We've talked a bit today about Mitt Romney's latest foreign policy speech -- the 10th billed by his campaign as a "major" address on international affairs -- and if you missed it, the video is now available. (The Romney campaign posted a transcript, which the candidate carefully stuck to via his trusted teleprompter, online.)
If the idea was to capitalize on last week's debate success, Romney appears to have made a mistake -- today's remarks were intended to make the Republican appear more presidential, but instead, the speech reinforced some of the same doubts that have plagued the former governor for months.
Facing demands for more substance and details from his platform based on vague generalities, Romney delivered ... nothing. Indeed, for all of its repeated condemnations of the president, the speech ended up calling for many actions that Obama has already taken. As First Read noted, "[A]lmost every policy Romney will call for -- tough sanctions on Iran, withdrawal from Afghanistan by 2014, a two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians, free trade, vigorously going after the terrorists in Libya -- has been pursued by the Obama administration."
Of course, Romney stressed the need to "change course," but never got around to saying what that course might be.
Josh Gerstein reported that "foreign policy experts weren't impressed" with Romney's vague, confused effort today.
"There's absolutely nothing in this speech. This is a repackaging of language that has been a staple of Romney's campaign since he threw his hat in the ring," said James Lindsay of the Council on Foreign Relations. "If Romney has a foreign policy strategy, he still has not told us what it is. The governor is very fond of saying hope is not a strategy, but that cuts both ways. He didn't answer two key questions: what he would do differently and why we should expect what he would to work."
As for the nation's most recent wars, Romney at least remembered to mention Iraq and Afghanistan -- which represented a pleasant change of pace -- but had nothing constructive to say on the conflicts.
On the former, this was the only paragraph of any substance:
"In Iraq, the costly gains made by our troops are being eroded by rising violence, a resurgent Al-Qaeda, the weakening of democracy in Baghdad, and the rising influence of Iran. And yet, America's ability to influence events for the better in Iraq has been undermined by the abrupt withdrawal of our entire troop presence."
Apparently, then, Romney envisioned an indefinite military presence, against the wishes of Iraqi officials, so as to "influence events" to Republicans satisfaction?
As for Afghanistan, this was also the only paragraph of any substance:
"In Afghanistan, I will pursue a real and successful transition to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014. President Obama would have you believe that anyone who disagrees with his decisions in Afghanistan is arguing for endless war. But the route to more war -- and to potential attacks here at home -- is a politically timed retreat that abandons the Afghan people to the same extremists who ravaged their country and used it to launch the attacks of 9/11. I will evaluate conditions on the ground and weigh the best advice of our military commanders. And I will affirm that my duty is not to my political prospects, but to the security of the nation."
Of course, Obama is already pursuing a real and successful transition to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014.
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Say it loud enough and be mean. That's Romney's solution. No substance allowed...just hate 'the other'.
yep
all suit, no substance!
Presidential candidate Willard Romney delivers speech lacking substance.
In other news, sun continues to rise in the east.
Nice synopsis of Willard's foreign policy. Be loud and mean and bully the world. A repeat of Little George's. At least we know that Mitten's has experience being a bully.
Romney world is all about Deja vu for a pre- hippie, pre-MLK 60s. Some substitutions might make this more clear:
Romney is very clear about the meme he is exercising, as he casts his opponent as favoring "retreat that abandons the Afghan people to the same extremists who ravaged their country". But we have seen how this fairy tale of clinging to fairy tales takes us. Mitt's advisors are the same Neocons from the Bush presidency who believe in that delusional hope for respect from opponents by demonstrating escalation of conflict. In the end, it deeply wounds rather than advances our foreign policy objectives.
Tricky Mitt <=> Tricky Dick
Isn't the Texas expression "all hat, no cattle?"
That was Mittens Rmoney who said that not Willard Robme that's his cousin once removed Mittryan Medummy, Pauls evil twin brother.
