Romney rails at Regent

May 7, 2007

Over the weekend, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney delivered the commencement address at Regent University, the fourth-tier college created by TV preacher Pat Robertson. There are a couple of angles to the story — what Romney said and to whom he said it.

First, there’s what Romney told Regent’s graduating class.

“There is no work more important to America’s future than the work that is done within the four walls of the American home,” Romney said. He also criticized people who choose not to get married because they enjoy the single life.

“It seems that Europe leads Americans in this way of thinking,” Romney told the crowd of more than 5,000. “In France, for instance, I’m told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past.”

One of Romney’s shortcomings as a candidate is his lack of foreign policy experience. Publicly stating that French couples get married in “seven-year terms” is not a good way to demonstrate familiarity with cultural norms in Europe.

Put simply, Romney doesn’t know what he’s talking about. There was a recent French comedy that kind of fits the description the former governor was talking about, but it was just a movie — a fictional movie.

Keep in mind, this wasn’t an off-hand comment in an interview. Romney offered this assessment of France’s cultural norms in a prepared text. In other words, Romney didn’t just slip up; he meant to repeat an obviously nonsensical observation. (Is it possible that Republican primary voters will be more impressed with a candidate who doesn’t know anything about France?)

So, over the course of three days, Romney has publicly demonstrated that he doesn’t know anything about terrorist groups and is equally ignorant about a European ally. Any other foreign policy matters you’d like to flub, governor?

As for Romney’s audience, the GOP candidate commended Pat Robertson for building a faith-based college, and said Regent was an example of Robertson’s dedication to strengthening “education, fellowship and advancement.”

Is that so? Regular readers may recall a few of Brother Robertson’s more colorful public remarks, but Nico reminds us of some the radical televangelist’s recent tirades.

Robertson on the vote in Dover, PA in support of evolution science: “I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city.”

Robertson on September 11: Two days after the terrorist attacks, Mr. Robertson held a conversation with Jerry Falwell on Mr. Robertson’s TV show “The 700 Club.” Mr. Falwell laid blame for the attack at the feet of “the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians,” not to mention the A.C.L.U. and People for the American Way. “Well, I totally concur,” said Mr. Robertson.

Robertson on Islam: “I believe it’s motivated by demonic power. It is satanic and it’s time we recognize what we’re dealing with. … [T]he goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination. ”

Robertson on former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke: Robertson suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s recent stroke was the result of Sharon’s policy, which he claimed is “dividing God’s land.”

Robertson on assassinating Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez: “I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it.”

The list (.pdf) of Robertson gems goes on and on, but I’d add that he also recently said that the terrorists of Sept. 11 were just “a few bearded-terrorists who fly into buildings” and that federal judges who fail to share his worldview are a greater threat to the fabric of America than terrorism today, Nazis during WWII, and the Civil War in the 19th century. In 2003, Robertson told his television audience that the U.S. State Department deserves to be hit with a nuclear bomb.

Romney’s support for this nut appears to have gone largely unnoticed. I’m curious, if a top-tier Democratic candidate had publicly appeared with and praised a radical extremist who blamed 9/11 on Americans, would it be a non-story?

I’m curious, if a top-tier Democratic candidate had publicly appeared with and praised a radical extremist who blamed 9/11 on Americans, would it be a non-story?

Aw, c’mon. It’s not like Romney did something really important, like get a $400 haircut, is it?

  • Ah, the shameful double standard, mendacity, ignorance and outright bull of the unhinged extreme right.

    Hook, line and sinker. Just like the belief that Ronald Reagan is a great American hero.

  • Is it possible that Republican primary voters will be more impressed with a candidate who doesn’t know anything about France?

    Bingo. Seriously. Ignorance is their strength. It’s the old totalitarian technique of defining an “other” as an adversary to spread fear and justify the seizure of power.

    There have always been religious nutcases in the U.S. They’ve generally been marginalized and irrelevant. We’re not going to eliminate them, but we can make them irrelevant again. To the extent that the GOP wants to tie itself to these extremists, it will become irrelevant too.

  • When FDR spoke the immortal words, “We have nothing to “fear” (little-f) but “Fear” (big-F) itself,” he hit the nail on the head. The things vomited out upon the nation by the likes of Falwell, Bu$h, and Romney are merely the “little-f fears;” Falwell, Bu$h, and Romney, however, are synonymous of the “big-F Fears” that America needs to be worrying about….

  • Noted by Cokie Roberts this morning (on NPR) that Romney’s support is going nowhere, and then she attributed this to (possibly) his Mormon faith.

    Perhaps someone can send this to her as an example of the real reasons why he has so little support.

  • Just remember, it is on the backs of these little lies that they build the big ones…

  • “In France, for instance, I’m told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up.”

    Here’s a funny thing: The U.S. census has found that first marriages that end in divorce last on average 8 years. So basically in the U.S. we have de facto contracts that are quite close to what Romney claims to be de jure contracts in France. What’s that thing that religious conservatives say about the mote in one’s neighbor’s eye?

