Adding a bit to mistermix about how Mr. Personality has already pissed off the British on his little “pretend I’m the President” world tour. I especially liked this response from the PM:
That prompted a tart rejoinder from the British prime minister, David Cameron. “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere,” an allusion to Salt Lake City, which hosted Games that Mr. Romney oversaw.
And the Brits aren’t the only ones pissed off. Via Political Wire, the Mittster’s U.S. media minders are not amused:
Romney’s press-corps faux pas: During his meeting with Miliband, according to the pool report, Romney answered questions from British reporters but did not take any questions from the American reporters, which isn’t protocol. In fact, it’s considered a bit of an insult to the U.S reporters who are following the presumptive GOP presidential nominee overseas.
My considered advice to Chuck and the rest of the campaign media corps is don’t get mad, get even.
LanceThruster
Snap!
R-Jud
I… I… I am kind of proud of David Cameron for saying that.
I’m gonna go lie down until this strange feeling wears off.
Rafer Janders
That’s gonna leave a mark.
Spatula
In the case of the Mittbot not taking questions from the oh so special and delicate American press corps, I’d say fuck them.
The villagers always make their fee fees the story
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us? (formerly MarkJ)
So why will Mitt talk to the foreign press but not our own? Is it because money is speech and all his is parked overseas?
MikeJ
As much as I despise Cameron it’s nice to see a leader who doesn’t automatically roll over for belly scritches from an American.
BGinCHI
Since SLC is in the center of Utah, that makes that state officially nowhere. It has to be true: the Special Anglo Saxon Supreme Leader said it!
PS. Fuck the Press Corpse. Hey idiots! He’s a fake!
Violet
I hope he keeps ignoring the US press. They don’t like to be ignored and Mitt doesn’t bring the fun (tire swing! coffee and donuts!) to make up for his ignorance. They won’t like it and their articles will reflect that. It’s easy to pick and choose what to say about a candidate. They’ll just make sure they choose things that aren’t as kind. Keep it up, Mitt!
MikeJ
@MikeJ: I will add that I predict “As much as I despise Cameron…” to be the top trending phrase on Twitter today.
BGinCHI
@MikeJ: Turns out the Special Relationship, like the Special Sauce at Chik-Fil-A, is just not that special.
Villago Delenda Est
BURRRRRRRRN!
(to echo and enhance LanceThruster at the top of the page)
gene108
I hope the MSM realizes the lack of candor and respect a Romney Presidency will have.
They basically take dictation about what Romney & Co. say or they’ll have their press passes revoked.
There’s nothing in the way Romney’s running this campaign to indicate he’s going to tolerate any actual journalistic freedom, if he’s elected President.
You know things like Nightline to track the Iran hostage crisis or Walter Cronkite signing off with “x days people have been hostage in Iran” or investigations into Iran-Contra or Whitewater or Walter Reed’s mismanagement or FEMA’s (lack of) response to Katrina or reports of various “security leaks” during the current administration will probably cause a journalist to lose his White House press pass at best.
MikeJ
WTF? Japan beating Spain in the 83rd minute?
BGinCHI
@gene108: I’m starting to think they prefer the iron hand. It lets them play victim and they only have to work half as hard.
General Stuck
Mitt can run, but he can’t hide. No one can when the klieg lights get brighter and brighter in a POTUS election fish bowl. Too many rocks out there with politically painful Romney secrets under them. And not acknowledging the special flowers that constitute our press, rarely turns out well. You don’t have to fuck them, but an occasional kiss on the lips is required, or the love crosses the thin line to hate.
Culture of Truth
As much as I despise Cameron it’s nice to see a leader who doesn’t automatically roll over for belly scritches from an American.
Mtt’s not the President. And he isn’t going to be. Also, Andy Coulson was just charged with more hacking so it behooves Cameron to do a little GOP bashing. Thanks for playing Mitt!
BGinCHI
@MikeJ: Thanks. Had no idea that was on!
Punchy
Speaking of olympics….Japan about to beat The Fancy Mexicans in futbol. Which, I think, is like Angola beating the US in men’s b-ball.
where’s that R-named soccer blogger dude to tell us all what this means?
Villago Delenda Est
@BGinCHI:
Well, more time for cocktail weenies that way!
Hill Dweller
Benen said Willard also forgot Miliband’s name after their meeting.
Willard an an awful candidate running an inept campaign. I’m hoping the media gets tired of carrying his water at some point.
Comrade Javamanphil
Objection. Assumes spine not in evidence.
Libby Spencer
@R-Jud: Ha! I had the same reaction. Bit disorienting to actually approve of something that idiot does.
hilts
Mitt Romney has the worst case of foot in mouth disease of any presidential candidate. He deserves a gold medal for flaming douchebaggery.
dmsilev
So, lets see. After two days abroad, Mitt Romney has pissed off the UK and thrown his own horse under the bus. And snubbed the US political press corps that was doing such a good job giving him a leg up.
Can’t wait to see what happens in Israel and Poland.
