Lovers of irony, and I count myself firmly among them, will have a great deal of fun with this column at the Washington Post by conservative commentator Jennifer Rubin, in which she opines that the Obama campaign is quaking in their boots at the prospect of Romney’s then-upcoming trip to England.
The Obama campaign can’t bear the thought that the well-traveled Mitt Romney will make a nice impression on his overseas tour. So it held today what can only be described as a petulant call with reporters, trying to spin the media that Obama’s trip abroad in 2008 was “substantive.” (If so, it was grossly inappropriate since the country had another president at the time.)
Simply delicious. And then she starts with the truly stupid:
Oddly, the spin call’s account of 2008 left out the Berlin speech. Why?
Maybe because it had long inane passages like this: “This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations — including my own — will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.” Thunk. In reality he couldn’t even get the Summer Olympics to come to Chicago.
But there were also cringe-inducing portions like this (those who say Obama never apologized for America should take note): “I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.”
That passage is cringe-inducing? Only to those who have an allergic reaction to reality and prefer mindless nationalistic cheerleading to the truth.
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eric
August 1, 2012 at 1:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is her defense of Romney, a contender for President? Self-awareness own goal.
jimmiraybob
August 1, 2012 at 1:46 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well, it looks like what actually happened was that the Obama team kidnapped the real Romney and replaced him with an Obama-programed robot* version designed to perform an endless gaffe routine.
*I mean who would notice, with the possible exception that the replacement might display slightly more human-like qualities. OK, I keed. The original Romney is very human like. A lot like a corporation.
MikeMa
August 1, 2012 at 1:46 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The difference between overseas trips taken by then candidate Obama and current candidate Romney is that Rubin has already elected Mitt in her own reality and cannot imagine one where Obama is or ever was president.
Another case where screaming something loud enough or often enough is sure to make it happen.
Modusoperandi
August 1, 2012 at 1:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
U S A! U S A!
…
I couldn’t hear you over my jingoism. You were saying?
Zeno
August 1, 2012 at 1:59 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
How clever, then, of Obama’s quick-response team to force British papers to run huge headlines like “Mitt the Twitt.” The president’s control of the UK’s media is awesome!
justsomeguy
August 1, 2012 at 2:28 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“But there were also cringe-inducing portions like this (those who say Obama never apologized for America should take note): “I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.””
This might just be splitting hairs, but nothing about that statement is an actual apology. The closest it seems to get is an admission that the US has done things in the past that would warrant an apology. And besides, considering some of the terrible terrible things that we’ve done around the globe (starting around August 1945), I think an apology would be a good thing for us.
Area Man
August 1, 2012 at 2:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I guess Rubin finds it inane because it contains an actual, specific policy goal as opposed to a bunch of vague platitudes and buzzwords. Now that’s crazy! A Real Presidential candidate never actually addresses the subject at hand.
slc1
August 1, 2012 at 2:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Jennifer Rubin, along with Charles Krauthammer, Marc Theissen, and Michael Gerson is an example of the depths of inanity to which the Washington Post editorial page has fallen.
ArtK
August 1, 2012 at 3:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Every time Romney and his foreign excursion is mentioned, I hear Rainbow Tour from Evita in the back of my mind.
Not that I’d really intend to draw any parallels between the GOP and then Peronists, mind you.
KG
August 1, 2012 at 3:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Just a pity Obama hasn’t actually tried to do anything about the most important issue of the century.
oranje
August 1, 2012 at 3:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yes, and now that Mitt has been outed as an American Borat, Jennifer Rubin’s usual idiocy looks even more inane. I would hate to share her headspace.
baal
August 1, 2012 at 3:22 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I had hoped with shrub’s quiescence the country’s reputation could start moving in the right direction. Mitt’s trip was an embarrassment that makes us all look bad. Was he really the best product the opposition party could package and send over on a softball stand and wave tour?
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
August 1, 2012 at 3:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Jennifer Rubin:
National Journal this week:
So, according to Romney himself, his trip had “substance”. Since Romney isn’t a sitting president, I’m waiting for Rubin to tell him off for making a “substantive” trip abroad.
Area Man
August 1, 2012 at 3:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s not true he hasn’t tried to do anything about it. That he hasn’t succeeded for the most part is fair criticism. Of course, we have the Voldemort Party to thank mostly for that.
d cwilson
August 1, 2012 at 4:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Everyone is deriding Mitt’s worldwide, three nation tour as a failure, but that’s because they’re only looking at it in terms of how much he offended people abroad. From the perspective of the neocon and fundjelical vote he needs to court, it hit the two most important notes:
1) Show utter contempt for all ferreners, even (or maybe especially) the ones we consider allies. I’m sure his foreign policy advisor, John Bolton, came a little when Mitt derided whether London would be ready for the Olympics.
