President Barack Obama hugs Stephanie Davies while visiting shooting victim Allie Young at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colo., Sunday, July 22, 2012. Davies helped keep Young alive after her friend was wounded at the movie theater in Aurora. The President traveled to Colorado to visit with patients and family members affected by the shootings. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
“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”. – Mitt Romney would restore ‘Anglo-Saxon’ relations between Britain and America
OUR ‘SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP’ with Great Britain would be much more “special” if we had a rich, white guy in the White House.
Got it.
I wonder if the Romney campaign could get any more obscenely tone deaf with their messaging?
If only that was the worst of it.
“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.
“Consult and coordinate” the foreign policy of the United States with that of “our friends and allies”? That is absolutely not the point of the presidency in foreign policy matters and is certainly not the job of Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. It’s to advance the interests of our country, seeking to ascertain strategic relevancy of our involvements across the globe, with coordination sought in matters where it’s in America’s best interest and in accordance with our own global compass.
This isn’t what Mitt Romney wanted on his three-stop, foreign policy photo op. He’s barely landed and he’s got his first negative headline, which has the added punch of also being discordant, while showing once again that Mr. Romney can’t navigate in international waters without a map.
“I wonder if the Romney campaign could get any more obscenely tone deaf with their messaging?”
They are NOT “tone deaf”.
They said EXACTLY what they wanted to say TO exactly who they wanted to say it to. The racist base voters of the repugnantklan/teabagger party.
Agreed. Racism is something no one wants to talk about, but it is major factor when it comes to the right wing tea baggin republicans.
But damn, I likes to tea-bag me some spics and chinks just as much as I likes to tea-bag the darkies!
You can play the race card all you want, if that’s what helps you sleep at night. When Mr. Obama loses the election, the Republicans gain control of the Senate and also gain a few more house seats, you can soothe yourselves with the notion that it’s racism that causes people to vote for Republicans. It is probably much easier than confronting the notion that the majority of the country doesn’t agree with the priciples espoused by the ever more liberal Democratic party.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! seems like I kind of hit a nerve there buddy. That was some rant you spewed out there, thou most of it didn’t have much to do with reality, but everyone is allowed to dream.
PWT,
At best the reference to “restoring Anglo-Saxon relations with” GB was political misfeasance. It is, again at best, a clunky, poorly thought out, and truly weird thing to say. The UK these days is a wide-ranging multicultural society that is trying to redefine the very meaning of what being “British” is.
So right off the bat, Mitt offended his host by dragging in a antiquated and deeply offensive notion that being British is determined by your DNA connection to a bunch of marauding German barbarians that lived the 4th and 5th Century of the Common Era. Genius! Now the Welsh, Scotts, and Northern Irish are at least a tad annoyed. But wait! There’s more! All the Britons of South Asian and Caribbean extraction, plus those from the former colonies of further afield are really steamed.
Good job! Your guests now have to explain your total lack of class and cultural sensitivity to a wide swath of the UK citizens. Bonus points for doing the exact opposite of what you claim to be your goal on reaching the Oval Office.
But back to the Anglo-Saxons on this side of the pond. I have to disagree with Sec and Angles81; this quote even sucks eggs as far a racial dog whistles go. The very oddness of the term brings it too sharply in focus. The whole point of a dog whistle is to play racial politics while still having plausible deniability. Anglo-Saxon? Really MItt? As anyone with two brain cells can’t see this as a reference to how WASPs are the only people who should be allowed lead? And why would BHO not be a good WASP in standing? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
This is not really racist per se; it is just too bone-jarringly stupid to qualify. Romney just gifted team Obama with a GOTV talking point that will have legs in just about any community of color worth mentioning. Romney just handed Obama another tool to energize the Democratic base. Well played Mr. Magic Underwear Man; golf claps all around.
