The tour of shame continues.
Yesterday Mitt proved that he would perform whatever tricks Bibi asked him to perform. He also rejected any viable peace plan for the I/P conflict through an embrace of a one-sided solution to the Jerusalem Question. He had one last event in Israel–a fundraiser. It had been planned for Sunday, but it turned out that Team Mitt scheduled his visit to fall on a Jewish day of fasting and mourning (some thought that Mitt turning Tisha b’Av into a photo opp was yet another misstep).
And Mitt being Mitt could not avoid turning his remarks to donors into a fresh new controversy:
Mitt Romney Palestinian comments ‘racist and out of touch’
In a breakfast meeting this morning, the Republican presidential candidate told about 40 wealthy donors who breakfasted at the King David Hotel: “As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality.”
He did not mention the crippling restrictions that Israel imposes on Palestinian trade and movement. The reaction of Palestinian leaders was swift and pointed [snip]
“It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation,” said Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“It seems to me this man (Romney) lacks information, knowledge, vision and understanding of this region and its people,” Erekat added. “He also lacks knowledge about the Israelis themselves. I have not heard any Israeli official speak about cultural superiority.” [snip]
Israel had a per capita gross domestic product of about $31,000 in 2011, while the West Bank and Gaza had a per capita GDP of just over $1,500, according to the World Bank.
Mitt went on to explain to the assembled Galtian potentates that the difference between Israeli and Palestinian economic progress was because of divine intervention and the “hand of providence.”
Today he is bound for Poland. While there, I suppose that Mitt will try to restart The Cold War with more saber-rattling about the Soviet Union. Perhaps he’ll ask Mr. Putin to tear down a wall or something…
Cheers
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
He is actually more frightening than I had previously understood. Though I confess to hoping he will compliment German ingenuity and engineering while in Poland. That should be a winner.
Villago Delenda Est
Well, it’s a shame he didn’t visit Poland before going to Israel, so my line about him visiting a Polish resort at Auschwitz wouldn’t have as much impact.
But it would still piss off the Poles something fierce, which is an acceptable fall back before walk back position.
He might, if he gets really daring, bring up the Oder-Neisse line and get the Germans pissed at him, too. Or talk about restoring East Prussia.
Walker
I actually think he is less likely to step in it here. As long as he sticks to a Catholicism angle and out of European politics, he will be fine.
Rafer Janders
Given our luck, he might retroactively lose it for us.
jibeaux
From that article —
Gosh, if you give it some thought you could come to a conclusion other than “man, Palestinians suck, look how poor they are.” I mean, Mitt couldn’t, but maybe someone else could.
salacious crumb
it will be interesting to see whole grovels, rolls and bends over backward more for American approval: the Poles (with their eager overwhelming support for the Iraq war) or Mittens.
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
This man is an upper-class twit of horrifying proportions.
No…not quite. The horrifying thing is that he”ll still end up 5% or so away from sniffing at the presidency, because antagonizing the international community, intentionally or unintentionally, is seen as a plus for most of his base.
Villago Delenda Est
@Walker:
I didn’t think it was possible for Mr. Anglo-Saxon to fuck up the stop in the UK, but he was, frankly, spectacular there.
He’ll find a way. All he has to do is open his mouth, and his feet will fly into it. He really needs to get a polarity check on those feet.
DecidedFenceSitter
Maybe he’ll thank Poland for their integral help in establishing the need for Israel to be formed?
wrb
He’ll probably explain how if he’d been in charge of the Polish officer corps he would have managed things better at Khatyn.
aimai
I’m wondering what the Mormon impact in Poland has been? Will he try to have a mass mormon a thon of greeters waving flags for him? That should go over well.
aimai
kc
When Mitt Romney gets that 3:00 a.m. call, he’ll hang up, pick the phone back up, and call Bibi for instructions.
Mark S.
Mitt will compare Germany and Poland’s GDP per capita and say it’s the result of culture and providence.
Some Dude
Can somebody tell me the political difference and legal difference between Mitt doing these fundraisers over seas and the shit storm that Clinton Gore faced for some fundraisers that might have involved Chinese donations to their campaign? (It’s so fuzzy I can’t even remember).
FoxinSocks
I’m in absolute shock. Wow.
So this guy really believes if you’re poor and struggling, it’s because of the hand of God. And if you read his whole statement, which is bizarre, he manages to insult Mexico as well by talking about how some countries are rich and some countries are poor because of “culture.”
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/romney-israel-palestine-gdp-culture.php?ref=fpa
Clueless AND racist. Way to go, Mitt.
Culture of Truth
Villago Delenda Est
@FoxinSocks:
The comic possibilities of this meme in Poland are just endless.
