Mittenspalooza World Tour 2012: The MegaMormonThread!

[CountDeMoney]

Romney readying for low-key European turn

LONDON — Mitt Romney will land here Wednesday for the start of an overseas tour that will take him into the heart of Obama country: Europe.

As the Democratic presidential hopeful in 2008, Barack Obama's visit to Europe ahead of the election drew saturation media coverage and massive crowds — including 250,000 people for a landmark speech in Berlin — that cemented the senator from Illinois's rock-star status in the grand capitals of the Old World. Four years later, President Obama, although somewhat off his peak, still receives approval ratings of 80 percent or higher in Britain, France and Germany.

In contrast, as Romney arrives for a week-long run through Britain and Poland, with a trip to Israel in between, the Republican presidential candidate remains relatively unknown in Europe. His first stop in London has received miserly coverage in the back pages of British newspapers, where he is often characterized by his wealth and Mormon religion. Over the course of an hour in this city's busy Paddington Station this week, eight of 15 people stopped by a reporter were not sure who Romney was.

"Is he the millionaire?" Barbara Bolan, 64, a retired optician, asked with a puzzled look.

That is, perhaps, exactly the way Romney wants it. Observers cite his seeming reluctance to discuss his time in France as a young Mormon missionary, and the intense if pragmatic Republican focus on his domestic image, as evidence that Romney is happy to stage a low-key tour. Republicans may even consider too much of an outpouring a drawback, given the liberal-leaning image of European politicians. For instance, British Prime Minister David Cameron — a conservative with whom Romney will meet on Thursday — is openly pushing to legalize same-sex marriage and has proudly called his administration the "greenest" in the nation's history.

There is also the reality that Obama — credited with dramatically boosting the image of the United States in a region that had little love for President George W. Bush — remains so popular in Europe that trying to outshine him here would be too high a bar.

"The Republican Party today is about what's happening at home, it's about domestic issues," said Xenia Dormandy, senior fellow at Chatham House in London. "It's not looking for a discussion on America's reputation in the world. Because if Romney gets into that debate, especially in Europe, he is going to lose."

Romney's trip should, however, offer him a chance to portray himself as an international statesman. Cameron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will welcome him. In addition, Romney will meet with opposition leaders and other notable figures, including former British prime minister Tony Blair and the Polish Solidarity icon Lech Walesa.

On Friday, Romney will meet with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, and aides said he may join other foreign dignitaries in London for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which he plans to attend. He is not expected to deliver formal remarks in Britain.

"This trip is an opportunity for the governor to listen and learn, to visit countries that share common values, common interests, and I should also say in many cases shared heritage with people here in the United States," Lanhee Chen, the Romney campaign's policy director, told reporters.

Romney has caused a local stir by tapping the deep pockets of American bankers in London at two fundraisers — one co-hosted by a top lobbyist at Barclays and a dinner costing as much as $75,000 per head — at a time when financial institutions here are facing an image crisis over a scandal involving interest-rate manipulation. In response, a cluster of left-leaning British politicians have put forward a largely symbolic motion chiding the banks for engaging in U.S. fundraising at such a sensitive time.

"I think it offends people's sense of morals and ethics," said Grahame Morris, a lawmaker from the opposition Labor Party. "Barclays should stop promoting candidates that are intent on deregulating the markets."

In Israel, Romney will attempt to strike a contrast with Obama, who has not visited the country while in office and has had a cool relationship with Netanyahu, aggravated by disagreements over how to promote peace with the Palestinians.

American Jews living in Israel, many of them religiously observant and politically conservative, voted overwhelmingly for Obama's Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), in the 2008 presidential election, and Obama is widely considered less than friendly to the policies of the right-leaning Israeli government. That has appeared to ensure Romney a warm welcome.

"He will be received with presidential honor, due both to love of the candidate and hatred of his rival," Yossi Sarid, a left-leaning columnist and former lawmaker, wrote in the liberal newspaper Haaretz.

In Poland, the last leg of his journey, Romney will find himself in a country where Obama is substantially less popular. A Pew Research Center poll from June showed that 50 percent of those asked had confidence in the U.S. president — far lower than in Western Europe. But on the streets of Warsaw, there has been little attention paid to Romney's trip.

At the same time, Romney's status as a candidate rather than an elected leader has led to a delicate dance of protocol, with Tusk opting to receive Romney in his home town of Gdansk, outside the Polish capital.

But Romney might schedule a speech on foreign policy while in Poland. Sources familiar with the planning in Poland said the candidate's advisers want 1,000 to 2,000 people to attend, a figure that Polish organizers say could be hard to achieve.

Yet some Polish media reports have portrayed Romney's trip as a reassurance of the traditionally close relationship between the Republican Party and Central Europe.

