Earth to Romney: We aren’t on the Human Rights Council

October 18, 2007 – 2:44 pm

Today, Governor Mitt Romney called for the US to pull out of the UN Human Rights Council. According to the AP:

"The United Nations has been an extraordinary failure of late," Romney said in response to a question at a pancake house along the coast of early voting South Carolina. "We should withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council."

Turns out that we don’t actually have a seat on the Human Rights Council though:

Actually, the United States doesn’t have a seat on the human rights council, which it has been boycotting.

With that kind of knowledge, Romney may need to call in the lawyers after all…

It also turns out that he was just trying to keep up with the Joneses:

Romney was sharing the political attention in this state with GOP rival John McCain, who is on his second consecutive day of campaigning here.

McCain, in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, accused both Russia and China of causing gridlock in the U.N. Security Council and hindering the world body’s ability to sanction Iran or address pressing matters in Darfur, Burma and other trouble spots.

Difference was… John McCain knew what he was talking about.

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Hint to Romney: Baghdad is not Ames

August 8, 2007 – 12:23 pm

Now, I don’t buy all this Yellow Elephant junk, but Mitt Romney doesn’t understand something fundamental:

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his five sons’ decision not to enlist in the military, saying they’re showing their support for the country by "helping me get elected."

Tooling around Iowa farmland in a Winebago trying to get their dad a job is not comparable to defending their country and spreading freedom in Baghdad.

Also, this reminds us that Romney changed his story about why he didn’t serve in Vietnam.

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Did Romney belittle a veteran on Memorial Day?

May 28, 2007 – 8:26 pm

Everyone knows that our veterans healthcare system is screwed up and brave soldiers are falling through the cracks. In this case, an injured Guardsman isn’t getting the care that he needs, and his friend asks Mitt Romney for help. Romney is not helpful. Read on:

Romney questioned the man’s status, wondering why the military wouldn’t help him if he is active duty.

"He’s in the window," Joyal said, before Romney cut him off.

"Don’t give me, ‘he’s in the window,’" Romney said. "He’s either active duty or not."

Romney said that this was a sign that Washington is broken. (Duh! Thank you!) But he had nothing useful to say:

But the only solution he offered was urging Roy to contact one of his U.S. senators. …

That answer appeared to frustrate Roy and his wife, Darlene, who said she already had contacted numerous state and federal officials.

Maybe it is just the way that this was reported, but it certainly doesn’t sound good for the governor.

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Romney calls press unfair; Tries to emulate father

May 8, 2007 – 11:04 am

Mitt Romney is doing himself no favors these days. Whether it is his lifetime hunter gaffe, his confusing French marriage law for fictionalizations of the Book of Mormon, or calling a ridiculous sci-fi book his favorite novel, he can’t keep his foot — in a silver space boot? — out of his mouth.

So Romney goes on the offensive, not against the foot in his mouth, but against the press:

"What I find interesting is, had I been pro-life and then changed to pro-choice, no one would ask the question," the former Massachusetts governor said on Fox News Channel’s "Hannity and Colmes." ”But if you go the other direction, as I have and as Ronald Reagan did and (former Illinois Rep.) Henry Hyde and (former President) George Herbert Walker Bush, it’s like the media can’t get enough of it: ’Oh, well, why did you change?’"

Did Romney even notice the question that Chris Matthews asked at the debate:

Governor Romney, in recent months, you’ve said you were, quote, "always for life," but we’ve also heard you say you were once, quote, "effectively pro-choice." Which is it?

This isn’t about the press. This is about what comes out of his mouth. And it looks ridiculous when he panders and spins and sticks his foot in his mouth. This could well kill his presidential campaign, like it killed his father’s. Another case of Romney emulating his father:

Romney was asked which president he would emulate should he be elected in 2008.

"Probably my dad. I loved my dad. And he’s my hero," Romney said.

His wife, Ann, who was sitting beside him, interrupted and said, "Isn’t he asking you to pick a president?"

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Romney’s Silver Space Boot strikes again!

May 7, 2007 – 11:02 pm

Mitt Romney is developing a real gaffe problem when it comes to science fiction. I have decided to call these his "silver space boot" (in mouth) problem. I will, perhaps, get in trouble for referencing Ann Richard’s "born with a silver foot in his mouth" line.

This time, he confuses French marriage law with something he read in a science fiction book based on the Book of Mormon! What? I mean, I have read a lot of science fiction, including a lot of Orson Scott Card. But I would never, never confuse that with French marriage law. (H/T Wonkette)

I thought this was the guy who "gather[ed] data", not the guy who makes it up as he goes along.