Yo, OvenMitt? Do you know who also said things like that as to why Poland’s GNP is lower than Germany’s?
dmsilev
@aimai:
Posthumously baptizing many of the Poles killed in the Holocaust?
Maybe Romney will say that since the Poles’ overthrow of Communism came about largely due to a labor union it retroactively doesn’t count.
lamh35
@Villago Delenda Est: Oh, he probably already have the Germans pissed or at least he has Merkel pissed. When asked why the campaign didn’t go to Germany, they said that they wanted to go to Germany, but was told that Merkel was on vay-kay, so they nixed the German leg. So in one answer, they are able to imply that not only did Merkel snub the possible future POTUS (according to some crazed wingnut mind), but they also get to imply that Merkel is taking a vay-kay while Germany is IDK burning or something.
Methinks though that if Obama was gonna make a trip to Germany, Merkle may have come off vay-kay to greet him. Or at the very least, the Obama admin are pretty good with logistics and would not schedule a trip to Germany when the Merkel was unavailable.
Martin
He’ll credit their GDP expansion since the cold war to their steady reduction of workers needed to change a light bulb.
The Moar You Know
Mitt’s doing a bang-up job of rehabbing George W’s legacy. Bush looks like a suave master of international politics compared to this pathetic bumblefuck. Granted, he hasn’t tried to give Merkel a shoulder rub, but that’s only because of his total aversion to manual labor. He’d have one of his servants do it.
The Mormon church really is one of the last bastions of American Exceptionalism, and Mitt is really pouring it on with his Ugly American act. I bet Obama could probably get the Brits to kick some coin into his campaign fund after Romney’s London tour.
Villago Delenda Est
@Culture of Truth:
So, Walesa is as ignorant about the efficacy of the “anti-missile shield” as Rethugs in general?
Doesn’t speak well of Mr. Walesa’s critical thinking skills.
Robin G.
I have no idea whether he actually believes this shit, or whether he’s saying it because he thinks it will help him win Florida. Furthermore, I’m not sure which is scarier.
Soonergrunt
@FoxinSocks:
That’s modern Republican conservatism in a nutshell.
“Clueless AND racist. Way to go, Mitt.”
That’s a feature, not a bug.
Chris
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Yes, he is.
People like Huckabee are terrifying because of what they believe, but Romney will act on the same beliefs out of political expediency. George Wallace all over again.
amk
This guy is mr sarah palin. Someone should ask what papers he reads.
Butch
It’s not completely on topic and maybe naive of me, but am I the only ones having trouble with the idea of foreign donors influencing the American election?
Villago Delenda Est
@amk:
“All of them!”
Culture of Truth
@Villago Delenda Est:
“He’s very outgoing, very full of values… and has his family around him,” Walesa said in Gdansk, northern Poland, after a meeting with Romney. “Our thinking is very similar.”
Soonergrunt
@amk: According to the British, you’re insulting Sarah Palin.
Villago Delenda Est
@Butch:
The donors OvenMitt met with in both the UK and Israel are Americans and ex-pat Americans, who, legally, can still make donations to US political campaigns.
Or at least that’s the story we’ve heard. Dunno if any ringers snuck in.
wrb
@dmsilev:
Maybe he’ll point out to the Poles that most of their ancestors are, in fact, Mormons now.
Soonergrunt
@Butch: I’m hoping there’s a web commercial made out of it, but one has to be careful because anything that mentions that will be met with cries of antisemitism.
The Dangerman
My guess is he’ll express his appreciation of Sydney Pollack films.
aimai
@Butch:
They weren’t, technically, foreign. Adelson and his buds flew in for the fundraiser but they were donating qua american citizens. The Israelis, and I say this as a very anti-Israel Jew myself, just got a freebie. They aren’t even paying Romney off for the tongue bath he is giving them. But I have to fault them because they aren’t charging him anything for allowing themselves to be used as a photo op on his campaign tour. What I’d like to see is an American born Saudi Billionaire offering to buy access to Romney as publicly as Adelson has. But the amount of Saudi Support that Bush received barely made a ripple with the public.
aimai
cathyx
I hope Mitt has a few good Polish jokes lined up.
Soonergrunt
completely OT, but I don’t want to end somebody else’s thread prematurely by posting another one–
It never rains but it pours. The garage door opener has died. I’m pretty sure it died. There was smoke coming from it before it stopped in mid-open.
Soonergrunt
@The Dangerman: I see what you did there.
Rafer Janders
@Villago Delenda Est:
That’s very true. The fund-raisers Romney has been attending only allow American citizens to contribute.
In a Citizens United world, however, foreigners are free to influence American elections through the distribution of untraceable corporate cash contributions to Super-Pacs.