Ron- on the contrary, Romney has lots of cattle- He just calls them the right wing base he corralled during the primaries. This is all about a nineteenth century cattle drive, and he follows the other Faux cowboys that blazed the trail- Dubya and Reagan.
From the absence of criticism from the Right, it appears that the dimly aware formerly stampeding voters have been shocked into following Romney to slaughter.
Either Romney wins, and Romney sells them and their policies are not enacted, or Romney loses and their policies are not enacted.
Either way they are doomed domesticated cattle.
I take cattle over idiotic libtard any day..
"I take cattle..." That must be one of those new drugs, like "bath salts" and suchlike.
No, I think bpepik meant Romnixon (tm)- now with 43% bull boost to the GOP's limp testosterone levels.
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I think this depends on what happens with Congress. As it has been said before, Romney is just in office to sign his name. If he is elected, the far right will continue to derail the country. We saw what they can do last summer, plus all that has been happening in the state legislatures.
I liked the contrast you made to Nixon.
Big difference is Nixon was a puppet master. Mitt I think will be a puppet.
Yeah .. but Romney got his job done. While MR. Bumble didn't know wtf hit him. Bloody idiot.
Congress appears to be a fire breather on right wing memes. Take the fervent desire of the TParty to bring the budget into balance and to reduce the size of government. Do you really think that if they had a two thirds majority in both houses that the GOP would balance the budget? Of course not. You would see some more miraculous weapon systems where we are spending 5 billion per fighter or 4 more carriers, or a new space based laser, and so on. US industry- in particular military contractors need big gubmint expenditure on programs the military doesn't want.
BTW- It's not my comparison. Matthews obliquely made it when he was chatting about the parallels with Jack vs. Dick. Said Kennedy, "I feel sorry for the guy because he doesn't know which Dick Nixon to be on any particular day."
I agree Nixon was far better at doing what Romney is doing, but I am not all that sure that Nixon did not have his own puppet masters behind him. Consider how faithfully Nixon intervene to block Justice department enforcement of anti-trust laws against on behalf of ITT, and how US power was used to protect ITT interests from Chile's Allende government. In the end, a more US/ITT friendly government came as the result of the coup by General Pinochet.
Released CIA documents proved that the Church Commission was systematically misled by the White House as to the extent of US government efforts to eliminate Allende and install authoritarians sympathetic to US corporate interests in Chile.
Do you think Dick was doing this from his own initiative and that a grateful ITT noticed and rewarded him? Although possible, it does not strike me as the most obvious explanation. If Deep Throat's mantra has any value today, it would urge you to follow the money.
The money trail does not end at the white house. At least $400K of those campaign funds came from ITT. So who were the real puppet masters during the Nixon administration. We know about the CIA papers, and much of what went on in the oval office, but beyond there, the trail goes cold. Will we ever know the names or get a glimpse of the chats between Dick and his backers?
I doubt that any of these guys kept diaries, but what the heck we can only hope that the truth will come out one day.
Indian saying (can I say that without violating somebody's sensitivity? I hope so, because as a Westerner I just love this): "Big wind. Big thunder. No rain."
Not having any specifics has worked for Romany up to this point. Why change a strategy that is working for him.
especially with our ever diligent MSM , who collectively let him slide on "where's the taxes? " and reversing every position every day
He said trust me ...and they did
There is NO MSM. There is only the COM (Corporately Owned Media).
Mitt Romney has no need to speak specifics concerning foreign policy. His basic premise, which his supporters back wholeheartedly, is that President Obama is a lenient pacifist, and therefore America needs another good war to re-establish itself as the dreaded superpower it was during the Cold War.
SOV, i Love this:
Eileen, I do not like Obama's drones, but I do not think he will take us into another war.
Mitt, I think, would love to take us into another war. As long as that is what his corporate overlords want. And yes because he thinks it will take us back to our Cold war days.
Keep talking Mitt. You will kill your debate poll bounce.
I'd like to say if these people are stupid enough to elect him, they deserve it, but dammit, I don't! I can't afford to leave the country either.
