - in other words, the grownups. The Republicans are the Child Party and they do not know how to tell truth from lies and that sharing is good. These are skills learned in Kindergarten. He either skipped Kindergarten or has forgotten; so we cannot get vexed with Romney when he tells a lie, he does not understand there is a difference.
The flip flops are coming closer together. The press is getting mean. Mommy, help me. Hurry up and spend more money. C'mon people support my story. What is this strange feeling in my stomach? Is this what fear feels like? Ann, help me, tell them you love them. Paul, blame Obama. Donald say something, fire someone. Newt old buddy, say something inflammatory. Sheldon, pay for another movie. GOD wants me to win, right Pat? Will any one help me, I am unemployed.
Mitt Romney apologizes for America.
</snark>
And America will have to apologize, if Romney wins the White House, again.....
Yes, Zora Renee, over and over again.
Once when asked to describe what jazz is, Louis Armstrong said "if you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."
Romney seems to be operating under a similar assumption - condemn other people for doing exactly what he does as if there is a subtle yet worlds-apart difference that you're incapable of understanding if you have to ask.
It's the sort of thing con men do, either flatter you for asking a good question (without answering) or humiliating you for asking a question anyone should know the answer to (without answering).
Their base is dumb enough to fall for it, why won't you?
Romney is trying to win a presidential election. The embassy staff in Cairo were only trying to avert an uprising and protect lives. Where are your priorities, man!
all your base are belong to us
Slappy , you also just described 90% of the ceo's on wall st , and this is who america looks to for a strong economy ?
It is up to every dem in america to send THIS EXACT message home to america for the next year , every time they put job creation and the romney crowd together to try and make a point , we need to scream "BULL @!$%#!!!!!" , till everyone gets the message and just stops falling for such propaganda
IMO this is the bonus of the gop failed pres campaign , exposing wall st ceo's as the real nincompoops they are
Today it seems that some on MSNBC are trying to give Willord a way out of his bongoling on the day we were thinking about the families that lost loved ones on 9/11. Willord is the same flip flop he has always been, he is being used by the tea party as if he is a puppet, how can some say all Willord need to do is sound presidential and everything will be alright. This man has said some nasty things over and over again, but I forgot the american people will forget, I think not, all one has to do is look at his campaign, and review his statements, and one other thing where are the tax returns, all yeah, I will talk to the American People once I'm elected thats Romney and his running mate Ryan talking, the 99% does not matter to these people, women, elderly, college students, Obama Care, Children, Schools, Taxes. I don't forget so easily, and the american people should not either. This is serious, do we go back? Or will we go forward? Fired Up Ready To Go.
The Romney campaign wants to portray Obama as weak, and too eager to appease enemies and defer to the UN, etc. So they really really want to be able to stick the label "apologist" on him. So the embassy statement was an "apology" because they wanted to contrast the Obama administration with their own "strong" stance on foreign policy.
The label was pre-made, just waiting to be stuck on the next likely administration statement. In the interview, of course, he wants to be able to walk it back to mainstream opinion. But without ever admitting he might have made a mistake.
Reminder to the Republicans:
In 2001 under President Bush's direction: an official diplomatic exchange, the USA government issued an apology April 11 to the Chinese Foreign Ministry for the intrusion into Chinese airspace of an American spy plane and the death of a Chinese fighter pilot. http://www.sinomania.com/CHINANEWS/usa_china_apology.htm
April 2006 President Bush apologies to Chinese President Hu Jintao for a protestor. http://articles.cnn.com/2006-04-21/politics/bush.china_1_nuclear-program-china-chinese-counterpart-hu-jintao?_s=PM:POLITICS
May 2004 At a Rose Garden press conference following a White House meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, President Bush offered his first direct apology
over the Iraqi prison abuse issue. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119156,00.html
@Jake Null - that is an interwebs classic. Laugh out loud.
Searching for Captain Zero.
The difference is that the Embassy language used the word "condemn" in regards to both the video and the ensuing violence.