Consider, for example, Sheldon Adelson. Where does most of the money that he contributes to Republicans come from? From his casinos in Macao. And who’s spending there? The Chinese. A group of Chinese billionaires, if they want to pump money into the presidential elections, merely have to lose it in the casino, and Adelson will then helpfully launder it and donate it to his Super-Pacs without any real transparency or accountability.
Chris
@The Moar You Know:
Last bastions? What? Fully half the country buys into it even more deeply than they do in their religion and the other half isn’t exactly devoid of such delusions.
Villago Delenda Est
@Soonergrunt:
That’s a good sign that the garage door opener is malfunctioning, yup! Wouldn’t voom if you put 50,000 volts through it!
Nellcote
I hope someone asks Bibi’s Poodle his views on labor unions.
Soonergrunt
@Villago Delenda Est: While I wait for the A/C repair man, I think I’ll just check the hoses to the washing machine, because that’s just the way my life is going right now, and a small flood in my house would just be fucking epic.
Then I’ll start researching new GDOs.
Linda Featheringill
If Mitt does some really stupid things in Poland, it might undo some of the damage he did in the Middle East. Maybe everyone could just classify him as dumb and not worry about what he says.
We could be so lucky.
PaulW
The Polish will be grateful we sent Mitt to them. Because now the Polish can tell Romney jokes.
/rimshot
I’ll be here all week, try the veal.
lamh35
when you’ve lost the “Liberal” Greta Van Susteren;
Mike in NC
Willard will vow on his first day in office to give the Poles $50 billion to build a missile defense system [that can’t work] to counter Soviet aggression!
Linda Featheringill
@PaulW: #45
“The Polish will be grateful we sent Mitt to them. Because now the Polish can tell Romney jokes.”
:-)
lamh35
New portrait of Obama and his cabinet members. Can you name more than 2?? I named all but 6!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/7676394186/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Peter
Cripes, no wonder they wanted to keep his fundraiser on lockdown. What a fucking disaster this world tour has been. Can you imagine if this schmuck became President?
On the plus side, this is basically the Republicans forfeiting their ability to campaign on foreign issues for my natural lifetime. Or so I hope.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
I didn’t interpret Mitt’s statement as a dig at the Palestinians. I thought he was complementing the Jews for being good with money.
Culture of Truth
We must not allow a moron gap!
Haydnseek
I looked at the difference in GDP between Germany and Poland in 1941. I couldn’t help but notice the sharp difference in economic vitality!
Villago Delenda Est
@Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937:
Oh, a twofer! That Rmoney is one sharp dude, yes he is!
Woodrowfan
Somebody should tell Walesa that Mitt has about as much love for independent labor union as the Soviets once had.
Frankensteinbeck
@Culture of Truth:
Dear Luna. He really IS going to push the ‘Soviet Menace’ line. Has the man completely abandoned the youth vote?
muddy
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I said the other day in here that I have money riding on whether he says something about German efficiency.
pleez pleez
El Cid
Maybe he should recommend that Palestinian refugee camps hang signs that say “Work Will Make You Free.”
tjmn
@Rafer Janders:
Thank you so much. I really needed a good laugh. This is why I mostly lurk here on BJ. I’d want to have a beer with y’all.
Roger Moore
@Haydnseek:
Yeah, and the Navaho must be a bunch of slackers, when you compare their income with other people in Arizona and New Mexico.
pseudonymous in nc
@FoxinSocks:
LDS = original prosperity gospel. Perpetuated in the MLM structure of the church and many of its members’ commercial enterprises.
pseudonymous in nc
@Villago Delenda Est:
No, he regarded it as a boondoggle, which is what it was.
stinger
“I think my son Tagg was teaching the class. He’s not here. I look around to see. Of course he’s not here.” Seriously? “I look around to see”?? They have to write a simple stage direction into his script? And then include it when they give the script to reporters?
Also, his audience must be mostly Jews, so why put that ridiculous amount of stress on “Sunday school”?
Also, how does Mr. Business manage to get his two key dollar amounts so wrong?
Also, how can this guy possibly be getting more than 27% support?
Rafer Janders
@tjmn:
Same back at you.
Rafer Janders
@stinger:
“Thank you. Thank you all for coming. I now exit stage left. See you all tomorrow at the location to be determined!”
fraught
There’s a Dachau joke formulating in his mind. Something cute and off the cuff. He’s just waiting for the right time to drop it. The Poles will love it.
Roy G.
If Romney visited Poland in 1941:
“As you come here to Germany and you see the G.D.P. per capita, and compare that with the G.D.P. per capita in the Ghetto here in Warsaw, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality.”