Mitt Romney says that the Australian foreign minister told him that America is in decline and wants Romney policies to bring it back.
A few hours later, the Australian foreign ministry states that Romney’s account is “not correct.”
In other words, about to head on a foreign trip, Romney has managed to get into a spat with a longtime US ally before he even leaves the country.
Perhaps that is what the Australian foreign minister told Romney, although I doubt it. In any event, you can be damn sure that any diplomat would not welcome a presidential candidate using a private conversation for political fodder. The test of a foreign policy leader is whether he or she can keep things confidential. Romney has just failed that test. Unless, of course, they are his tax returns.
The next time Romney asks the leader of a foreign government for information, perhaps the answer should be “we’ve told you all you need to know.”
When you are cooking, you are brilliant. Thanks for spending the time on this blog.
If you are the Aussies, and your guy said that you think “God this Romney fellow is an idiot”. But if your guy didn’t say it, you think “God this Romney fellow is an idiot”.
The Australians are damn right to be complaining about America’s decline. After all, they own our treasury notes. And a Romney led budget deal may very well help them out…by reversing America’s declining yield curve:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/free-money-2/
If the Treasury securities Australia is holding right now have some positive coupon, they’re pretty valuable right now. Doing something to increase Treasury yields will reduce that value.
yeah…i realized that 1 sec after hitting enter. goddammitt.
“we’ve told you people all you need to know.”
I looked the actual video evidence up, just because it seems like such a callous comment. If you watch it, it actually seems like she says “we’ve given all people need to know.” The “you” that’s been added to the quote seems like a hiccup or um rather than a you. Watch for yourself:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78711.html
I’m not fighting for the other side. I think Romney is a plutocrat fundamentally motivated by money and his elite status. But I think it’s also worth being accurate and honest in our portrayals.
Point taken, I hadn’t done any due diligence on the actual video, and agree about accuracy and honesty in portrayals, especially in these small details.
The bigger “detail” is the tone of contempt and unaccountability in Ann (toinette?)’s overall statements in that interview. Doesn’t matter whether the one word stands, she indeed told us “all we need to know.”.
I can’t believe anyone is taken in by these sociopaths.
Actually, the first 5-6 times I saw the video, she did say “you people” although I think she was referring to reporters. Later, the you was gone. I wonder who edited the clip??
No… We told *you people” all you need to know. As in…you little people. You who are so far beneath our notice we can scarcely believe we’re even addressing you non-VIP types.
I’m sure the American people will forgive him for it.
That is, the few who are bothering, in our decline, to pay attention to world and US news.
By the way, since I am skewing the American public, did you hear the one about our Gen-xers and global climate concerns?
Any idea what Romney plans to do about that?
Oh wait, he’s a GW denier too…
What a country!
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2012/07/poll-generation-x-unconcerned-about-climate-change/1?csp=34news
PS
A friend, who out-curmudgeons everyone I know, after hearing this took a sip of beer and said to the table:
You know I hope to live to be 120 just to see them suffer.
Everyone laughed or snorted…
And then clicked glasses…
[...] team have offended British prime minister David Cameron over the country’s Olympics preparations, lied about or revealed confidential conversations with the Australian foreign minister, confused Russia with the “Soviet [...]
[...] team have offended British prime minister David Cameron over the country’s Olympics preparations, lied about or revealed confidential conversations with the Australian foreign minister, confused Russia with the “Soviet [...]