Friday, January 25, 2008

Mitt Romney's Ten Biggest Gaffes

Time Magazine has collected "Mitt Romney's Top Ten Gaffes." You will find there, of course, what may possibly be the greatest gaffe not only of Romney's career but in the history of American politics since "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion:" Romney's enthusiastic rendition of Fidel Castro's meme "¡Patria o Muerte. Venceremos!" before an audience of Cuban-American Republicans at the annual Lincoln-Martí dinner last year.

But there are others almost as bad. When asked on Fox News what was his favorite book, Romney replied L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth, the "Book of Mormon" of the Scientologists. Romney no doubt meant to say the Book of Mormon but checked himself. His alternate choice, however, was hardly an improvement and rather betrayed than concealed his real choice. He later claimed that "Huck Finn" was really his favorite book. Perhaps he was thinking of Mark Twain's classic debunking of the Book of Mormon.

Then there was the time that Romney denounced the French for supposedly instituting a contractual 7-year marriage, at the expiration of which the "contract" could be terminated by either party. The problem is that the French never adopted such a marriage policy; infidelity works just fine for them. It turns out that 7-year marriage contracts were the brainchild of Mormon science fiction writer Orson Scott Card, author of the Memories of the Earth series. Romney's fascination with science fiction can be traced to the Book of Mormon itself, which some claim is the first work of science fiction, where God lives on his own planet and all good Mormons can aspire to become Gods themselves and inhabit their own planets too.

On another occasion Romney praised Adolph Hitler's scientific achievements, specifically, his use of liquified coal as an alternative energy resource, and recommended its reintroduction ("the technology is still there") as the solution for rising oil prices. As the New York Sun noted at the time, "you wouldn't think that anyone running for president would have to be told, 'Don't mention Hitler in a positive light." Of course, they just didn't get it. What are you going to use to power all the millions of spaceships that the deified Mormons will need to reach their individual planets? Surely it must be something canonical like the "holy coal" that Mormon founder Joseph Smith once peddled in his New England youth.

There is more: The time that Romney claimed to be a "big game hunter" for "pretty much all his life." Later he was forced to admit that he had only hunted "small varmints, like rats and rabbits" and that "all his life" actually meant on two occasions. Or the time that he dismissed his wife's $100 donation to Planned Parenthood by asserting that "Her positions are not terribly relevant to my campaign." (Would that Hillary could say the same about her spouse).

There are a lot more at:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/romney_gaffes/article/0,28804,1621231_1621230_1621198,00.html

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Somehow the public has been duped (subliminally) to think of these elections (primaries and main election) as a reality TV show. The "contestants" vie for their attention, peddle their "talents" and make their promises. Then you have the media bringing up all the dirt on the contestants, so the public is influenced in favor or against one or some of them. I wonder if the public will be asked to vote by text messaging, just as in "real" reality TV shows....
Mr. Romney.... what a piece of work!
The "clockwork" candidate, indeed.

Vana said...

Hahaha you just gotta laugh at such inept individual running for president, the trouble is most people are not informed enough, they just vote for the sake of it, thanks Manuel for enlightening us.

bookster said...

You got to love this republican bunch couple of months ago the President Secretary Dana Perino, admitted she didn't know the difference between the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of pigs. Read Here.
Couple days ago she was asked about the new CBO estimate on the skyrocketing deficit. Perino didn’t have much of an answer, however, and simply replied, “Well, I don’t know how they come to all of their numbers at CBO. It’s a little bit — math is not my strong suit.”
Poor math skills obviously run in the Bush administration. In September, President Bush said he couldn’t predict whether there would be a recession because he “got a B in Econ 101.” Read Here. And Now the heir apparent McCain, happily admitted he doesn't know much about economics Read Here.

Is this Reagan idea of a shining city on the hill?

bookster said...

Here's the correct link to Dana Perino recent remarks on the economy. Read Here

The Wizard said...

12 Reasons Why Mitt Romney Sucks:


1. He supports torture: Romney is an outspoken supporter of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” or as the layman calls it, torture.

2. He wants to enlarge Gitmo: Romney stated at a 2008 Republican primary debate that he would double the size of the prison at Guantanamo Bay if elected president. Would that be before or after he dissolves the Supreme Court, which has ruled that the indefinite detentions of terror suspects at Gitmo was unconstitutional?

3. He supports teen torture camps: This shouldn’t come as a surprise if you read the two items above. Romney has been linked to WWASPS camps for troubled teens, which has had several lawsuits filed against it alleging that teens were “locked in outdoor dog cages, exercised to exhaustion, deprived of food and sleep, exposed to extreme temperatures without adequate clothing or water, severely beaten, emotionally brutalized, and sexually abused and humiliated. Some were even made to eat their own vomit.”

4. He dodged the draft: Mitt Romney spent the height of the Vietnam War working as a Mormon missionary in France, thanks to a draft deferment his Mormon handlers gave him as “a minister of religion.”

5. Gun control flip-flopper: Romney recently changed his opinions on gun control when he realized he would need to suck up to gun owners if he wanted the Republican vote. When endorsing the Brady Bill in 1994, Romney declared it was “not going to make me a hero of the NRA.” In August 2006, he joined the NRA.

6. He’s a “life-long” hunter: By which I mean a liar. An NRA cap-wearing Romney told New Hampshire voters that he had been a hunter for “pretty much all” in April 2007. The truth soon came out that Romney had only gone hunting twice in his 60 years. If you’re going to suck up to gun owners, at least spare them the BS.

7. He tricked voters with a fake pro-life stance: Romney ran for US Senate in 1994 pledging to keep abortion ‘’safe and legal in this country.” As a 2002 candidate for governor, Romney said he would not change the state’s abortion laws. He is now running on a pro-life platform. As his top political strategist said in 2005, ”He’s been a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly.”

8. He uses goons to intimidate his opponents: The security staff of the Romney campaign is well known for pushing around people they don’t want near their campaign events. They’ve also been placed under investigation for impersonating police officers to make threats illegally stop cars belonging to activists working on behalf of other candidates.

9. His campaign spreads lies about his opponents: The Romney campaign has been implicated in a dirty behind-the-scenes whisper campaign aimed at spreading a lie about John McCain’s views on abortion. If that fails, maybe they’ll claim he fathered black children?

10. He opposes stem cell research: While governor of Massachusetts, Romney tried to veto a bill that would have promoted stem cell research in the state. Luckily, state legislators were not living in the dark ages, and they overturned his anti-science veto.

11. He abuses animals: While moving driving his family from Ontario to Boston in 1983, Romney strapped the family dog to the top of their car for the entire drive. WTF?

12. He’s Mormon: Even if you like Mormons, you have to admit that his religion, which has a very negative image, will make Romney unelectable.

bookster said...

Alex: You can add to your list Romney's chief security advisor Cofer Black who is the vice chairman of Blackwater USA, ( Bush's private mercinary army )

bookster said...

Here's the link to Romney's Blackwater Connection Read Here