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Doh! What a Mitt-iot!

May 2, 2007 – 4:59 pm

MItt Romney tried to cover for his book gaffe today by sticking his foot farther into his mouth. According to the San Jose Mercury:

Asked about his comments during a Fox News interview Monday that L. Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth is his favorite novel, Romney said Huckleberry Finn is his favorite fiction and that the book by Hubbard, who founded Scientology, is his favorite science fiction reading.

`It’s a great science-fiction book," Romney said. `He hadn’t founded Scientology at that point."

There are four problems with this. First, this is just dumb. It’s just a flip-flop back.

Second, why is he making L. Ron Hubbard’s religion the issue? Would the book not be ok if it was written after L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology?

Third, L. Ron Hubbard founded the first Church of Scientology in 1953. But Battlfield Earth was published in 1982. Indeed, that Wikipedia page points out all the Scientology themes. So is it not ok that you liked it?

And, fourth, it reminds me of a tortured sentence in Hugh Hewitt’s hagiography of Romney:

And Romney knows the war. He was worked to learn its complexities and the nature of our diverse enemies, constantly reading the sorts of books that must be absorbed.

If I am supposed to feel comforted about Romney’s thin national security resume by his reading habits, I am (continue to be?) underwhelmed.

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Mitt-flop on favorite book?

May 1, 2007 – 7:30 am

Mitt Romney can’t figure out his favorite book:

And why is he talking about Scientology when people are talking about his own religion?

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Guy in NRA hat speaks: Romney another Kerry

April 10, 2007 – 2:08 pm

Last week, Mitt Romney shot himself in the foot by answering a question about hunting. The guy who asked the question was tracked down by a Boston TV station. Here’s what he had to say, and it is brutal:
Some quotes:

"Now I have some doubts."

"Flip-flop? Yeah, I see another John Kerry coming down the road."

"I think he may have shot himself in the foot."

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Was Romney quoting Monty Python?

April 7, 2007 – 10:39 am

Romney said:

I’ve been a hunter pretty much all my life. I’ve never really shot anything terribly big. I used to hunt rabbits.

Monty Python’s Mosquito Hunter said:

I’ve been a hunter all my life.

Watch the vid:
Note also from that AP story:

Romney added: "Shooting a rabbit with a single-shot .22 is pretty hard, and after watching me try for a couple of weeks, (my cousins) said, ‘We’ll slip you the semiautomatic. You’ll do better with that.’ And I sure did."



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Lifetime hunter Mitt Romney never had license

April 7, 2007 – 10:03 am

Mitt Romney’s hunting problem continues.

Earlier this week, Mitt Romney said he had "been a hunter all his life." (see video here) But a reporter did some research, and Romney’s campaign admitted that Romney had only been hunting twice, once as a teenager and once for a fundraiser. Then Romney himself said that he was a "varmint hunter", not a "big game hunter."

Well, Romney’s foot is still firmly planted in his mouth. The AP’s Glen Johnson asked a simple question, "Did Mitt Romney ever have a hunting license." Romney hasn’t:

Officials in the four states where Mitt Romney has lived say the Republican presidential contender, who calls himself a lifelong hunter, never took out a license.

Romney tried to explain this away:

Romney says that’s because he has seldom hunted where he needed one.

Well, Glen Johnson did some research. And to hunt "varmints" in Michigan, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, Romney needed a license:

Officials from Michigan, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where a license is necessary to hunt such small game, said they could not immediately locate any license for Romney. An official in Utah said a change in state law last year blocked public access to license records.

In Utah, licenses are only needed for some kinds of small game. Perhaps Romney was careful about only shooting those:

Jack rabbits can be hunted without a license and killed without limit, but cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares require a license.

Recall that Romney was confused about whether he owned a gun or not:

So Romney went from having a gun, to not having a gun, to having two guns. Except they are his son’s guns. At (one of) their vacation homes in Utah. That’s "his" gun.

This is important because it goes to character. Romney struggles to tell the truth and keep his story straight about basic facts about his own life. He also struggles to keep his story straight on issues like abortion, gay-rights, taxes, guns, embryonic stem-cell research, Ronald Reagan, the Contract with America, immigration, and campaign finance reform.

It is clear what Romney is doing. He is just making it up as he goes along. He is making himself up as he goes along. Is that the kind of man you want running your country?

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