RedKitten
Man, I’m glad that Romney is showing us just how masterful he is at Anglo-Saxon relations. He sure has them eating out of his hand, unlike those awful Obamas, who were rebuffed soundly by England.
nominus
One of the reasons I love the British is that they have that special way of insulting you while appearing to be quite nice and friendly. For Cameron and the like to actually *say* something that blunt tells me that they really, really don’t like him – and shows how oblivious Rmoney really is. The only thing worse than an asshole is one who doesn’t realize he’s an asshole.
Robin G.
I feel like we’re getting the Trump Campaign after all. Just with more carefully styled hair.
Libby Spencer
To be clear, I could not care less about the media’s fees fees, but I wouldn’t at all mind if they got pissed off enough to actually start covering the depth and breadth of the Mittster’s mendacity.
russell
From the Times piece:
Mitt’s first words upon arriving in Jerusalem:
“Hey, where’s the red heifer?”
Elizabelle
Maybe he should have sent Rafalca to 10 Downing.
Once Rafalca gets up from under the bus.
Culture of Truth
This how the British press are covering it:
“And he questioned the commitment of the British public. “Do they really come together and celebrate the Olympic moment? That’s something which we only find out once the Games actually begin.”
sherparick
Reading about the 1948 campaign between Dewey and Truman, it appears that Mitt has a lot character traits similiar to Tom Dewey (without, I am afraid the virtues.) Perhaps someone can paraphrase James “Scotty” Reston’s line for the age of jet planes.
“…By this time, mid-October, even the cosseted Dewey realized what was happening and he began to berate his campaign staff. In Beaucoup, Illinois on October 12, 1948, Dewey was speaking from his campaign train rear platform when, inexplicably, the train lurched into reverse and toward the crowd. Dewey, to slip into American youth slang, lost it. He told the crowd that “That’s the first lunatic I’ve had for an engineer. He probably ought to be shot at sunrise but I guess we can let him off because no one was hurt.”
This emotional blow up by Dewey was blown up by press and radio reporters. They used it as an occasion to make the argument that Dewey, who liked to proclaim that he was a friend of the working man, actually was not. The most famous wise-crack by reporters about this incident was by James “Scotty” Reston of “The New York Times,” when he ended a column for that newspaper with the phrase “…and the train left the station with a jerk.”
http://hnn.us/articles/52037.html
dr. bloor
All that would require is the media doing their jobs, which is to say that it ain’t gonna happen.
quannlace
Makes me wonder if Mitt had ever had any real friends in his life; not just followers or syncophants.
Culture of Truth
Tonight’s bash was to be hosted by the former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond – but due to a few local difficulties over the Libor scandal, he “decided to step aside”, according to a statement from the bank. Luckily one of Barclays’ chief lobbyists, Patrick Durkin, was on hand to take over at the event: a man who has already raised more than a million dollars for Romney 2012, according to OpenSecrets.
A glance through a list of the other co-chairs reveals a plethora of bankers and City financiers. There are exectives from Credit Suisse, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, and Bain Capital Europe. One of them, fellow Mormon Eric Varvel, has given $100,000 to Restore Our Future, the political action group supporting Romney’s campaign.
Ann B. Nonymous
Can you imagine Bishop Romney at Nelson Mandela’s funeral?
chopper
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us? (formerly MarkJ):
because the US pool is probably going to ask him about his taxes.
chopper
@dmsilev:
seeing as how bibi is already claiming, contrary to mittens’ recent statements, that they aint friends, i think his israel trip is going to be a little on the chilly side.
i predict mitt’ll make an awkward death camp joke before he even gets off the tarmac in poland.
this guy is so not ready for prime time.
burnspbesq
@MikeJ:
Full time: JPN 1, ESP 0.
Upset city baybee.
Dork
Who could sodomize a gibbon while kiting checks and defecating on the Gadsden flag all on national TV and still get 48% of the vote.
Culture of Truth
@quannlace: wonder if Mitt had ever had any real friends in his life; not just followers or syncophants.
[ voice of computer in WarGames ]
“What’s the difference?”
4tehlulz
It gets better:
Good work inoculating Obama from your own attack, dipshit.
4tehlulz
BTW, I’ll lay 3:2 odds that Mitt makes a bacon reference in Jerusalem.
MikeJ
@burnspbesq: That’s why they actually play the game instead of just looking at the stats.
Wow.
bemused
Mitt has only been there a day or so and has already exceeded my expectations. Offhand, I can’t think of another high profile person that is this gauche and supercilious at the same time.
Omnes Omnibus
@dmsilev: He will forget Poland.
Culture of Truth
wow. That’s like Roger Federer losing to Rafalca.
Marc
@Dork:
McCain didn’t do that well.
LanceThruster
@Villago Delenda Est: If your enhancement lasts more than 4 hours, consult your doctor.
xD
Face
@Dork: In all fairness, he’d likely lose the Gibbon vote.
Libby Spencer
@Culture of Truth: There you have it. He is visiting his money. I’ve been thinking lately his whole campaign is a just cover for a scheme to enlarge his business contacts.
burnspbesq
@MikeJ:
Can I just say that the NBC Olympics iPad app sux?