This ^
well i think he will kick Obama's a$$ next debate (winks, snark, LOL smiles etc) So that debate bar will be set so much higher he will never be able to reach it.
so all the right/wrong wingnuts out there pleases dont whine about the debate bar.
To be fair, the bar will only be higher if Kid Wonder falls on his face against Biden on Thurs as well...
Honestly, Obama will most likely win the 2nd Pres. Debate, and it will come down to the rubber match of the 3rd debate - and at that point it really shouldn't matter, because both will be playing defensively a sort of "Prevent Gaffe" in order to not lose the election (but they forget about trying to WIN the election - like Obama did in debate 1)...
I'm sure Obama is getting lots of debate practice on shows like the View and Letterman.
After all he shouldn't have to practice he is the One the all mighty savior of the left.
After Ryan mops up with Biden, Romney will get two more chances to humiliate Obozo in the debates.
Like the man said your entitled to the house and the plane but your not entitled to your own facts.
Teabagger alert! And a particularly petulant teabagger it is, too.
Disease is usually initially an insidious and silent process. The GOP are openly advertising their cancerous attack on truth, the American people and the body politic. Their goal seems to be to happily pick over the carcass of the American dream. They make being an older white man truly embarrassing.
A figurative up-yours to nomoremagicalthinking...
Being an older white man who is receiving social security and health care thru the Veterans Administration, I feel absolutely no reason to be embarrassed. But then again, I am a hell of a lot more progressive than Obama.
ps - In general, I appreciate/enjoy your usage of the English language and rhetoric in your comments.
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Funny thing about that, I'm Austrian Scot and you don't get much (genetically) whiter than that.
White "Americans" have embarrassed me for decades, and they've embarrassed me in ways too many to count.
The most recent addition to the embarrassment list is their intentional ignorance .... because no one could be so stupid to believe what the GOPpers have been saying.
Or mayhaps it's a mental condition.
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SadOldVet I am as well a sad old vet on soc.sec and VA healthcare for about a year. I am openly liberal and my embarrassment comes from not having a louder voice to contradict the right wing. Their anti-woman, anti-minority views here and the elitist militaristic rhetoric against much of the rest of the world is dangerous, stupid and casts our country in an extremely poor light.
"... no one could be so stupid to believe what the GOPpers have been saying."
For some value of "stupid" it could be described as stupidity, but mainly it is good old-fashioned maliciousness.
Written by the Bush Chaney staff. Remember war is good for business and that's how they will grow the economy.
Mitt Romney is the the ultimate con man.
Why does the media give him so much time?
Obama believes in an America of the People By the People and for the People.
He is talking about the individual as a person versus:
Mitt believes in an America of the People By the People and for the People.
But he is talking about corporations being people.
It's clear that a handful of very wealthy people, friends of Mitt, want to take over our government. The real people of America will no longer have a vote that counts for anything.
A vote for Mitt is a vote against your own voice.
"A vote for Mitt is a vote against your own voice."
Too many people worship wealth & power and don't want a voice and will willingly give control of their lives to the malefactors of great wealth
I am still puzzling over the "15 new ships a year including 3 submarines" part...That would be at least 48 surface ships and 12 submarines. When you consider that we already have (including amphibious assault ships) around 20 aircraft carriers and the closest nation after us has 2 you have to wonder what the hell he thinks we need with all this crap or is it more telling that he is talking about foreign policy and gunboats at the same time?
When you only have a hammer in your toolbox everything looks like a nail
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The ships would actually be boats because Carriers can't make it to the headwaters of the Yangtze.
Subs? Boomers or Attack? I believe we still have enough nukes deployed in boomers to lay waste to the earth. Attack subs are for what, taking out other war ships ... or Merchants.
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His advisors probably inserted that to placate a few defense contractor donors.
That line alone probably put a couple of million in Romney's campaign coffers.
Rmoney and a "major" address on international affairs. I nearly peed myself when I read that line!