In contrast, Romney uses the phrase "I think" or "I wish" seven times in the above statement.
And then we get to these words:
"Of course, we have a First Amendment. And under the First Amendment, people are allowed to do what they feel they want to do."
We don't live in a world of absolutes - Free speech is tempered by limits around safety and common decentcy. And people are not "allowed to do what they feel they want to do". Say it, maybe, but not do it. But that little difference really gets to the core of Romney's world view - "I'm a free American and I can do whatever the f@#k I want".
At the same time, wishing and a dollar might get you a cookie, but wishing that there weren't all those big meanies out there in the real world isn't exactly leadership.
It's not legal to scream out "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater for safety reasons. Not that I believe in censorship but maybe making a video that "inflames" a billion people (muslims in this case) around the world should have some legal ramifications. Like at the least some kind of sensitivity training. Better yet, a free vacation to Mecca. If you're comfortable spouting off on the Web, why not in the heart of that which you attack?
Emphasis added. This statement only applies to Mitt Romney, your milage may vary. Does not apply to women and especially to women's bodies. Does not apply to voting, health care, employment, housing, or the care and feeding of the children we wouldn't let you avoid having, you slut.
Is "No-apology Romney" (or anyone on the right) condemning youtube's censorship of the bigoted video clip? Who is standing up for American values and demanding that the clip be available to people in the region?
Youtube/Google is not a publicly owned platform. They can censor whatever they want on their own servers.
of course they are free to censor as a private company. the point is that if Romney were consistent he would condemn google/youtube's decision to censor free speech. after all, he got into the middle of this because he was outraged by the lack of a forceful defense of free-speech values? well...
The only difference is he mentioned the First Admendment, which I'm sure those in the US Embassy weren't concerned about at the time. From my vantage point, I barely see any difference with what he said vs what they said. Also, am I hearing that in defense of his response, he says the Obama administration agrees with him in that the Embassy response was inappropriate, thus the reason they "backed off" from it? Ok, so, I am completely missing the point of criticizing Obama. Can anyone help make sense of Romney's handling of this?
Can anyone make sense of Romney's handling of anything?
You know, I would never vote for Romney or Republicans, but I swear, I find myself cheering for them in the hopes that they can make a coherent arguement about ANYTHING. Just to keep things interesting. Just for balance. Just to make me think about it from a different angle. But I tell you, nothing and I mean nothing these people say makes any sense to me.
You know BK I feel the same way. I like to tease Republicans for being insane and cooky and I like to come up with conspiracy theories as to why they think the way they do, but it's all meant to be fun and games. In reality my expectation is that all conservatives and all Republicans are just as sane and logical as everyone else and that the difference is simply their perspective and their compelling argument. Maybe they will make that argument and it will reveal to me that perhaps I am wrong and perhaps they are right. Perhaps their world view has a good idea that I am missing from my world view. I'd like to think that everyone has a story and that I'm eager to learn (even if a bit sarcastic at times). But time after time I've found myself pointing out factual errors, logical fallacies, direct contradictions and even PARADOXES in conservative and/or Republican thinking. I am sure that there exists the same phenomenon on the extreme end of the left political spectrum (ever argue with an anarchist? that's a great trip down paradox lane), but the difference is that Democrats and liberals aren't on the extreme. It's just the Republican Party and conservatives (and really we shouldn't be calling them that- President Obama is a conservative and these guys are to the right of him...libertarian? reactionary? confederate? I don't know, but conservative is not it).
I firmly believe that the further out to the fringe of the political sphere you get the more and more instability you have when it comes to your political ideas and arguments (and it seems to be even your very character and psyche). Hence why it's on the fringe. The only reason why we seem to be encountering more and more illogical and nonsensical bull from the right, at least it seems to me, isn't because being right wing is inherently wrong, but because they've moved outside of the conservative sphere and into the extreme fringe. And now they've became unhinged as always happens when you move that far to the extreme.
