On the show last night, Mother Jones' David Corn told Rachel yesterday's revelations from the secretly-recorded Mitt Romney fundraiser weren't the end of the story. This morning, it was time for the second shoe to drop.
At the private fundraiser held May 17 [Romney] discussed various foreign policy positions, sharing views that he does not express in public, including his belief that peace in the Middle East is not possible and a Palestinian state is not feasible.
Romney spoke of "the Palestinians" as a united bloc of one mindset, and he said: "I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say there's just no way."
Romney was indicating he did not believe in the peace process and, as president, would aim to postpone significant action: "[S]o what you do is, you say, you move things along the best way you can. You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem ... and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it."
For over a year, President Obama's critics have been apoplectic about a phrase the president never used: "leading from behind." In some cases, a foreign policy strategy based on the United States playing a more subtle leadership role makes perfect sense, but the phrase has nevertheless been used to condemn the administration's foreign policy.
But while Obama didn't actually use the phrase, here we have Romney describing his approach to the Middle East peace process as one in which he intends "kick the ball down the field and hope" that someone else figures something out. This isn't leadership, it's the abdication of leadership. If Romney is hung up on the notion of signaling "weakness," or failing to project "resolve," he need look no further than his own remarks.
The former governor, who has no experience in foreign policy, doesn't seem to know or care about the U.S. role in trying to broker negotiations. If elected, he simply intends to let others worry about it.
In July, Romney argued, "I believe in a two-state solution." What he apparently neglected to mention is that he doesn't actually intend to do any work towards reaching his stated goal.
Postscript: In the same Corn piece, Romney imagines Iran developing a nuclear program, giving "a little fissile material to Hezbollah," and then having the United States "blackmailed by Iran" with the threat of a dirty bomb.
It's worth noting that Romney's confused -- a dirty bomb is not dependent on a nuclear weapons program. As Corn reported, "Such a bomb can be produced with, say, radioactive medical waste. If Iran's nuclear program poses a threat, it is not because this project will yield a dirty bomb."
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Completely mainstream conservative thought. Not a shock. In fact, it's the domestic agenda as well. Each day we allow the income gap to grow, each day Israel continues to oppress the Palestinians, and each day a woman has troubles exercising her rights is a good day for conservatives.
In his defense, I am sure Mr. Romney is very Resolute and Unwavering in his Commitment to...um..."kick the ball down the field."
And apparently intends to do the same thing with Afghanistan.
Third shoe:
Oh, and a dirty bomb can be made with the scrapings from a whole bunch of smoke alarms, too.
The collected sayings and wit of Georgie Bush and his brain Karlie Rove could conceivably be produced in some sort of bomb form ?
*Do you miss him yet ?
*A billboard along I-35 in Minnesota , brought to you by the NYT's Stanley Fish / March 8 / 2010 / 10:15 PM / 952 Comments .
Mitt Romney admits buying Chinese sweatshop while at Bain. 20,000 young girls. 12 girls per room. 120 girls per bathroom. Huge fences with guard towers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2hXCjAMGdk&feature=plcp
Better just to steal some technitum from a hospital with a cancer clinic. The Americium isotope used in smoke detectors is mostly an alpha emitter.
Steve, direct emission isn't the point of a dirty bomb. It's area denial due to risk of ingestion. Alpha emitters can do plenty of damage if they aren't excreted quickly or find their way(or are attracted) to vulnerable organs. Neither is biologically active, so the Am-211, with its bonus gamma emissions would probably be the better choice if it weren't so expensive and rare. The hospital Tc-99m is really hot (hl = 6h) and decays to strictly beta, long-lived (210,000y) Tc-99 in about a day, 15ppm in 4.
Cesium-137 is your dirty bomb buddy. [insert Buddy Christ emoticon here] This alkali metal (think Lithium, Sodium, Potassium) is not too hot to handle with a 30y half-life. It's water soluble and biologically active too, distributing nicely throughout tissues. It's about 5000 times more radioactive than TC-99 too, at 3TBq vs. .6GBq
Rollo,
It's oddly familiar to the Tom Delay calling Saipan the "perfect petri dish" of capitalism. Horrible conditions.
http://articles.cnn.com/2005-05-09/politics/real.delay_1_delay-staff-wage-saipan?_s=PM:POLITICS
I have to say this is all stuff I believed Romney believed, and as much as I have thought him a moron, I never thought he would be stupid enough to actually say all this. What a putz.
When a guy like this is "among friends" he feels free to speak plainly. In fact he has to, in order to gain their trust and get them to write checks.
(Mitt has a whole 'nuther set of friends he speaks plainly to about magic underwear and his personal planet in heaven, but he knows which audience he's speaking to here.)
The source of the video was probably just wanting to record their "future President" in a candid setting. At some point they realized that unlike Mitt, their loyalty to their country outweighed their loyalty to party.
I think it was more likely filmed by someone working at the event, as wait staff or something similar. It's the perfect stealth technology, since "the help" are completely invisible to Mitt and his ilk.
"...who has no experience in foreign policy, doesn't seem to know or care about the U.S. role..."
That's just it, Robme doesn't know and doesn't care about anything not WE the PEOPLE, not leadership, nothing except the power and prestige of being President! Yet another example of why he is so not ready to lead US!!