Believe it or else PWT, I do not have a dog in this fight. Still, I can see a toxic meme a mile off. That bit about Anglo-Saxon relations is a toxic as it comes. It is freaking Super Fund Site of awfulness. Thank your lucky stars that this flub happend in the silly season PWT. Whatever following wind Mitt got from “you did not build that” has exhausted itself and now Romney is forced to furiously row him self out of trouble. Maybe your man should come back home now before this poorly thought-out side show of foreign visits really goes to hell in handbasket.
Nothing is truer than this, spincitysd.
“This is not really racist per se; it is just too bone-jarringly stupid to qualify.”
That’s where you are wrong…considering the reality of the stupidity of racist views to start with. It was a typical snooty rich ivy league white guy stumbling attempt but it is racist through and through.
LOVE IT! One can always count on PWT to confirm the reality of perceptions, backed up by cold hard facts and reality when it comes to the repugnantklan/teabagger mob!!
With a little disconnected from reality spewing ” It is probably much easier than confronting the notion that the majority of the country doesn’t agree with the priciples espoused by the ever more liberal Democratic party.”
Thanks for making it so clear!!!
Romney needs a huge “White” voter turn out. So, he will be doubling his effort on this front, with the “Obama is “Foreign” schtick. Romney team is smart enough to know that there is a racist element in America big enough to drive his numbers up, come election day.
Many liberal have a habit of pretending that this resistance to Obama is “only” because of his policies and lack of leadership…yeah right!
For some voters the above mentioned is true…but for a larger section of America…especially, the South…race is the only thing keeping Romney a contender. Let’s face the truth, Romney is not loved by the Republican base…however, they will crawl over broken glass to vote out the “Foreigner”.
Realistically, Obama is not the greatest president…but he is all America has left to offer… until someone better else steps up to the plate. And right now, Romney is not even worthy enough to shine Obama shoes. However, I don’t trust Obama or Romney, and will not vote for either idiot.
I do prefer Obama over Romney…only because why vote out one liar only to replace it with a even worse one. In essence, I feel this 2012 election is a waste of time. People on the other side (anti-Obama, racist & disillusioned voters) keep screaming how great Romney is and he’ll bring jobs etc…
These people are delusional…the only jobs Romney ever created was for his rich friends. Romney plans on gutting the Federal government and shrinking the middle class. By the time those that voted for Romney, realize this it will be all to late.
But I doubt they will even care once Romney becomes president…because he will have kept his promise and removed Obama from office.
In the mean time, while President Romney is making his offshore accounts sing with more wealth…Americans that voted for this lunatic..will be dancing in the streets because Obama is no longer president.
As for Obama, his family will not be affected at all by Republican destruction of the middle class. After all the angry mob of voters, forgot that Obama family is wealth too. So, he and Michelle will go on living a great life.
But for right now, Romney team will give a nod and wink to the low information voters, that foreign Obama needs to be replaced. Only he, Romney the “Great White Hope” can make America great again. Fools!
Good points Marie205. Still, see my rejoinder to PWT on how Romney committed the worst kind of political mis/malfeasance possible. I do not see how this bit of pandering to the GOP base helps Romney with the mushy middle of Independents and undecideds. Mitt may have lit a fire in Dixie, but man, oh man, he gifted Obama with metric tons of flammables that the Chicago gang will use to lite a fire under the Democratic base. Meanwhile, those in middle are scratching there heads and wondering if Mitt does not have more than a few screws loose. In a close election against a sitting president, there is only so much FUD a challenger can be saddled with before he or she sinks beneath the waves.
Truly classic comment for this election cycle, Marie205. So many premium nuggets to mine.
Honest question. Is there really any gain left in this racism stuff?
