Tin Man photo by Tracy Knauss. (Part of the Motley News)
Here’s a riddle: who needs courage, a brain, and a heart? The three characters from the Wizard of the Oz and the Republican presidential nominee. Ever since Mitt Romney has secured the Republican nomination, by receiving the amount of delegates needed to do so, it has been quite a tough time for the former Massachusetts governor.A few weeks ago, in what was supposed to be a glamorous, international tour to raise money for the Romney campaign, turned out to be a gaffe-filled bombardment, provided, not only by the candidate himself, but also his staff.
For ever non-incumbent candidate vying for the highest office in the land, a foreign policy trip is crucial to their bid for the presidency. Without a strong foreign policy background, the candidate can look weak and may not be the best choice for the office. When Romney had planned his visits to Warsaw, England, and Israel, it would be a coming-out party for him. A party to show the potential strength he may have in foreign policy as President of the United States. Instead, though, his actual policy was completely overlooked by the media when he uttered gaffe after gaffe after gaffe, in the trip that was supposed to separate him from Barack Obama.
The trip did start out as a pleasant one. Until Mr. Romney, as usual, spoke before he thought. Something he should probably not do. In London, after “inspecting the city” Romney told a crowd that he believed their city was not ready for the Olympic games. Ouch! That’s probably not the best thing to say, Mitt, since you refer to your presence in the Olympics so often. What’s even more funny is it got so bad the British Prime Minister David Cameron publicly insulted Romney, saying that there was a reason for why the town was possibly “unprepared”. Cameron stated that there was a big difference between staging a major event in one of the world’s biggest cosmopolitan cities, than “in the middle of nowhere” as Cameron so pleasantly put it. A complete slap to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, which Romney was a huge part of. The trip continued to go in a spiral downfall when Romney arrived in Israel. In his quick stop there, Romney, with his fantastic zeal praised the economic greatness that Israel had accomplished, but managed, somehow, to insult the Palestinians by attributing Palestine’s economic differences to the cultural differences that exists. But the greatest gaffe of the week was not made by Mr. Romney himself, but a campaign aide who told the press to “Kiss my ass.” I have two words to say: that’s priceless. But as we look back into the past of Mitt Romney’s turbulent, political career, we can understand that these gaffes are just minor for Mitt. Gaffes are like Mitt Romney’s cup of tea in the morning. They’re not a big deal, and because of this, let’s celebrate Mitt’s seven greatest gaffes.
1. The France Boogeyman! A key part of the failed 2008 Romney campaign. Mitt Romney, in the campaign’s secret book of secrets, had ideas such as bumper stickers that said, “First, Not France” and “Hillary=France”. Implying that France is somehow the evil doer, and the culprit of the world.
2. Books aren’t my favorite subject. In 2007, once again on the ’08 campaign trail, Romney told Fox News this, about his favorite book, “The one by L. Ron Hubbard…I’m not in favor of his religion by any means, but he wrote a book called ‘Battlefield Earth’ that was a very fun science fiction book.” There are a few errors with this statement Mitt Romney delivered. First off, why would you name for favorite all-time book of yours, a piece of literary fiction, and even worse, science fiction? Of course, it may have gone easier if you selected something from Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, or Robert A. Heinlein, somebody whose religion is considered “strange” or “weird” by the public. Also, in retrospect, Battlefield Earth was a ghastly book. Horribly written and was and still is considered a terrible book of science fiction. Despite his bizarre choice for his favorite book, the great Flip-Flopper, again, reversed his statement and told the press that the book wasn’t really his favorite, but was “one of” of his numerous favorites. He also enjoys Huck Finn by Mark Twain. Yes, I see how you can mix those two books up. It’s pretty easy. Since, you know, one is about fighting slavery and the other is about dueling aliens. Same thing.
3. I say I’m one of the 99%, except I’m really not. This is one of my favorites. When Mitt Romney decides to speak to a certain group of unemployed people in Florida he said that, “I should tell my story. I’m also unemployed.” Every unemployed person there laughed. You probably shouldn’t do that since Mitt Romney is making more than you in a single day than you will ever make in a year.
4. Are you, by any chance, related to Donald Trump? Another great Romney gaffe occurred when he was speaking and said, “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.”
5. Cadillac’s are definitely a poor man’s car. When campaigning in the Michigan for the primary, Romney said, “My wife drives a couple of Cadillac’s.” In what was supposed to be a statement about how he bought and owns American-made cars, turned out to be a disaster when he chose the most expensive car made in America.
6. This quote would go great on a T-shirt. When talking in Iowa, Mitt Romney said that one way to enhancing entitlement programs was to raise taxes on people, but before he could finish his thought someone said “Corporations!” And Mitt Romney replied back with, “Corporations are people, my friend.” When someone shouted they weren’t, Mitt said, ”Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People’s pockets. Human beings, my friend.” I don’t think this needs much explanation.
7. This guy has a way with words. In an interview Romney said that, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.” He also went on to say that he was not concerned about the rich either. Which is fine, but the very poor are the American people that are in the most desperate need of help. They need assistance from the government to help them feed their families and get back on their feet.
In the end, Mitt just doesn’t have what it takes to be President. Ronald Reagan, the man who Mitt says he embodies, once said, “I’ve often wondered how some people in positions of this kind…manage without having had any acting experience.” It doesn’t matter that Mitt doesn’t have any acting experience, what matters is that the biggest, most important part about acting is reacting and listening. Mitt Romney does neither every time he opens his mouth. He doesn’t understand what’s going on, and instead of learning, comprehending and understanding he just blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. Speaking before you think. That’s a great quality to have, especially when your in a G8 meeting, or meeting with top military brass and foreign leaders all over the world all around the world.