This is much like Paul Ryan's magic bean plan I assume. I not only can't watch it sorry to say but I won't watch it, just to remain as informed as the local Rmoney voter..
Rachel, baby, there is absolutely nothing going on, take it easy:
POLL: Romney leads among independents 51-35...
GALLUP: 5-POINT ROMNEY BOUNCE, R
'Enthusiasm' gap 13-point spread for Republican...
PAPER: Romney To Slam Obama For 'Fundamentally Misunderstanding Threat Of Radical Islam'...
Economist: Obama Misrepresenting My Study on Romney Tax Plan...
Obama apologizes to Hollywood for debate debacle...
PAPER: Why Obama's campaign is falling apart...
VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL ENDORSES ROMNEY...
CA governt takes emergency action to try to reduce gas prices...
Romney: “HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS..”
PEW: Romney 49% Obama 45%
Our eye-candy empty-chair president Barry Kardashian Obama is going down bad in November.. LOL
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Republican revision of poll numbers is old news.
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Yeah, plus if you (can) read the fine print, Steve Benen does most of the entries here dear..
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-up-5-approval-rating-above-50-percent
Obama Up 5, Approval Rating Above 50 Percent In Latest Gallup Tracking
TOM KLUDT 1:56 PM EDT, MONDAY OCTOBER 8, 2012
Clint Eastwood vindicated:
Abe Lincoln-like looking Mitt Romney is debating our Empty Chair president on cover of latest New Yorker magazine! LOL
Our Community-Organizer Never-Been-in-Business-or-in-Industry Eye-Candy Academia-Theoretic-Socialist president Barry Kardashian Obama still doesn’t know what hit him.. LOL
Mitt Romney, empty suit.
Also...Romney supporter, empty head!
@bpepik - sometimes I pity Romney the quality, or lack thereof, of his "base."
Who wrote the speech for the GOP/RNC "War Hawk and Chief?" Was it "Chump-Change-Cheney?" Was it "W?" The idea of any original thoughts by the GOP/RNC "Speculator and Chief" is a joke. This speech was a continuation of the failed "Bush Doctrine." Only when speaking in very quiet rooms to his very rich friends. Will the GOP/RNC "Speculator and Chief" ever tell the truth. That is fact!
When Obama had to act last week he didn't. Too late now. Still hope Obama can win independents back people he lost, but with a bully and a serial liar like Romney I doubt it.
Sad sad sad situation Obama got the party into, after Clinton gave such a lift last month. Who the eff go sightseeing Hoover Dam to check Apple Maps-when you had a debate to prepare for?
You morons... aaaahhh I mean Republicans haven't taken responsibility for last trust fund baby they voted for in 2000-2004, now want to burden Americans with ANOTHER? Only a fool or a traitor would voter for Romney/Ryan
Romney LIED over 50 times during the debate and his foreign policy speech was a joke by a man with NO SHAME! Who the f**k allowed Mitt Romney stand in font of the military service flags. This pussy mofo is a chicken-hawk of the worst kind. Romney was for the Vietnam War but draft dodged in France posing as a Mormon missionary.
Romney foreign policy speech was meant to hypnotize/brainwash the useful tools who vote for Republicans. "Obama/Libya/Arab Spring BAD, Bomb bomb Iran Romney GOOD"… Let the "little people" fight the war because Frenchy Romney and his 5 goofy sons will be on home soil making billions in war profiteering investments.
the Daily Beast censored this post spoact.blogspot.com
I love you spoact!
I agree..........Romney wants you to send your sons and daughters to war...
But his sons will be safe and rich at home....why don't the Reps know that America is sick and tired of war....
Romney wants more wars like all the Reps do...I guess they make more money for the rich when the poor and middle class go fight and die and receive terrible injuries for them.
If Romney gets in, America will never be the same again...His policies are nothing but lies.....and Ryan and Romney talk out of both sides of theirs mouths.....
and yes SpoAct he lied so much during the debate I lost track.........