Culture of Truth
Breaking: “First major U.S. injury of the games as Romney jams foot in mouth.”
Violet
That Guardian liveblog of Mitt’s gaffes is a thing of beauty.
The Dangerman
At some point, Republicans are going to finally realize this asshole doesn’t have what it takes; he can annihilate a weak field with his carpetbombing ads, but he can’t beat Obama…
…and the majority of Republicans don’t want him on the top of the ticket anyway.
Tampa is going to be a shitload of fun if that realization occurs before the convention.
jibeaux
@MikeJ: I expect that’s ’cause he knows Mitt ain’t going to be president.
BGinCHI
Countdown till Mitt refers to the Welsh as “those people.”
IowaOldLady
Holy foot in mouth. Mitt apparently also said:
“We’re at a point here where we have two different roads we can go down. One leads to Europe. The other leads to the kind of dynamism and prosperity which has always characterised America.”
Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/olympics/london-2012/48176/mitt-romney-questions-londons-enthusiasm-olympics#ixzz21kCTVJPj
Didn’t he know which side of the Atlantic England is on?
Face
Too long for the rotating tag line? Cuz otherwise this is golden.
chopper
@4tehlulz:
he’s actually having a 10K/plate fundraiser in jerusalem (american bigwigs are flying in).
oh yeah, and he’s doing it on tisha b’av, a fast day in rememberance of the destruction of the temple as well as numerous other destructive acts against the jewish people.
what, yom kippur and yom hashoah were already taken?
Cris (without an H)
“I don’t follow Judaism closely but I have Jewish friends who are bank owners.”
catclub
@Libby Spencer: “but I wouldn’t at all mind if they got pissed off enough to actually start covering the depth and breadth of the Mittster’s mendacity.”
Of course, the fact that they will only do their job when they are personally insulted drives me up the wall.
Joe Klein is the example I always bring up, because when _HE_ was accused of being a self-hating Jew ( by Commentary?) he erupted in indignation, and his writing had real fire.
Otherwise, or if someone else is accused of the same thing? meh. Empathy is for the little people.
catclub
@Cris (without an H): West Bank Owners?
Legalize
I hope Team O or one of the sympathetic entities has some plan to embarrass Willard while he’s on his overseas vanity tour. Although, it seems like Willard can handle this all on his own.
peach flavored shampoo
@IowaOldLady: He clealy confused “England” with “New England”. Happens all the time. Didn’t the Germans bomb Maryland?
BGinCHI
Serious question.
Do the Israelis, generally, think Mormons are nuts? Do they know about Mormonism?
r€nato
You can sell that American exceptionalism all day long in this country, but when you try to peddle it abroad… it doesn’t sell as well.
Amateur hour isn’t yet over, for both RIM and Romney.
jibeaux
I’m not an extrovert and I have probably more than my fair share of misanthropy, but I feel like if I were forced at gunpoint to run for President, that *I* would do crap like this better than Mitt. It’s just not that hard to say how excited you are about the Olympics, how great everything looks, thanks to my hosts who I know have worked hard, yadda yadda.
Brian R.
@Robin G.:
FTFY.
catclub
@Culture of Truth: “syncophants”
syncophants, in contrast to sycophants, all flatter in unison.
Legalize
“Wow, Poland is marvelous. I don’t know a lot about Poland, but I understand that the screen doors on your submarines are the right height.”
Grumpy Code Monkey
I spent a week in London around Christmas in ’91, right around the time Poppy Bush was making the rounds in Asia, and the British press were vicious with snark, making him look and sound more like a used-car salesman than a major political figure. It was glorious.
The British press are not as timid or deferential as their Murkian cousins toward political figures. If Mitt were smart (yeah, yeah, work with me here) he’d stay as far away from British reporters as possible.
Which means the next few days are going to be popcorn-worthy.
kd bart
“Can’t wait to see what happens in Israe?”
Goes to a deli and orders pastrami on white bread with mayo.
Litlebritdifrnt
Is twitter down for everyone or is it just me. I can’t get to it through firefox or IE.
beltane
I wonder if Mitt will manage to vomit on a world leader before his trip is over. Also, Mitt is what GWB would have been like without Karen Hughes there to babysit him. At least Dubya was humble enough to realize he needed babysitting; Mitt actually thinks he’s a paragon of tact and wisdom.
The Other Chuck
@Ann B. Nonymous:
He’d probably baptize him on the spot.
beltane
@kd bart: Not pastrami. More like ham & cheese on white bread with mayo.
4tehlulz
@chopper: I forgot about that, and he’s flying in from Poland, too.
TONE DEF
kd bart
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Twitter is down.
Libby Spencer
@Litlebritdifrnt: I just failed to get through with Chrome. Think somebody broke the twitter.
r€nato
this trip had FAIL written all over it, even before Mitt’s jet took off.
As has been noted above… the foreign press is nowhere near as deferential as the American press. Putting an uber-capitalist American like Romney on world tour is like putting out a pinata at a kids birthday party.
Linda Featheringill
@RedKitten:
That was a helluva speech Obama gave in Ireland. Yes, they did love him.