  • “Put simply, Romney doesn’t know what he’s talking about. There was a recent French comedy that kind of fits the description the former governor was talking about, but it was just a movie — a fictional movie.”

    it’s actually part of romney’s strategy to seem more reaganesque: confusing movies with reality.

  • I’m curious, if a top-tier Democratic candidate had publicly appeared with and praised a radical extremist who blamed 9/11 on Americans, would it be a non-story?

    That was a rhetorical question, wasn’t it?

  • I’m really trying to avoid harping on Mormonism, but the whole idea of the wrongness of being unmarried is one of the core tenets of Romney’s religion. I don’t see how this is anything less than him pushing that on us — or at least on Pat Robertson’s ilk.

  • “Noted by Cokie Roberts this morning (on NPR) that Romney’s support is going nowhere, and then she attributed this to (possibly) his Mormon faith.”

    Did Cokie “Almost Always On the Wrong Side of An Issue” Roberts also note that her career is really going nowhere, other than due south? Between Inchcreep, Juan Williams, Roberts and most of the other alleged journalists at NPR it really is a wonder floks still send money to support such rot.

  • Pandering to prejudice? I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!

    “Your Freedom Fries votes, sir.”

  • Quoting another part of the speech:
    Only a few verses, it seems, after the Fall, we read that Adam and Eve’s oldest son killed his younger brother. From the beginning, there has been evil in the world.

    Yeah, I heard o’ that story too. I must be a genius Bible scholar, like Mitt. Or so it “seems.”

  • “There is no work more important to America’s future than the work that is done within the four walls of the American home,” Romney said. He also criticized people who choose not to get married because they enjoy the single life.

    But heaven forbid that gays might be allowed to marry.

  • The voters Romney has to reach, the ones where he has to dispel the aura of sophistication, and perhaps actual literacy, don’t care if he’s inaccurate. Any familiarity with how They live beyond hearsay would be suspect.

    Romney’ ignorance is a feature, not a bug, and if he weren’t dumber than a bag of hammers, I would say it’s an adopted pose.

  • These are interesting comments:

    “The voter Romney has to each, the ones where he has to dispel the aura of sophistication and perhaps actual literacy don’t care if he’s inaccurate..” “Bingo. Seriously. Ignorance is their strength” “Ah, the shameful double standard, mendacity, ignorance and outright bull of the unhinged extreme right.”

    Based on these comments I don’t know who is more extreme the right or left.

    I find it interesting that there is a need to make such blanketed comments. I know many republicans who are very well educated, leaders in their communities, and influencial in fields of science, business, and other professions. I haven’t seen any statistics that show either party has an IQ advantage over the other. Each party has its share of fallible
    comments.

  • Bubba – (Re #12)
    Yeah, I stopped a few years ago. I now support a local station (WMNF).

    On my way to work I caught another Banana Republican talking point on NPR, that there was a “failure of the Intelligence Community” that led to the war on Iraq. Funny, I remember seeing a rebuttal to every reason (African Uranium, aluminum tubes, Al Quada support, etc.) given to start this mess, and they mostly came from the Intelligence community.

    It’s going to take a lot of years to undo the damage inflicted by the Bushbots.

  • Didn’t Romney do his “mission” in France.

    that would make the comment even worse.

  • Dear Open Mind (Re #18) –
    leaving aside comments, let’s look at some of the recent actions of Republicans:
    During the Clinton Presidency, constant investigation of the Executive branch (funded by taxpayers) leading to impeachment over a private matter.
    During the Bush II presidency: No oversight of the Exec branch, resistance to an investigation of 9/11, a trumped up war with a nation that posed no threat to us, the acceptance of torture by the US, warrantless surveillance, politicization of the Justice dept., just to name a few.

    Yeah, there are a few questionable comments that come from the Dems, but really, you expect us to accept some type of equivalence between the 2 parties?

  • He also criticized people who choose not to get married because they enjoy the single life.

    Can’t have people enjoying life, can we? Suffering strengthens character.

    […] said Regent was an example of Robertson’s dedication to strengthening “education, fellowship and advancement.”

    Not the first two, but the third? For sure, having 150 — otherwise unemployable — graduates on the govt payroll is serious “advancement”, no? Like Open Mind (@19) says:
    “influencial in fields of science, business, and other professions”. Actually, it should be “influential”, but never mind; Open Mind is, probably, a graduate of the same school 🙂

  • The fact he’s a Mormon is why he’s moron enough to say this stuff.Cokie Roberts is right. What do you expect from someone whose brain was removed and pickled at birth?

  • Yes, spencer, Romney did his 2 yr-long stint of missionary work in France. But obviously this is someone who can remain immune to the culture around him, even in his native land. During his first run at the governorship here in MA, his campaign actually used the slogan “Mitt happens,” for awhile until someone more clued in to the real world informed them what phrase that could be taken as a play on…..

    I’m not surprized his campaign has stalled. As we in MA know, the more you see of him, the more he comes off as a glib, slick, over-caffeinated used car salesman with AHD.

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