Rachel, I don't expect *any* substance from a Sociopath.
stolen from ask.com at http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_know_if_someone_is_a_sociopath
How do you know if someone is a sociopath?
In: Sociopathy (Psychopathy)
Answer:
Here is a list of ways to identify a sociopath. This list is from "Profile of a Sociopath." Is is a pretty good list of sociopathic indicators.
There is more there. I just don't understand why he's not been exposed as a sociopath.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_know_if_someone_is_a_sociopath#ixzz28lChz3i6
I agree totally Shine! There is also a big dose of narcissism attached to sociopath. Only need to look into those dead shark eyes to see it too.
Ah, yes, twelve million new jobs -- four million making bullets, four million shooting bullets, and four million digging graves. Twelve million new jobs. Just what our Nation needs.
Wavering Willard will have us on the road to war in no time flat. We cannot send another generation of young men and women back onto the battlefields of foreign lands. If he does not insult the leader of another country he will insult the country itself and fire the first shot to 'prove the strength' of his word.
Please tell me that the American voters have been paying attention to the contradictions that he has made just in the last four weeks. As a country we cannot afford to have a leader that changes his mind at the change in wind direction.
The Republican party had two years to identify a valid candidate and another year to 'groom' him or her before they hit the national stage as the titular leader of their party and this is the BEST that they could do? Really?? Wavering Willard wants to take the seat as the leader of our country and he could not even figure out how to clean up his own financial records so that he did not appear to be the elitist that he is? Really?? Incapable of strategic planning that would have saved him from the slings and arrows of the media but we are going to vote him into the most powerful position in our country? Really???
A stong military means a strong US. a president that apologizes for the US is no president.
The republican party? the democratic party has been in office for nearly 4 years. for that, we have a still horrible economy, 23M unemployment, ridiculous housing market, gas that's doubled, foreigners that think we're pussies, and a new deficit that would take 5 lifetimes just to count.
A republican candidate that knows how to MAKE MONEY and speak during a debate doesn't sound all bad to me. He released the necessary tax records and years more when he ran last time. it took your candidate how many years just to produce a birth certificate? still haven't seen college transcripts. the whole "didn't produce 100 years of tax records" just shows what a msnbc moron you are. RESEARCH so you don't look like such a dip@!$%#.
Another bagger with pathetically skewed priorities.
"Indeed, for all of its repeated condemnations of the president, the speech ended up calling for many actions that Obama has already taken."
Oh, sure, it's the same gameplan, but under Romney they'll be more smack talk.
I seriously consider if Romney, et al., did not engage in witchcraft/sorcery in the first presidential debate. While Romney told rapid fire lies and expounded on this without substance, the president seemed detached from the debate. I have never seen the president act or look like he did during the debate. Romney got by with so many things that the president could have called him on. Considering the Mormon church's association with freemasonary (Joseph Smith and earlier church leaders were avid masons) and the upper level masons' association with the supernatural/occult, I don't believe that witchcraft/sorcery and Romney/republicans are any strangers.
Follow the paper trail if he wants to increase military spending someones palms will be greased.I recall a name I think it was Halliburton & Cheney was involved.I will never believe mutt has anyone but his & his cronies best pocket book imploding interest will be attached to that contract somehow.Ships firearms etc gotta be a connection.
“Mitt Romney’s major, and maybe only successful experience in Foreign Policy is from his offshore banking deals.
Tough experience in Foreign affairs... keeping track of accounts in banks in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Australia, Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, and Luxembourg.
Luxembourg... Bain Capital, who has offices in Luxembourg, and has funneled profits through subsidiaries there, is a country that makes it easy to get cash out without paying taxes.
Corporate records in Luxembourg show Bain has carried out technical steps for a tax-free repatriation of profits to the U.S.
Bain, who still pays Romney millions each year, would surely watch over Mitt’s investments if he asked. So that’s the kind of Foreign policy he probably knows a lot about..”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-06/romney-persona-non-grata-in-italy-for-bain-s-deal-skirting-taxes.html
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