And his hosts, elected officials, looked to be grateful that he couldn’t run for office on their turf.
I heard that Michelle and Elizabeth have kept in touch and continue their friendship. That’s nice.
Brian R.
“Wow, Poland is just delightful. I started off this morning with some kasha, and I’m learning to love me some cheesy barszcz.”
Ash Can
@chopper: Whoa, and I had the impression that Bibi would roll out the red carpet for Romney.
All this and pissing off the press too? I guess he really does believe they’ll give him good coverage no matter how badly he treats them. Seriously, is there anything Romney isn’t going to fuck up on this trip? He’s making W look like a statesman, which I thought would be impossible.
Litlebritdifrnt
@kd bart: @Libby Spencer:
Thanks both. It looks like it might have been Huffpo that broke it :)
danielx
At this rate I’m waiting for that well known euphemism from the Marquis’ handlers that they “don’t want to overexpose the candidate”*, meaning that the candidate is a dog and they’d prefer to keep him gagged until election day.
“Maladroit” doesn’t begin to cover just how bad Mittens is. I thought George W. Bush lived in a bubble, but he could at least pretend to empathize with voters. Romney’s political antennae appear to be nonexistent, and I suspect it’s impossible for him to empathize with anyone who has a net worth of less than eight figures. People who have a net worth of less than eight figures simply don’t exist as people to him – they’re cardboard cutouts set out to either further his purposes or obstruct them, in which case they are to be obliterated.
*h/t the late Molly Ivins
J.W. Hamner
So I guess this is a dry run of Mitt’s “No apologies EVER” foreign policy? Nice of him to throw out so many gaffes to refuse to apologize for so we can really see how it works in action!
Jennifer
Funniest thing about this whole episode is that it comes right on the heels of teh Romney spokesbot explaining how Mitt would be better at dealing with the Brits because he’s an Anglo-Saxon too, not some dusky Negro.
rikyrah
fuck them.
they spend all their time here covering for Willard and doing whatever they can to shill for him..
they deserve whatever they got.
hey, how about doing your fucking jobs and vetting this sociopath.
until then
S-T-F-U
Libby Spencer
@catclub: Drives us all crazy I think, but hey, if it gets them to do their job… Better than nothing.
jl
@Legalize:
” I hope Team O or one of the sympathetic entities has some plan to embarrass Willard while he’s on his overseas vanity tour. Although, it seems like Willard can handle this all on his own. ”
But why mess with perfection?
You have to wonder who is really running the Romney campaign, and Romney himself. Some of the Pythons, Second City or SNL veterans, Cohen, Onion?
It’s not Wonkette, I saw earlier this morning that they threw in the towel and are just reprinting the news reports verbatim.
bcinaz
RomneyTic. Always make himself look good by dissing someone else.
JCT
@jibeaux: This is what I find amazing. This should be the EASIEST part of his trip. Gush about the Games and how happy he is to be there and blah, blah. Instead, every time he opens his fucking mouth he either sticks his foot in it or stumbles into a pile of horseshit.
If this hopeless asshole wins the entire world will laugh at us. AGAIN.
Villago Delenda Est
@quannlace:
He shares that trait, I do believe, with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named of Harry Potter fame.
amk
And there goes the mittbot’s claim “I ran olympics” along with “I ran bain capital” and “I ran MA” claims down the drain.
It took a brit to prick mitt’s balloon full of air.
Villago Delenda Est
@Legalize:
As a wise old Chinese philosopher once opined, do not interfere with your adversary when he’s busy opening up an artillery barrage on his own foot.
Culture of Truth
syncophants, in contrast to sycophants, all flatter in unison.
Romney has been preaching to the Moron Tabernacle Choir
Bobby Thomson
@BGinCHI: I’m guessing yes.
Culture of Truth
Indeed, Team Obama should throw an anvil and stand back.
Villago Delenda Est
@kd bart:
No, no, no.
Asks for a bacon cheeseburger with a side of cous cous.
jl
@Jennifer:
” Funniest thing about this whole episode is that it comes right on the heels of teh Romney spokesbot explaining how Mitt would be better at dealing with the Brits because he’s an Anglo-Saxon too, ”
Mitt must be playing for US audiences with his racilist code talk. The Brits like something more sophisticated, something to work with. Mitt could have said
“The mix of Briton insanity, Celtic rage, Anglo Saxon whiteness, and Roman tedium has produced one of the great civilizations in history. As Nietzsche said, ‘Miscegenation and a chaotic clash of cultures creates strong civilizations’.
Cameron is trying to get Mitt there with baby steps. I like his contrast of the Olympics on London versus the ‘middle of nowhere’.
Hilarious so far. I was pissed at Mitt yesterday, but if he keeps this up, all is forgiven.
Villago Delenda Est
@BGinCHI:
The Welsh? Hell, he’ll go for it and cause the Highlands to rise in revolt!
amk
From these a$$ lickers ? Not.Gonna.Happen.