I don’t think racism is involved: “Outside Anglophone countries, both in Europe and in the rest of the world, the term “Anglo-Saxon” and its direct translations are used to refer to the Anglophone peoples and societies of Britain, the United States, and other countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand – areas which are sometimes referred to as the Anglosphere. The term “Anglo-Saxon” can be used in a variety of contexts, often to identify the English-speaking world’s distinctive language, culture, technology, wealth, markets, economy, and legal systems.” (wikipedia)
Meh, it is still a really weird word construction to toss out to the unwashed masses in an election year Car Guy. By stressing Obama’s “otherness” from the suposed US-UK Anglo norm the verbiage just reeks of racial politics. You have to ask why the Republicans keep going to this meme of “Obama is not one of us.” No matter how you try to play that to low-information voters and others it still plays like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77sPKCc4SS0
The question is WHY does mittens need to keep waving the racism red flag in front of the repugnantklan/teabagger base at this point in time?!!!!!!
Honest answer guyski; there is plenty of gain to be had with trolling the dark seas of racism. As long as there is thin patina of deniability- using code words you can appeal to a lot of people; and not just in the rural south.
…trolling the dark seas of racism…isn’t that a two sided coin? Who determines what these code words are? And really once it is public knowledge, isn’t the code word ineffective?
Britain hasn’t been Anglo-Saxon since the 11th Century, when these guys showed up. We never were.
Oh, nevermind.
I agree with Car Guy that Anglo-Saxon has a larger meaning now than ethnic heritage. Still, it’s pretty clear that neither society is what we were in the 18th Century, or even the early 20th. Probably best to move on.
What I found so disturbing about that Telegraph article the quote came from is the rest of the interview. It sounds like being at war with three countries isn’t enough for Romney – he’d like to make it five or six, and continue the ruinous levels of defense spending that would make that possible.
Oh, and he thinks Obama is a “Left-winger”. If that isn’t a sign of being unmoored from reality, I don’t know what is.
Oh, and he thinks Obama is a “Left-winger”. If that isn’t a sign of being unmoored from reality, I don’t know what is.
He doesn’t actually think this, but it works to the Repub advantage, as well as to that of our corporate overlords, to attempt to label Obama as such.
Whether he believes it or not, the argument is unmoored from reality.
You’re preaching to the choir here, but each time the lie is repeated the perception of it as truth grows among the ill-informed. This has been the repub strategy since Reagan starting bandying about “liberal” as pretty much the worst thing someone could be. More and more radically right-wing ideas are proposed so that the “prior radical ones” start to be seen as “moderate.” It’s horrible that it works, but it does.
Damn those ignorant repug voters!
Wonderful misread! And beautifully nulling any sarcasm you intended! Bravo!
Hey, those Normans came from good Viking stock! You can not get more “Aryan” than that! You also forgot that whole embarrassing Dane Law episode and that other bunch Norsemen that got into the British DNA mix.
Taylor & Commenters,
Has it been confirmed that a Romney staff member said this (used the term “Anglo-Saxon”), or are we just relying on unnamed sources and “it appeared in a newspaper so it must be true defense”. Just asking???
Here is the main article Smooth Jazz.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/mitt-romney/9424524/Mitt-Romney-would-restore-Anglo-Saxon-relations-between-Britain-and-America.html
PS just listened to Esperanza Spaulding’s “Radio Music Society” – good stuff!
Romney will fit right in with Conservative David Cameron who was elected in May of 2010 and gave the UK what Romney wants to do in the US. The Parliament with majority rule has no senate with its filibuster rule to stop legislation.
The UK immediatley adopted an austerity budget that claims that cutting governent spending and laying off hundreds of thousands of public sector workers will cut the unemployment and spur economic growth. What happened with hte UK austerity budget? The UK unemployment rose to its highest level; in 16 years. What about economic growth. The Bank of England released its 3rd quarter GDP growth record. The UK had officially entered a ‘double-dip’ recession with GDP growth in negative territory for the second consecutive quarter in 2012 with a growthg rate of -0.7%.
Not quite what the Conservatives predicted and what Romney is promising.
http://www.newser.com/article/da082mao3/uk-q2-gdp-down-bigger-than-expected-07-percent-extending-recession-into-a-3rd-quarter.html
I’m with spincitysd on this one. This comment from Team Romney is just flat out bizarre and weird.
What entertainment!