Mitt Romney made the same MAJOR ERROR on Meet the Press and Faux "News" on Sunday. It's just amazing what Republicans in general can get away with saying nowadays, things that would end a Democrat's political career even! But I digress...
I'm talking about how he said that military operations in Afghanistan and the troops conducting the operations weren't "important" enough to mention in his convention speech. Imagine if Obama had done the same thing and tried to cover his tracks in such a cowardly manner...It would make the whole flag pin nonsense from 2008 look like...well, like the total nothingburger it actually was.
I'm sure people outside of the corporate media are picking this statement apart, but I find it more revealing to see how this story is being covered in general. Follow me below the splattered mac-n-cheese for more...
Politico prides itself on attempting to be centrist, much like CNN, but the extreme rightward drift of the Republicans has dragged all 3 organizations off the deep end and into the abyss of ridiculousness. They quote Romney on this Sunday's "Meet the Press":
“I've been to Afghanistan and the members of our troops know of my commitment to Afghanistan and to the effort that's going on there,” the Republican presidential nominee continued. “I have some differences on policy with the president. I happen to think those are more important than what word I mention in each speech.”
Notice how the really important part, the part where Romney lets a major character flaw of his slip out into public (that he doesn't really care about ANYBODY), is buried in the last paragraph. Also notice how the headline blandly says he's just defending "not mentioning Afghanistan" in his speech. Also notice how the article couches his decision in the usual "he-said-she-said" horse-race jargon of attacks and "drawing fire" from certain groups. A real "barn-burner" to be sure...
And here is Think Progress quoting the same CAMPAIGN ENDING misstep (in a sane world) as it was repeated in a different form on Faux "News":
ROMNEY: I only regret you’re repeating it day in and day out. When you give a speech you don’t go through a laundry list, you talk about the things that you think are important and I described in my speech, my commitment to a strong military unlike the president’s decision to cut our military. And I didn’t use the word troops, I used the word military. I think they refer to the same thing.
Now, when you're trying to tell the story of this campaign, this would be a big deal, right? A "Dukakis riding in a tank" moment or a John Kerry "for-it-before-he-was-against-it" kind of thing...But hold on, Republicans NEVER have these kinds of "gaffes" thrown in their face, do they? Rand Paul can get away with saying he would vote against Civil Rights legislation, Paul Ryan can conveniently dispose of his inconveniently Atheist philosophical teacher (Ayn Rand) and now Romney can get away with saying he doesn't care about the troops because the Press in America has become mostly a bunch of cowards!
Think Progress nails the headline even though they got the weaker and more muddled quote. Politico caught Romney red-handed and buried it at the bottom of a boilerplate story with a snoozer of a headline. Liberal media bias my ass!