BGinCHI
@Bobby Thomson: Forgot about that. I hope they ask him some hard theological questions.
scav
@catclub:
Don’t forget the 27% infestation of psychophants, who flutter madly in unison.
pseudonymous in nc
@R-Jud:
I’m cynical enough to wonder if Mittens arranged that with Cameron to galvanise national pride in the most traditional way — in reaction to an insult from a dipshit foreigner.
But no, Rmoney isn’t that savvy: he’s just a crass, self-absorbed fucker.
Citizen_X
@chopper:
“I have to tell you. This is Mr. Romney’s visit. I’m not even sure which day he arrives. My wife will get the chance to greet him, I will not be watching the event. I hope Mr. Romney’s visit goes well.”
BGinCHI
@Villago Delenda Est: The rebellion is Scottish or it’s crap.
Villago Delenda Est
Letterman must love this guy like he loved Dan Quayle.
No need for writers for material, he just has some interns busy taking clippings from the NYT.
Rafer Janders
@Jennifer:
And the crazy thing about that is that Obama is also of Anglo-Saxon descent. His mother and maternal grandfather are Dunhams and is maternal granmdmother was named Payne, all solid English names. Obama is actually a “direct, 13th-generation descendant of one of the Plymouth colony’s earliest settlers, Thomas Blossom”, who arrived from Englland in 1620.
He’s not quite a Mayflower descendant, but he’s pretty close. Obama probably has far more Anglo-Saxon ancestry than the vast majority of Americans (certainly more than all those white Americans of Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Italian, Scandinavian, German, and Eastern European, etc. descent).
maya
Can hardly wait for Mittshugana’s take on Anglo-Semite relations.
japa21
As someone pointed out somewhere yesterday, Romney is just keeping his private equity/consulting/takeover personna in place because he doesn’t know any other way to act.
Treat everybody as if they are stupid and incompetent and you are there to save them from themselves. That is how he has been his whole live and he has no ability to make any changes.
It works with people who tend to think they are really in need of his brilliant business sense, but it doesn’t work when you are trying to make friends and influence allies.
Nobody in companies Bain has taken over would ever dare to say something like what Cameron did. Nobody would dare to challenge his purported expertise the way Obama has. Nobody would dare to ask about his financial history, that was his job to ask theirs.
He has no reservoir of experience to call upon to edit his language or actions to fit into this new world he is experiencing.
Nellcote
I thought the US press like it when a gooper shit on them.
Villago Delenda Est
@Rafer Janders:
More Anglo-Saxon than that Arpaio guy in Arizona, for example.
Three fucking vowels at the end of his name, for the love of the Mayflower.
Legalize
@Culture of Truth:
That’s kind of how I see it. One big kick in the balls and then watch Willard try to deal with people, who like the Brits, clearly don’t like or respect him in the first place.
chopper
@Legalize:
heh. “i would like to congratulate poland on it’s new space program, i was told you’re sending a rocket to the sun at night”
Tom Levenson
@BGinCHI: You must never have seen a Welshman in full cry. There may not be many of them, but they can bring the crazy as much (and more) than any other Celt.
Plus, they’ve bought all the consonants left in circulation.
SatanicPanic
@jibeaux: No kidding. Romney either has some sort of personality disorder or he really does think that every in the world just can’t wait to hear his opinion.
Joey Maloney
@BGinCHI: Most Israelis are too busy thinking religious Jews are nuts, to worry about American cults.
Actually, Scientology has a bigger presence here than LDS.
barbara
I didn’t expect to like this guy, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how deeply strange he is. Not as a politician, but as a human being. I’m thinking of how during the primaries he blithely insulted the rainwear of those NASCAR fans, then the cookies from the best bakery in a small town, and now the Olympics in the host city. Most of us come equipped with a supply of polite gibberish that we can produce when meeting people for the first time. We throw in a few smiles and there you are — nobody hates us.
But then there’s Romney. It’s as if he figures out what the normal polite response would be in any given situation and then he does the precise opposite.
Tonybrown74
@Culture of Truth:
RMoney is already sinking himself with all his lines going over like lead balloons. Why throw your back out lifting an anvil?
SatanicPanic
It’s annoying enough that Romney spends all his time carping about what Obama is doing wrong, does he have to start doing that to the rest of the world as well?
Maude
@pseudonymous in nc:
Romney is stupid.
jl
@Villago Delenda Est:
” The Welsh? Hell, he’ll go for it and cause the Highlands to rise in revolt! ”
Romney better stay away.
“I peseech you, great Romney the pig, at my desires,
and my requests, and my petitions, to eat, look you, this
leek.”
And Romney can’t even deal with some kind cheap cookies from 7/11.
Villago Delenda Est
@barbara:
King Midas in reverse.
scav
@Tom Levenson: and consonants are sharp.
Yutsano
@Tom Levenson: To be fair,the Romans did force those consonants down their throats. I sometimes think Welsh spelling is intentional to intimidate outsiders to not learn it. Go Cymru!
@Tonybrown74: “When your opponent is committing an error, let him.”
chopper
@Tom Levenson:
i really want to see mittens visit wales.