"There are less and less people in Washington who are familiar with Central Europe," said Bartosz Wisniewski, a U.S. analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs. "Mr. Romney has these kinds of guys on his team. We should seize this chance."

[CountDeMoney]

But wait: there's more!

Mitt Romney would restore 'Anglo-Saxon' relations between Britain and America
Mitt Romney would restore "Anglo-Saxon" understanding to the special relationship between the US and Britain, and return Sir Winston Churchill's bust to the White House, according to advisers.
The Telegraph


As the Republican presidential challenger accused Barack Obama of appeasing America's enemies in his first foreign policy speech of the US general election campaign, advisers told The Daily Telegraph that he would abandon Mr Obama's "Left-wing" coolness towards London.

In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.

"We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special," the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: "The White House didn't fully appreciate the shared history we have".

Mr Romney on Wednesday embarks on an overseas tour of Britain, Israel and Poland designed to quash claims by Mr Obama's team that he is a "novice" in foreign affairs. It comes four years after Mr Obama's own landmark foreign tour, which attracted thousands of supporters.

He lands in London early on Wednesday morning, in advance of meetings with David Cameron and other senior ministers on Thursday. He will also meet Ed Miliband and Tony Blair before attending two lucrative fundraisers and the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

He used a speech in Nevada on Tuesday to accuse the President of drastically weakening America's stance towards rivals such as Russia, China and Iran while imposing "devastating" spending cuts on the US military.

"If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on earth, I am not your President," he told the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "You have that President today". Promising another "American century" in which the US acts as the global night watchman and does not hesitate to "wield our strength" when needed, he said: "I will not surrender America's leadership in the world".

Members of the former Massachusetts governor's foreign policy advisory team claimed that as president, he would reverse Mr Obama's priority of repairing strained overseas relationships while not spending so much time maintaining traditional alliances such as Britain and Israel.

"In contrast to President Obama, whose first instinct is to reach out to America's adversaries, the Governor's first impulse is to consult and co-ordinate and to move closer to our friends and allies overseas so they can rely on American constancy and strength," one told the Telegraph.

"Obama is a Left-winger," said another. "He doesn't value the NATO alliance as much, he's very comfortable with American decline and the traditional alliances don't mean as much to him. He wouldn't like singing 'Land of Hope and Glory'."

The two advisers said Mr Romney would seek to reinstate the Churchill bust displayed in the Oval Office by George W. Bush but returned to British diplomats by Mr Obama when he took office in 2009. One said Mr Romney viewed the move as "symbolically important" while the other said it was "just for starters", adding: "He is naturally more Atlanticist".

Mr Obama has appeared less interested in relations with London than Mr Bush. He repeatedly rebuffed Gordon Brown when the then-prime minister sought a meeting at the UN in 2009 and was criticised for responding to an elaborate gift with a set of DVDs that did not work in Britain.

A change in tone was reflected by the enthusiastic welcome extended to Mr Cameron during an official visit and dinner in March. However, British diplomats remain frustrated by their "transactional" relationship with the Obama White House and lack of support on issues such as the Falkland Islands.

Mr Romney has not made any commitments on the Falklands, but several in his foreign policy team favour backing Britain and publicly rejecting claims of sovereignty by Christina Kirchner, the Argentine president. Under Mr Obama the US remains neutral.

The advisers could not give detailed examples of how policy towards Britain would differ under Mr Romney. One conceded that on the European crisis: "I'm not sure what our policy response is."

However they said Mr Cameron and Mr Romney, who is being advised by several former Bush aides and other neo-conservative thinkers, shared a seriousness towards the threats of Islamist terrorism, a potentially nuclear-armed Iran and the challenging consequences of the Arab Spring.

Mr Romney has pledged to stop Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, threatening military action more stridently than Mr Obama. He said on Tuesday that only a "complete cessation" of uranium enrichment by Iran was satisfactory – a stronger demand than the White House's.

"The same ayatollahs who each year mark a holiday by leading chants of 'Death to America' are not going to be talked out of their pursuit of nuclear weapons," he said in his speech.

After leaving London, he will deliver a speech in Jerusalem on Sunday, again threatening Iran and criticising Mr Obama for declining to visit Israel since taking office. He will give another speech in Warsaw on Tuesday.

He also attacked Mr Obama on Tuesday over the "contemptible" alleged leak of secrets about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the drone campaign against al-Qaeda and cyber-attacks on Iran.

The advisers spoke on the condition of anonymity because Mr Romney's campaign requested that they not criticise the President to foreign media. After another adviser criticised Mr Obama in a German magazine last month, the President sharply instructed them that "America's political differences end at the water's edge".