Romney cultivates his ambition the way Fanny Hill cultivates society .
Whistle ,
Whistle , Flag , Flag .
Double penalty , Piling on negated by a supreme indifference to the rules for little people .
Still third down in the ninth inning , Mitt should get Pete Seeger to be his spokesperson .
We're waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on .
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on .
Waist deep! Neck deep! Soon even a
Tall man'll be over his head , we're
Waist deep in the Big Muddy !
And the big fool says to push on !
What we have here folks is Shrub Jr on steroids. Totally incapable of taking the job seriously and itching to let his neocon advisors talk him in to starting more wars.
My wife and I are part of the 47%, middle class but we pay more federal tax than Mitt has in the past. If Mitt wins we will always pay more tax than he pays. How do we define "free loader" ?
Mitt Romney wants 20,000 US troops back in Iraq.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohKJthlRNDE&feature=plcp
Mitt Romney: "It'd be helpful to be latino"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk2ExIR_T2o&feature=plcp
If Mitt was a Latino he would have to disrespect himself on principle.
The idea of this guy being president is starting to scare me more than the idea of Sarah Palin being president, and that's saying a hell of a lot.
I see your point , Sweet Sister Sara had the good sense to quit as Alaskan Gov. when something distracted her .
We all became inured to the inability to be distracted , sour pusses , after an interminable four years of Romney .
I could imagine a popular president Palin quitting when she could see Heavens Gate from the white house front porch .
After all when they have seen Heaven what's gonna keep them in a little white house ?
Oh no he dinint!
Wow, Mitt really is self-destructing. He's the perfect leader for the racist party,only problem is that the racists are dying off.
Correction: Breeding at less than replacement value.
I've noticed the media comparing the "47%" comments of Romney's to Obama's '08 comments about people "clinging to their guns and religion". The two are diametrically opposed. Obama, in full context, was relating to the frustrations of people and saying that he understood their reactions; Romney, in full context, was showing his disdain for Americans who don't pay taxes. His bias against the "have-nots", the non-contributors, was glaringly apparent by his not just stating that he could not win their votes, but that they did not take personal responsibility for their situations. So, I guess from his supposition, he is stating that only non-taxpaying citizens are going to vote for Obama and that seniors, vets, students, disabled Americans, those whose deductions outweigh their income, etc., are all good-for-nothings who just want, as he has said before, free handouts.
I proudly own my own business, pay self-employment taxes, local & state taxes, and federal INCOME taxes, and have absolutely have no interest in electing someone like Romney with NO compassion for those less fortunate or those who have earned their non-taxable social security retirement. I'm in the 53% and that does not mean he automatically gets my vote. Who's responsible for the haves vs. have-nots of class warfare? Republicans. Period.
On the foreign policy front, if Mitt can't understand those who surround him, his own countrymen, how can anyone expect him to understand, let alone lead, the rest of the world? Did we not learn from W.? Scary!!!
It was Bill Kristol that salted that false equivalency into the first half of his column. Just so you know, and can keep track of, who thinks neo-con Kristol is a Really Smart Guy™ It's the political equivalent of a chemical tracer.
I saw the video on TV this morning. When Mitt made that comment about people who don't pay taxes, I about threw my coffee cup through the TV screen. If there is anyone who doesn't pay taxes, it is him. I would think he would have more awareness of the situation and avoid calling attention to his tax avoidance schemes. The man is despicable and disgusting!!!
That's why Dems need to use this footage and hammer him mercilessly until he releases at least six years of tax returns. This video should fuel their ads through the election.
"[Romney] is despicable and disgusting!!!"
And so are the people who support/make excuses for him.
Romney isn't just throwing 47% of Americans under the bus. He is also throwing entire nations and groups of people across the world under the bus. This is NOT the way an American President acts. Diplomacy is not an optional part of the job. It is a primary element. American Presidents represent us abroad and provide us with a stable relationship with our trading partners and other world leaders. This is not to say we have to be the world's policeman. But we do need to engage in a shared dialogue with the rest of the world. From an economic standpoint, we need a President that can talk to our trading partners and smoothly manage our relationships with our allies. From a security standpoint, we need a President that can talk to other nations with a firm grasp of their situation and comprehend ways to work together to make our world a bit safer for Americans and our military abroad. Mitt seems to be missing these key elements in his psyche as the GOP's candidate for President. He still thinks we live in the 30's when we could just ignore the world and do what we please whenever we liked. Sorry Mitt, but we have changed a lot since then.
So Romney see the Palestinians as Republicans?
Romney the mind reader, actually believes that Palestinians do not want Peace. Are you kidding me? There are Israelites and Palestinians right now who want nothing more than Peace, you can see it in the eyes of their children.
It is interesting to find out that the worldview from the country club and the board room is exactly as despicable and unrealistic as I thought it was. The guy is like a caricature.
Move along; nothing happening here!
i was so right when i said romney is self-destructive. democrats need not do anything to demolish him bec. it is himself and his cohorts who are doing the damage for themselves bec it is clear that the only reason romney is running for president is his ambition to become one. nothing more. he does not care about his country, all he cares for is his ambition to become more wealthy and powerful.
my god.. i just can not imagine what would happen if he wins. he would take america down with him and that's the scariest thought i could think of.