I lament it especially because I do not think you can have a conservation about where to go in the future unless you have multiple view points about where to go. I would think that history has taught us that homogeneity will only lead to the death of the species.
Romney's audience was Americans. Those in Cairo were speaking only to Egyptians. How much do you know about Egyptian government and how it's arranged? Of course the Embassy didn't waste time on a purely American concept. Their only goal with that release was to try to prevent rioting that they saw brewing.
Romney has NO shame, NO class, and NO place anywhere near the White House.
Another great point Christine
BKNYC lol , I have found myself thinking the same thing , they can not even take a policies and make a coherent argument against it , or how they can produce something better , it is flabbergasting to observe at a certain point , I gave up listening / reading what romney was saying over a month ago , because every time it would turn out to be just made up BS
The Romney ad in iowa here basically says , " iowa a lot worse off now , since obama took office "
Well no , we were barley effected by the economic melt down , and our economy is basically booming , then the t bagger trying to unseat one of the dems in the u s house here , says in his ad , (ad libbed )
" iowa needs to vote this dem out of office , for the children's sake " ....
Seriously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being Mitt Romney means never having to say you're sorry.
Romney needs to worry about this, because Mormontology is going to come up in a much stronger context,
mormontology. :0
Will Mitt be the first presidential candidate before the election to get someone killed because of his ignorance????? Romney will need to pull out all of his weapons of mass distortion to stop his campaign's slide. Laurence O'Donnell offered a solution to change the subject. Release your tax returns.
Poor Willard. The only thing that has effectively changed the subject about his most recent gaffe has been... another gaffe.
I don't agree with gaffe. A blundering, rank amateur is more like it. He and his whole team. What he /they did was craven , crass and totally without FACTS. But then, his whole campaign has been composed of lies, distortions and refusing to discuss policy. Now we see why, he can't, he doesn't have any policys. Vote people, take friends to get registered and to the polls. This disaster can't be allowed to happen.
Really? How in the hell can George not ask the third grade follow up question!? The media is getting an 'F' on this one... so sad. Romney's lies now defy HIS own logic, and that takes skill.
Let's put it bluntly. Govenor, your still trying to cultivate the people in your party that agree with that video.
Not "the media" just George. His campaign doesn't let him sit down with people they don't feel are sympathetic and will let him off easily. Or they prearrange what questions can be asked and don't allow follow ups.
It allows them to make whatever milktoast statements they want to a wide TV audience, then walk it back later when the partisans get mad about it. The general public only sees the first bit, and the people paying the bills are placated by the second bit.
I stopped watching George Stephanopoulos some time ago, when he let Ann (The Empty Dress) Coulter run roughshod over everyone else at the table. He's just too much of a lightweight.
If I were a Kansas farmer, I too, would be a skeptic: "So after the drought destroyed my crops, I tried being a baptist, then, after the hail storm destroyed my crops I said ""what the hell? I'll try being a presbyterian,,,, then after my wife and child died in childbirth,,,,.
Why did God choose the Jews?
If christianity were the true religion would there not be any starving christian children? (think Mexico)..
Prayer, if it doesn't work, move on...
Could I say any of these things in a muslim country? Aren't they all anti-muslim statements?
Psst! Mitt, that's not what the First Amendment says. So, for example, even though I might feel I want to slap your smirking face, I don't have a First Amendment right to do it.
Maybe if he gets elected, we WILL have that right......almost worth it, but not quite. I love America too much to sell her for a cheap thrill.
tamiasmin....chuckle..
Wrongney; "You know my principles: I will no longer take any questions,, and that will include my participation in any debates."
I don't see how rimney can go in front of the cameras for even 10 more days of 1 question a day without completely implodeing and essentially luz by forfeit.
I guess he is monogamous,, let's ask.. Beating up gay kids, stealing pension funds, lying, I keep thinking another shoe will drop...
nothing going on her folks, just more of the same...can you imagine how Romney is gonna sound during the debates...