2) The exception to rule #1 is, of course, Israel, which we must protect at all costs until Jeebus comes back to destroy it.
Doug Little
August 1, 2012 at 4:50 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oh, I’m so stealing that!
Randomfactor
August 1, 2012 at 5:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yes, and now that Mitt has been outed as an American Borat
It would be wrong to Photoshop him into the bathing suit, complete with Temple garments.
markmcglone
August 1, 2012 at 5:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The Onion:
World Leader Wondering Why He Just Met With The Former Governor Of Massachusetts
Brain Hertz
August 1, 2012 at 7:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@ Doug Little:
the “American Borat” thing came from the UK – it appeared as a hashtag on twitter quite early on in the whole farce. Not sure exactly who originated it; one suggestion I have heard is that it might have come from Jeremy Clarkson, who has had some particularly scathing things to say about Romney.
Oh, and the Photoshop thing has already been done. Quite a few times…
Brain Hertz
August 1, 2012 at 7:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
oh, and “American Borat” apparently hails from Wazzockistan…
oranje
August 1, 2012 at 7:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I heard the American Borat thing three times in the same day: once on CBC (first), once on one of the BBC radio channels, and also on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. Brilliant, though I certainly don’t claim it as mine.
jakc
August 1, 2012 at 9:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The nonsense put out by Rubin and others (that the US has nothing to apologize for and that apologizing would damage the country) is such a destructive meme. I amazed that during my lifetime that for many, especially conservatives, Viet Nam has become a war we should have won rather than one we should not have fought. But when you can’t apologize for anything, then you can’t admi t that Viet Nam was a long and destructive mistake. Jane Fonda is to blame for killing American GIs, not Nixon or Kissenger. John Kerry’s war record is suspect because he later protested the war.
imthegenieicandoanything
August 1, 2012 at 10:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
To be a well-known “conservative” in this age is like being a well-known “Christian” – it means you are a clueless and/or evil shit.
If you’re a “Republican” as well, you’re an example of why humanity deserves extinction.
gerryl
August 1, 2012 at 11:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So … I understand a movie about the Romney campaign is already being planned. And they say that Brent Spiner will be tapped to play Romney.
dingojack
August 2, 2012 at 6:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Is Spiner going to reprise Mittens’ famous ‘if you prick us do we not… leak’ speech? Is going to wear the white metallic face-paint to make Mittens seem more human?
Enquiring minds need to know.
Dingo
stace
August 2, 2012 at 7:35 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And will he have a giant stick up his ass as he croons, “Who let the dogs out, woof, woof”?
billyeager
August 2, 2012 at 10:07 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oh, don’t forget the wonderful ‘RomneyShambles’ hashtag that became an immediate twitter hit for detailing his never-ending stream of gaffes. It’s like he was channelling the ghost of ‘Dubya’. Quick question, why does he always look like he doesn’t want to be wherever he is?
I still can’t believe that a nation is seriously considering electing a man for POTUS who believes in ‘magic pants’ and all that Mormon shit anyway. It’s like, “Dude, srsly?”.
kermit.
August 2, 2012 at 11:47 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
billyeager: I still can’t believe that a nation is seriously considering electing a man for POTUS who believes in ‘magic pants’ and all that Mormon shit anyway. It’s like, “Dude, srsly?”.
Magic underpants I could ignore, but thinking that the First Nations people of North American are the lost tribes of Israel? (Linguistically, culturally, and genetically as different as any group of humans could be, and with tons of contradictory archaeological evidence, but otherwise reasonable, sure.)
Or that the farmer had gold tablets with a new bible, but misplaced them? (“They were right here, I swear!”)
[rolls eyes]
twincats
August 2, 2012 at 3:11 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sure it did; a squishy substance that smells bad and you can’t seem to scrape off your shoe.
carolineborduin
August 2, 2012 at 7:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Why does she describe Romney as “well-traveled”? Sure he was in France as a young man, but what else?
Midnight Rambler
August 3, 2012 at 3:42 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
carolineborduin: Switzerland, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands, that we know about.
dingojack
August 3, 2012 at 3:54 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Midnight Rambler – So we know that Rmoney’s cash is well travelled, the android himself, not so much.
Kermit – what genetically more divergent than Xhosans and Australian Aboriginals?
Dingo