Mitt Romney was speaking to a war veterans' group in Reno, Nevada when he made strongly worded attacks on the foreign policies of Barack Obama.

The Republican candidate said Mr Obama had alienated Israel, the United States' main ally in the Middle East, after an open microphone caught the president criticising Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year.

"The people of Israel deserve better than what they have received from the leader of the free world," Mr Romney told the assembled veterans.

He then questioned whether the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran had receded in any way during the four years of the Obama administration.

Mr Romney went on to assure the audience that he would face-up to China over alleged currency manipulation as well as copyright and patent theft. "The president hasn't done it and won't do it and I will", he said.

[Neil]

Who are you even arguing with?  We know both candidates are shit, but we all know that Mitt is worse because he's got all the baggage that comes with being a Republican, such as the gun lobby, political Christianity and all the deregulators.

[CountDeMoney]

Who are you even arguing with?  We know both candidates are shit, but we all know that Mitt is worse because he's got all the baggage that comes with being a Republican, such as the gun lobby, political Christianity and all the deregulators.

I'm not arguing with anybody, you fucking foreigner.  This is the Mittenspalooza World Tour Megathread, to chronicle all the interesting tidbits of his European visits, for the benefit of all Languishites, as they develop.

Now go back to masturbating into your flanneled Gretzsky sex doll.

[Tonitrus]

Waste of time.  It would probably be far easier to pander to Democrats than to Europeans.

[Neil]

Who are you even arguing with?  We know both candidates are shit, but we all know that Mitt is worse because he's got all the baggage that comes with being a Republican, such as the gun lobby, political Christianity and all the deregulators.

I'm not arguing with anybody, you fucking foreigner.  This is the Mittenspalooza World Tour Megathread, to chronicle all the interesting tidbits of his European visits, for the benefit of all Languishites, as they develop.

Now go back to masturbating into your flanneled Gretzsky sex doll.

No it isn't.  This thread is for you to sneer at Republicans.  There's no useful information to convey in relation to Romney, because he's not important.

[garbon]

Who are you even arguing with?  We know both candidates are shit, but we all know that Mitt is worse because he's got all the baggage that comes with being a Republican, such as the gun lobby, political Christianity and all the deregulators.

I don't agree with the "we all know" section.

[CountDeMoney]

No it isn't.  This thread is for you to sneer at Republicans.  There's no useful information to convey in relation to Romney, because he's not important.

He will be, if he becomes your President.  Oh wait...he can't be, because you're a useless fucking Canadian who only thinks he's an American.*













*All the other Canadian citizens on the board are exempt from this statement, of course.  None of you guys are the North American equivalent of Martinus, wishing he was someone he's not.

[Neil]

Do we have to point out, yet again, that you're the one who wishes that you had my gun control, socialized medicine, fewer blacks and no Republicans?

The only thing in the US I'm interested in is 4-down football and dreadnought battleships.

[CountDeMoney]

Do we have to point out, yet again, that you're the one who wishes that you had my gun control, socialized medicine, fewer blacks and no Republicans?

Not at the expense of using Monopoly colored money and coins with ducks on them.  You only wish you had a passport with big eagle on it.

The only thing in the US I'm interested in is 4-down football and dreadnought battleships.

Who gives a fuck.  Stop shitthreading, and go back to letting Timmay lovingly lather your scrotum, you simple foreign gimp.

[Neil]

Who are you even arguing with?  We know both candidates are shit, but we all know that Mitt is worse because he's got all the baggage that comes with being a Republican, such as the gun lobby, political Christianity and all the deregulators.

I don't agree with the "we all know" section.

You don't feel that those groups are baggage to the once noble Republican Party?

[garbon]

Oh those groups are but I don't think that makes him worse.

[Admiral Yi]

I'm more or less OK with the gun lobby and very cool with "all the deregulators."

[Neil]

Do we have to point out, yet again, that you're the one who wishes that you had my gun control, socialized medicine, fewer blacks and no Republicans?

Not at the expense of using Monopoly colored money and coins with ducks on them.  You only wish you had a passport with big eagle on it.

The only thing in the US I'm interested in is 4-down football and dreadnought battleships.

Who gives a fuck.  Stop shitthreading, and go back to letting Timmay lovingly lather your scrotum, you simple foreign gimp.

Your sour grapes make me laugh.  You're the one who seems to feel that I really want to be American, no matter how much I damn handguns and 'health care'.

At any rate, it's my thread, and I'll do what I like with it.

[Barrister]

Do we have to point out, yet again, that you're the one who wishes that you had my gun control, socialized medicine, fewer blacks and no Republicans?

Not at the expense of using Monopoly colored money and coins with ducks on them.  You only wish you had a passport with big eagle on it.

The one that everyone sneers at around the world?  I'll pass.