“i hear you guys like TAFFY. do you? i love TAFFY. i could eat TAFFY all day! what, why are you angry?”
amk
Adding insult to the injury (self-inflicted as they are)
jl
@SatanicPanic:
” Romney either has some sort of personality disorder or he really does think that every in the world just can’t wait to hear his opinion. ”
I think the theme is that nothing is really quite good enough for Mitt. There is always a problem to be pointed out, and made front and center.
I think the boilerplate you say on the snafus of a big event is something like: “Oh, the Olympics is such a immense event, such a huge project, there are always problems, but they get solved and it turns out great. I have great confidence in… blah blah blah.”
But Romney has to pick over each problem in detail and end it with his invariable judgment of not good enough.
WereBear
I am hoping that the busy and the clueless, who have been keeping their heads down, will lift them to survey the political landscape around Labor Day; and react with shocked disbelief to just how craaaaaaaaaaaazy the Republicans have become.
When you are worried about losing your job and getting the kids shoes and sandwiches and worried about that weird lump… all this gay/contraception/give the rich money crap… I’m hoping it will shock and disgust more people than just the poli/sci junkies like us.
Linda Featheringill
@Tom Levenson:
Welsh:
:-)
Omnes Omnibus
@Tonybrown74: To use the trebuchet.
BGinCHI
@Tom Levenson: Mrs. BG speaks fluent Welsh and we know lots of Welshies. And yes, I’ve seen several in full
drinkcry.I was just catering to our Highland brethren. They need all the love they can get.
curiousleodog
@MikeJ: Don’t forget that the Olympic football for men is a U23 squad w/ 3 overage players allowed. The women’s Olympics are the full nat’l teams.
Japan didn’t just beat the team that won the Euros at the beginning of the summer. It is still a heck of an upset.
jl
@WereBear:
What continues to surprise me is that their leaders keep getting worse in every way. Even on what should be easy stuff like how to be pleasant on a foreign trip.
I mean, Mitt is worse the GW. At least people could, without undue effort, credit GW with some good intentions, or well intentioned goofiness. Even so, it often was not pretty.
But Mitt? Good grief.
R-Jud
@Tom Levenson:
My weightlifting partner is Welsh, so I’ve seen it. He’s very slow to anger compared to our Irish coach, but when he does get going, well, it’s Blodwen bar the door.
NonyNony
@Dork:
Or he could put Sarah Palin on the ticket as his running mate and only get 45%.
For better or worse, Grumpy John McCain was far more charismatic than Mitt Romney can ever hope to be, so I don’t see his floor being much higher than Grumpy John’s was. He can push it down to 45%.
SatanicPanic
@jl: This comment stuck in my mind as about the best description of the guy, ever:
Dennis SGMM
Cam Ye O’er Frae France
Cam ye o’er frae France?
Cam ye down by Lunnon?
Saw ye Geordie Whelps
And his bonny woman?
Were ye at the place
Ca’d the Kittle Housie?
Saw ye Geordie’s grace
Riding on a goosie?
Geordie he’s a man
There is little doubt o’t;
He’s done a’ he can
Wha can do without it?
Down there came a blade
Linkin’ like my lordie;
He wad drive a trade
At the loom o’ Geordie.
Though the claith were bad,
Blythly may we niffer;
Gin we get a wab,
It makes little differ.
We hae tint our plaid,
Bannet, belt and swordie,
Ha’s and mailins braid —
But we hae a Geordie!
Jocky’s gane to France,
And Montgomery’s lady;
There they’ll learn to dance:
Madame, are ye ready?
They’ll be back belyue
Belted, brisk and lordly;
Brawly may they thrive
To dance a jig wi’ Geordie!
Hey for Sandy Don!
Hey for Cockolorum!
Hey for Bobbing John,
And his Highland Quorum!
Mony a sword and lance
Swings at Highland hurdie;
How they’ll skip and dance
O’er the bum o’ Geordie!
Berliner2
Japan just beat Spain, not Mexico. Spain is to Mexico what Jordan’s Bulls were to the L.A. Clippers.
jl
@SatanicPanic: I think japa21 @112 nailed it.
Mitt has been a nasty big money leveraged buyout boss, finance swindler, and $$$$$$$$ intimidation artist for so long, he does not know any other way to act. He probably had the potential for being a arrogant nit picker before, and combined with his years of using money to make people eat shit fried his brain circuitry.
waratah
@burnspbesq: I agree
SRW1
Cameron is such a well-mannered boy. He caught himself in time and only thought “and gives you a shitload of money to do it”.
Yurpean
What’s not mentioned is that he referred to the leader of the opposition, Ed Milliband, as ‘Mr Leader’ rather than his actual name. Sounds more like something Bush would have done…
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@maya: Mitt is part of the 13th Tribe and all of that.
SatanicPanic
@jl: Agree, that’s a great comment by japa21. I admit, I have no idea how people like Romney behave in their normal lives (being poor myself), so his weirdness just baffles me. Hopefully the rest of America (minus the 27-45% that is unreachable) agrees.
quannlace
I always thought Romney was going for the Reagan shellac look
West of the Cascades
We haven’t heard it yet (from the Obama campaign or the media), but it feels like we’re close to the point where a meme starts like “questions are being asked about what Romney is afraid of” or even that Romney is a “coward” because he won’t answer questions and won’t release tax records and won’t explain what was in the documents that were shredded in Salt Lake City after he left the Olympics or on the hard drives that were removed from Massachusetts government offices when his governorship ended. I think (hope) that’s coming — and I don’t see how Romney deals with it other than saying “this is just dirty politics and, hey, let me tell you some lies about the Obama administration.”