Romney is closing his eyes to the way some people are thinking in our Country, he needs to know, even though it is horrible, what people are saying and doing. This is just an introduction to what we would have in store for us if Romney gets elected to any kind of Government job. (the Presidency is off the table). He doesn't want to know what anybody is thinking except for his rich friendly Corporations, he couldn't be bothered with diplomacy, it is beneath him. He reminds me of the character on SNL, where he tells a lie or one-ups someone and then says, that's the ticket.
Now that the investigation into who made the film is leading to a Coptic Christian excon. How is he going to feel when the anger in the Middle East turns on his people? Was this for his 15 minutes of fame? It is beyond me how hateful some people are and how little they care for the victims of their behavior.
Maybe that was the intent from the beginning, but the dumb-asses went after America first. They don't strike me as a very bright bunch to begin with.
Blunder Lips!!
This statement showcases a severely fuzzy mind.
What do we learn time after time during a diplomatic crisis - "WORDS MATTER!!!"
And Romney can't even articulate what the First Amendment means???
Makes you wonder about what he was doing to pass Constitutional Law, doesn't it?
You know, it really should be a requirement that you can successfully put a noun and verb together in a coherent sentence to run for the highest position in our government. The man just can't speak - the debates are going to be more like a comedy show. Mitt is turning into more of a joke than a candidate. How sad for the GOP.
Unbelievable. Paul Ryan "no-no'd" Norah O'Donnell over her correct observation that Ryan was excoriating Pres. Obama for supporting the very same budget "mechanism" Ryan voted for and had praised. The Big Dawg pointed out "it takes some brass" for Ryan to villain-ize Obama for the very same amount of Medicare savings Ryan hijacked to use in his own budget. A reporter at Romney's own press conference pointed out to him that he'd just stated agreement with Pres. Obama, so how could it be that Obama was wrong, but Romney was right? And now this. I look forward to the walkback from Romney's campaign on this latest about-face - if the past is any indication of the future, any bets it will happen within the next two hours?
I was waiting for Ryan to say, "Now, young lady, you know that's not true...you should be home baking an apple pie for me and Willard to enjoy over our nomenclature."
Kudos to Norah for nailing the pipsqueak from Janesville!
Hear, hear.
Umm... He finally found out the guy who was promoting the film, Steve Klein, has a really, really, really serious problem with Mormons and his sympathy subroutine kicked in when his personal self-interest was threatened?
Nice to see Romney enjoying the luxury of a carefully worded response on live TV where he can talk with inflection about the sentiment of free speech and the counter-sentiment of speaking against hateful bigoted speech that only serves to provoke and divide.
I'd like to see what Romney would have said, as an Ambassador, in a brief written statement to a foreign nation in the midst of growing civil unrest WHILE HE IS IN THAT COUNTRY WITHOUT THE PROTECTION OF SECRET SERVICE.
Regardless of what Romney says, the President is NOT the Embassy. The Embassy has a much more focused priority. When an Embassy condemns actions made by those constitutionally protected in our own country, I'm going to assume that the Embassy is doing so without actually condemning our own rights of free speech.
American is a nation of people doing things that other Americans don't like. We have to get that point across to the world. Therefore, an Embassy has the right to condemn the actions of a single american or small group, and NOT be accused of suggesting that America is ashamed of the laws that allow him to do those actions.
For the same reason he thinks Romneycare can be applied on a state level but not on a federal level.
There's a fringe report about the film being re-dubbed by militant terrorist groups so that the movie says things that its actors and script never said. I've been wondering if there's truth to that. Worth investigating?
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2012/0912/There-may-be-no-anti-Islamic-movie-at-all
Maybe America should apologize for ever letting Willard get in front of a microphone!
Sorry, World (especially the Middle East!)...Wanna-be President, trying to score points with his base, gets his BigFoot stuck in his big mouth...can't swallow or chew his way free so he mimes his way through what he originally said in a seemigly never ending video loop. And that smirking face...no excuse. Please forgive us....really....