By Jo Piazza / current.com /
@jopiazza
Mitt
Romney wrapped up his overseas trip Tuesday with a final speech in
Warsaw, Poland, where he championed that nation's fiscal austerity as a
model for the rest of the world.
But before Romney was able to end his trip on a high note, a campaign
spokesman told reporters, in plain language, to "kiss his ass."
There was no other way things could have ended.
The goal of the presumptive Republican nominee's sojourn to London,
Israel and Poland was to make the candidate seem worldly and well
informed on foreign policy. In reality, the trip has been one gaffe
after another that has done little more than provide fodder for
late-night comedians.
In case you missed it, here are the ABCs of Mitt's foreign faux pas:
A – "Are we ready?" This was how Boris Johnson,
London’s mayor, dismissed Romney’s unwarranted abuse of the London
Olympic Games during a concert to mark the end of the torch relay.
"There's a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know if we are ready,"
Mr. Johnson cried to the 60,000-strong crowd. "Are we ready? Are we
ready? Yes, we are!"
B – Backside Mitt explained how he had a look
outside the "backside" of Number 10 Downing Street during his visit
there with British officials. Lovely description save for the fact that
in delicate Brit-speak "backside" means the nether regions of the human
anatomy.
C – Carr Romney misunderstood and then
misstated that Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr said America was in a
state of decline that could only be remedied by Romney.
D – Disconcerting That's the adjective Mitt used to
describe the preparations for the London Olympics, ahead of his visit
to the London Olympics.
E – Ed Miliband Romney accidentally called the leader of the British Labour Party "Mr. Leader."
F – Flames of cold war righteousness This is what Romney seemed to hope to rekindle with his visit to Poland, which featured strong attacks on Russia.
G – "Guns, Germs and Steal" Romney cited this
best-selling book as his justification for why Palestine isn’t thriving in relation to Israel.
Watch Cenk explain why Romney's
faulting Palestine for its lower GDP is like blaming African American
slaves for making less money than whites.
,
H – Harry Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said
that Mitt embarrassed the United States and himself by insulting the
British in advance of the Olympics. "It's not good for us as a country
&mdash it's not good for him — but as a country, [it's not good for
us] to have somebody that's nominated by one of the principal parties to
go over and insult everybody," Reid said.
I – Iran Romney has promised his Israeli donors a war with Iran.
The candidate's adviser, Dan Senor, told reporters that "if Israel has
to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing
[nuclear] capability, the governor would respect that decision." Romney
was forced to backtrack, saying in an interview with CBS News that "if
all those [diplomatic] options fail, then we do have other options, and
we don’t take those other options off the table. But that’s as far as
I’m willing to go in terms of discussing this matter while on foreign
soil."
Watch Stephanie Miller and Hal Sparks list the "psycho hawks" Romney has waiting in the wings to go to war with Iran.
,
J – Jerusalem Mitt declared the holy city to be the capital of Israel, even though the United States maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv.
K – King David Hotel This is the site where Romney praised Israel for their socialized health care system. Don't call it Obamacare.
L – Lech Walesa The
former Polish president gave
Mitt his endorsement, but the Solidarnosc (Solidarity) trade union,
which Walesa and others founded in 1980, 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.
M – MI6 Romney confirmed outside 10 Downing
that he met the head of MI6. This was a problem because the existence
of MI6, the international arm of the British secret service, was not
officially acknowledged until 1994, and the organization is still
shrouded in secrecy.
N – Netanyahu Mitt wrote the wrong date in the Israeli leader's guest book when penning his John Hancock.
O – Offensive This is the word the
London Telegraph
used to describe Romney's overall demeanor in their country: "Romney is
perhaps the only politician who could start a trip that was supposed to
be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly
offensive."
Watch Bill Press talk about why Mitt's political mudslinging continued across the pond.
P – Paul Supporters of
the former Republican candidate Ron Paul trailed Mitt to Poland.
Q – Question Watch Mitt question the readiness of London’s Olympics.
R – Racist That’s what the Palestinians are calling Mitt following his remarks on the difference between
Israeli
and Palestinian economics. Romney said that the Jewish culture helps
make Israel more successful than its Palestinian neighbors.
S – Shambles Social media began chronicling Mitt’s gaffes with the hash tag
#RomneyShambles.
T – Tax returns Mitt
can’t get away from calls to release his returns, even while visiting the Wailing Wall.
U – Unfitting That's the word German newspaper Die Welt used to describe Romney’s remarks about the London Olympics.
V – Voters Most voters, the undecided ones at least,
aren’t all that interested in what Mitt has to say about foreign policy, which made this trip a lose-lose situation for him.
Watch Guardian reporter and blogger Adam Gabbatt talk to "Viewpoint" about Mitt's misadventures in London.
W – Wales Romney emphasized his English ancestry, declaring himself to be "a guy from Great Britain" who is "married to a girl from Wales."
X – Xenophobes This is who Romney was accused of pandering to with his many missteps in Israel.
Y – "You didn’t build that" Romney takes his mixed messaging global.
Z – Zionists Romney’s Jerusalem fundraiser was held
in the King David Hotel, which was famously targeted by the Zionist
terrorist organization Irgun in 1946. The terrorists hit the hotel
because there were British security offices there. A previous
commemoration of the bombing caused the British Foreign Office to offer a
sharp note of protest. "I guess Romney is not finished with insulting
London,"
wrote Middle Eastern expert Juan Cole.
(Photo from Getty Images)
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