Piss off Chuck Todd and he can’t keep that up for three more months.
suzanne
@barbara:
THIS.
He comes off as so calculating (to me, anyway) that I’m honestly surprised that he’s been that offensive. Typically, good businessmen are able to at least pretend to be engaged and to avoid offense. Anecdotally, the vast majority of the Mormons I’ve met in my life have been polite and unconfrontational to the point of blandness.
pseudonymous in nc
@Yurpean:
That’s fucking bizarre. I can understand “Mr Prime Minister” from American pols and press, though that’s wrong, but “Mr Leader” is just made up out of whole cloth.
Brachiator
@barbara:
Mitt Romney: As awkward as Richard Nixon, without the political guile, paranoia, or sparkling personality.
@West of the Cascades:
He seems to be pretty much afraid of everything behind his insincere bluster.
A natural born coward.
jl
@Yurpean: GW would have said “Mr. Oppsishun Leader Man, heh heh, not sher I gawt that rwhaieet.”
Then given him a nickname, Harvard Fella, Egghead, Milly, or sumpin laik that.
GW would have been miles better.
Chris
@RedKitten:
You can tell that schedule was carefully orchestrated to go only to solid, reliable American poodles – no France, not even Germany. STILL he’s managing to fuck it up from the get go. The man’s gift for this is extraordinary.
Comrade Mary
In the words of my totem animal: Christ, what a maroon.
quannlace
He seems incapable of simply chatting with people in an informal way. Maybe it’s the CEO thing. He always looks like he’s questioning/interrogating his underlings.
Ksmiami
CAn we have a new category… Everybody hates mitt? Please
catclub
@Chris: Maybe he will visit some of the CIA black sites in Poland.
Tonybrown74
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh, well in THAT case …
Schlemizel
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
If that is true ol WIllard will end up swallowing his tie and half his jacket before the trip is through.
Seriously, even the big Dick Nixon was a smoother campaigner than this empty suit
Chris
@barbara:
As others have pointed out, he’s a 1%er. All his life he’s been surrounded by Little People who’ve had to swallow their thoughts, smile, laugh at his shitty jokes, clap for his shitty ideas and pretend to enjoy his shitty company. Most often because it was that or their job.
For the first time in his life he’s having to deal with people on terms other than his own, and he doesn’t like it one bit. Apparently he can’t get used to it either.
NonyNony
@suzanne:
What kind of businessmen are we talking about here? Do you mean the guy who owns the Subway franchise down the street, or the guy who is the CEO of a major company (like, say, Disney or State Farm Insurance) who depend on revenue from a large body of customers.
Or do you mean businessmen like Mitt Romney? Who doesn’t actually need “people skills” as much as he needs to be able to project an aura of expertise on a single narrow subject (making money via leveraged buyouts) and then (and this is the crucial part) be able to deliver on that aura.
The trick with Romney is that he doesn’t have to be charismatic to a broad base of people – he just needs a few people to buy into his image. Those people need to have a lot of money and/or desperation and he needs to actually deliver on his promises with them, but he doesn’t actually have to be charismatic in a more general sense to do it.
I’m wondering if his backers mistook his aura of specialized expertise for actual charisma. I wouldn’t be surprised.
Outside of Utah I’ve found this to be generally true. When I lived in Utah there were just as many belligerent assholes as anywhere else. I suspect that being in a minority elsewhere causes folks to put their best face forward both to advertise that Mormons are wonderful people and to not call attention to themselves from the majority. In the majority they act like any other cultural group in the majority – some good folk, some belligerent assholes who like to pick on other people.
hueyplong
It’s been said elsewhere, but these Brit types typically enjoy their reputation for understatement when they’re trying to be funny. In that context,
“Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere”
really jumps out at you.
Cameron must have formed an instant, visceral dislike of Willard. And this in a setting in which one presumed there would be fluff on all sides.
Even the a-hole wing of the GOP (a/k/a, the base) thinks Willard is too much of an a-hole to be suffered in total silence.
So it now appears that the final frontier is the craven US political media. Can Willard go so far as to offend even them? I’m guessing they’re made of sterner stuff than Cameron, and will demonstrate a limitless capacity to tolerate Romney.
jp7505a
Most newbie presidental candidates put their foot in their mouth while learning the foreign policy ropes. Of course most usually stop about mid way up the calf. Mittens seems to have reached the hip and is still going. I never thought I would see the day that I would miss old lead tongue George W.
Chris
@catclub:
Well, that’ll be lovely. The CIA officers can tell him “no, Mr. Romney, this torture shit really doesn’t get us shit, other methods are far more reliable” (as various professional interrogators have already said publicly). And if he’s ever elected, these officers can expect to be manning a weather station in Alaska by the end of January 2013, cause that’s the kind of guy he is.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Brachiator:
Picking this up and running away with it very fast.
