Romney's superficial world view allows neocons slither back
“Off the record, Paris is burning,” Senor told a group of reporters a year into the war. “On the record, security and stability are returning to Iraq.”
Before he played ventriloquist to Ryan, Senor did the same for Romney, ratcheting up the candidate’s irresponsible bellicosity on the Middle East. Senor was the key adviser on Romney’s disastrous trip to Israel in July, when Mittens infuriated the Palestinians by making a chuckle-headed claim about their culture. Senor got out over his skis before Romney’s speech in Jerusalem, telling reporters Mitt would say he respected Israel’s right to make a pre-emptive, unilateral attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
While the Muslim world burned on Friday, Mitt was in New York with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan confessing he wears “as little as possible” to bed. With no global vision or historical perspective – he didn’t even remember during his Tampa convention speech to mention US troops or the years of war his party reigned over – Romney is simply kowtowing to the right again.
Paul Wolfowitz, an Iraq war architect, weighed in, slimily asserting that President Barack Obama should not be allowed to “slither through” without a clear position on Libya.
Republicans are bananas on this one. They blame Obama for casting Hosni Mubarak overboard and contradict themselves by blaming him for not supporting the Arab spring. One minute Romney parrots Binyamin Netanyahu’s position on Iran, the next Obama’s.
Romney’s cynical braying about Obama appeasement in the midst of the attack on the American diplomatic post in Libya and the murder of the brave ambassador Christopher Stevens was shameful. Richard Williamson, a Romney adviser, had the gall to tell the Washington Post, “There’s a pretty compelling story that if you had a President Romney you’d be in a different situation.” He’s right – a scarier situation. If President Romney acceded to Netanyahu’s outrageous demand for clear red lines on Iran, this global confrontation would be a tiny foretaste of the conflagration to come.
Cheney, described by Romney as a “person of wisdom and judgment,” is lurking. On Monday, he churlishly tried to deny Obama credit for putting Osama bin Laden in the cross-hairs, cattily referring to a report that Obama had not gone to all his intelligence briefings.
Well, yes. George W Bush got briefings, like the one that warned him on August 6th, 2001: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.” That didn’t work so well either, did it?
