Romney’s convenient slip

October 23, 2007

When Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said it is “entirely possible” that Saddam Hussein hid weapons of mass destruction in Syria prior to the 2003 invasion, that’s a gaffe. When he made the bizarre assertion that IAEA weapons inspectors were not allowed entry into Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, that’s a gaffe. When he said that military service and campaign service are effectively equivalent in terms of serving one’s country, that’s a gaffe.

But this sounds intentional.

In a slip of the tongue, Republican Mitt Romney accused Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama of urging terrorists to congregate in Iraq.

In the midst of criticizing Obama and other Democrats on foreign and economic policy Tuesday, the GOP presidential hopeful said:

“Actually, just look at what Osam — Barack Obama — said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. … It’s almost as if the Democratic contenders for president are living in fantasyland. Their idea for jihad is to retreat, and their idea for the economy is to also retreat. And in my view, both efforts are wrongheaded.”

Romney apparently was referring to an audiotape aired Monday in which a speaker believed to be terrorist Osama bin Laden called for insurgents in Iraq to unite and avoid divisions. The authenticity of the tape aired on Al-Jazeera television could not be immediately confirmed.

Romney also said: “It’s my personal belief that having someone like John Edwards, a senator, who goes out and communicates that there is no global war on terror — that it’s just a Bush bumper sticker — I think that is a position that is not consistent with the facts.”

Spokesman Kevin Madden told the AP, “He misspoke. He was referring to the audiotape of Osama bin Laden and misspoke. It was just a mix-up.”

Sure. Of course. That’s about as reliable as a policy position Mitt Romney claims to hold dear.

I obviously wasn’t there, so I didn’t hear it first hand, but according to the AP account, Romney started to say the right name, .but stopped to say the wrong name. Twice. It wasn’t just an Osama (first name) Obama (last name) mix up either — Romney included “Barack” into the mix. Twice.

The Democrat’s campaign has already responded. From Obama spokesman Bill Burton:

Apparently, Mitt Romney can switch names just as casually as he switches positions, but what’s wrongheaded is continuing a misguided war in Iraq that has left America less safe. It’s time to end the divisiveness and fear-mongering that is at the heart of Governor Romney’s campaign.

As for Romney’s “mistake,” Ben Smith suggests: “The quote, from AP, seems to have Romney actually confusing the two men, rather than just stumbling over names.”

Maybe. Or maybe Romney just wanted to get Obama and “jihadist” in the same sentence.

Was Mitt on drugs? Not that it would be an excuse, but it appears this may go beyond just a bad mix up of names. Unless those ellipses represent a whole lot of extracted material, he seems to be talking about the bin Laden tape and then what Democratic candidates think in pretty close proximity. Actually, in all honestly I can’t make heads or tails of what he was trying to say. maybe it is bad editing in the news story, or maybe the content didn’t matter so long as it gave Romney a chance to blur Osama and Obama. Or, maybe Republidroid’s wiring had a short.

  • Osama bin Laden is dead. The Osama Tapes are all phonies written and produced by Dick Cheney to be used by NeoCon Supremacists to manipulate and exploit the fear of 9/11 in an attempt to enthrone One World Government.

    Romney is just a frontman (like his Dear Leader is). The fact that he slurred Barack Obama like that shows just how niggardly the man is and how he doesn’t deserve the esteem to be mentioned in the same breath as Obama.

    The Romulans would do the world a favor if they would go back to planet Mormon to tend to their slaves and multiple wives.

  • Actually, just look at what Rommel — Mitt Romney — said. Mitt Romney, calling on Afrika Korps, Nazis of all different types, to come together in defense of the Fatherland.

    One does not mis-speak by catching oneself saying the correct name, then substituting the full name of someone else, and then repeat it. Once Mitt said “Barack”, it was obvious he wasn’t accidentally swapping a consonant between Osama and Obama.

  • I guess that’s what happens when you’ve been in a cult too long. All the “facts” you were brainwashed into believing start to mess with your circuitry.

    Nice reply from the Obama people. Quick smackdown, tied to a pre-existing meme, directly coupled to a statement that points back to the main issue and the strength of the candidate on that issue.

    And short enough for the news idiots to get it right.

  • At the risk of being called “shrill” or “Not Serious,” let me just say, for the record, for all those who didn’t already know it, the simple truth:

    All of the GOP presidential candidates are lying, fear-mongering, pandering, homophobic, factually-challenged, devoid-of-actual-policy assholes. Every. Single. One. Is. A. Scumbag.

    All of them have flat-out lied. All of them have used fear as a campaign pledge. All have yet to release a single realistic policy proposal. All of them think “the culture of life” stops at birth.

    If any of them are elected next year, my family is moving. Seriously. No joke. We’re leaving and will weep for what was once a great country.

    .