I’ve always said I’d rather deal with evil and smart over dumb and sincere. Except Romney’s kind of creating his own category of evil and clueless, which is even worse.
jl
@Schlemizel:
” was expected to test his skills on foreign diplomacy,”
Fer cripes sake. I assume that is some dingbat filler for a news story or some silly ‘analysis’.
Mitt should have had the boilerplate written out for most the trip before he even left the US. He had no time on the plane to practice a little?
Chris
@hueyplong:
I think the assholes who constitute the GOP base are mostly concerned that Romney isn’t their kind of asshole. (Mormon, Massachusettsian, former liberal, etc).
Rafer Janders
@quannlace:
What’s weird to me is how it goes completely unmentioned that Romney dyes his hair. He’s in his late 60s — of course his hair is no longer that dark. He’s obviously dyeing it, leaving only a little grey at the temples in a small concession to dignity.
Again, if it was a Democrat who was artificially coloring his hair, it would be the cause of constant mention — what’s he hiding? Is he uncomfortable with his real self? Is he vain? etc. — but with a Republican, pffft.
barath
@quannlace:
Like the Onion said:
Romney Spends Most Of Factory Visit Yelling At Employees To Work Harder.
chopper
@R-Jud:
then again, christian bale starts screaming if his grilled cheese isn’t quite grilled enough.
Tonal Crow
So Romney’s first “foreign policy” act is to gratuitously offend the nation with which we have the most special of special relationships?
Keep it up, Mitt. Soon not even St. David Brooks will be able to save you.
redshirt
@Chris: It’s even stranger – this is not his first time running for office. He’s been running for some form of office since 94. And he does not appear to have gotten any good at over those many years.
Chris
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
The more he keeps going, the more he reminds me of Sarah Palin. Not only does he not know shit about a great deal of relevant things, but he has no interest in learning about them; not only does he have no interest in learning about them, but he insists on mouthing off about them anyway, he can’t even stick to reading the script more knowledgeable people put in front of him. Because he’s convinced that he just knows better, period.
(Herman Cain was the same way, for that month or two when he was in the lead. It’s not that he doesn’t know who the President of Uzbekistan is: it’s that he dismissed it as a meaningless factoid that, since it wasn’t on the list of things he personally cared about, was obviously of no value as anything other than a “gotcha question.”)
Chris
@redshirt:
That’s true.
Well, I can see why he’s lost so many…
metricpenny
Shorter David Cameron — “FU and the horse you rode in on.”
Brachiator
@chopper:
I think that Bale has earned a bit of a break from bashing by his gracious, respectful visit to the shooting victims in Aurora, Colorado.
At least until he starts screaming at a film crew again.
Tonal Crow
Chris:
Thus he perfectly symbolizes the core Republican electorate: willfully ignorant and proud of it.
Brachiator
@Chris:
I’m not sure about that. There’s something about Mitt. He has grown up in a political family, travelled throughout the world, lived during a turbulent time during which his church made some dramatic changes, and yet he still comes off more arrogantly insular than Dubya or Palin at their worst.
And while Palin is just plain stupid, Romney seems to have deliberately settled on a world view that would have seemed stuffy and old fashioned even in the 1950s. It’s as though, despite having many opportunities to grow and become more informed, he instead turned his back and stubbornly stuck to the most conventional and uninformed set of conservative values.
cckids
@barbara:
I’m thinking of how during the primaries he blithely insulted the rainwear of those NASCAR fans, then the cookies from the best bakery in a small town, and now the Olympics in the host city.
Mnemosyne
@RedKitten:
The stories I’ve seen since then say that the Queen actually put her arm around Michelle first and then Mrs. Obama reciprocated.
Apparently the observers were so flabbergasted at the Queen making the first move that they misreported it the first time around.
I once waited in vain outside my office building for 90 minutes hoping to catch a glimpse of the First Lady’s motorcade but, sadly, it drove the other direction, so I guess I’m a fan like HRH.
Mnemosyne
@chopper:
Interestingly, when they talked to actual Hollywood crew members after that footage was made public, a lot of them said they totally understood why Bale went ballistic since apparently the guy who got yelled at kept walking around the set within eyesight of the actors while they were doing the shot. That’s apparently one of the really big no-no’s if you’re working on a set and professional crew felt that the guy should have known better and deserved to get chewed out.
The only real mistake was that Bale should have made his complaint to the director, who would have had the assistant director or the crew’s member’s boss do the chewing out, instead of yelling at the guy himself. But most people who’ve worked on a movie set agreed that the guy deserved it.
Plus, you know, it turned out to be a crap movie, and everyone’s always more tense when they realize they’re trapped in something that sucks.
Betsy
@barbara: Yah, perzackly! Like I keep saying, this stuff ain’t “gaffes”.
droog
This UK trip is starting to look like Mitt’s NAACP strategy all over again. Go to the rival camp, insult them, then return home to see if the nativist white base gave you a 0.5% tick in the polls. Then look for a new foe for next week.