  • For me, Romney is like Ken’s evil twin – Ken being Barbie’s plastic boyfriend, and Romney what I imagine Ken would look like if plastic dolls could grow up.

    And that would be kind of amusing if we weren’t talking about a man who thinks he has what it takes to be president – admittedly, Bush has lowered the bar about as far as it can go, but still, this was no inadvertent slip of the tongue, and the clarification from the campaign doesn’t help much.

    Although the Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck types will have fun with it. They won’t see it as an indictment of Romney, they will see it as proof that Obama’s and Osama’s hate for America is so similar as to make one man indistinguishable from the other – and the reason why we can’t afford to elect Obama.

    There isn’t a candidate running on the GOP side who is deserving of the job – not one. And don’t give me the crap about Ron Paul being the only one who makes sense – the war is the only thing he talks about that makes any sense. The rest of it – FAIR tax and anti-choice and the rest of it – off-the-charts-ridiculous.

  • Why is everyone worrying about Mickey Rooney? I mean, just because he made a bunch of movies with Judy Garland and was married to Ava Gardner and Martha Vickers and — what?

    Mitt Romney?

    Never mind.

  • Drooling with incompetence he oozes forward with slips of the mouth and greasy kid stuff.

  • Well, you’ve convinced me Anne, Hillary is going to end the occupation, restore the constitution, and bring an end to the plenipotentiary executive.

    I know that you didn’t say these things, but apparently this is the choice that you are stifled with.

    Not me. That is what I call crap.

    I might consider voting for Obama in the general, but I refuse to exercise my most revered constitutional right to cast my ballot for someone who voted to abolish the Bill of Rights (the Patriot Act) –can you name the Democratic candidates who voted in favor of it?

  • One key difference, JKap, is that almost any of the Dem candidates, from Clinton to Gravel, will appoint Supreme Court justices who would have an open mind to striking the Patriot Act down as unconstitutional.

    I doubt any of the Republican candidates – including Ron Paul, since the judges who would agree with his other highly-conservative positions are likely to have that view across the board – would appoint justices who would even give striking it down a second thought.

    Vote Democratic – its the only sliver of hope.

  • Jkap – I’m not a big Hillary fan, for many reasons. Yes, she’s smart and yes, she’s faced attacks and come out okay, but she’s stubborn and she takes money from people and industries that are going to want more seats at the table than they deserve. I hate the whole DLC-centrist crowd and their willingness to always “move toward the center,” wherever that is. And I would really prefer that she not be the one to inherit all that unitary power that Bush has established as a precedent.

    As much as there are things I don’t like about her, she’s still got more on the ball than any Republican running, and she’s not crazy. She will support reproductive rights, she’s a strong advocate for children, she supports science and will keep God out of government. She wouldn’t appoint another Alito or Roberts to the Supreme Court, and so on. She’s not crazy – hell, she could put that on a bumper sticker: Hillary…because she’s not crazy. If we play our cards right, we will have a stronger majority in the Congress and the more liberal wing of the party is going to check her sometimes-a-little-too-Bush-like tendencies.

    I won’t vote for her in the primary – it’s going to be Dodd or Edwards for me – but if she’s running in the general against Huckabee or Romney or Rudy, you’re darn right she will get my vote.

  • Romney’s spin on this one should lead to abandoning his presidential bid. To mispeak would connote not knowing the difference between a presidential candidate in the good ol’USA and a leading terrorist in the world today. Such “misspeaking” is reason enough to loose all confidence that Mr. Romney is a sentient being, let alone qualified to make life and death decisions in circumstances a bit more complex and nuanced than telling the difference between Obama and Osama. Having said this, I think I will organize a get the stupid vote out campaign for Mr. Romney. It takes a stupid candidate to represent the vast stupidity he is so willing to conjure. -Kevo

  • You know, kevo, you are absolutely right:

    Romney’s spin on this one should lead to abandoning his presidential bid.

    It hadn’t occurred to me, but there is no reason this should not be his Macaca Moment. There is not a ton of difference, really. One can argue that Allen’s slur was more broadly racial, but really isn’t that Mitt’s point, too? All these darker colored people with funny sounding names – one madrassa educated guy is just like the rest, right?

    So why should Mitt – who justly should be held under more scrutiny, get off any easier than Allen?

  • i would like to see mitt campaign to the end.there is nothing better then seeing him spend his own money and lose the election. there is no better cure to keeping a man from running again then losing their own money.

  • Jihadism is the greatest threat Americans have ever had to face, right? Fighting it is both our God-given mission *and* a life-or-death necessity, right? Then how can we trust a guy, who doesn’t even know whom to hunt for, to lead that fight?

  • Then how can we trust a guy, who doesn’t even know whom to hunt for, to lead that fight?

    Or know how to hunt. Rodents in the backyard don’t count.

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