Daily Intel is calling Romney's brush with London "His British Gaffe Jaunt." David Axelrod sees the candidate's decision to keep the media at arms' length while in Israel as the Romney campaign's "Mittness Protection Program."
While pool reporters are usually allowed at finance events, Mitt Romney's Monday morning donor breakfast at Israel's King David Hotel will not include any members of the media, the campaign has announced. A spokesman declined to explain the reasoning behind what David Axelrod punnily called the Mittness Protection Program, but observers have some ideas about what's going on.
Romney has promised not to criticize the president on foreign soil, but whatever he says to the fund-raiser's attendees — most of whom will be American Jews, including billionaire supporter Sheldon Adelson — will almost definitely feature some allusions to (if not full-on attacks on) Obama's Israel policy. ...Daily Intel
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Romney, who is flying with a group of reporters on his international trip, had agreed in April to allow limited media coverage of all finance events held in public spaces. But on Saturday, the campaign suddenly reneged on that deal and announced that a fundraiser with big-money American donors — including controversial casino magnet Sheldon Adelson — in Jerusalem’s King David Hotel would be "closed press." ...Think Progress
I think many Americans would agree that our relationship with Israel has become an embarassment (and worse). Little wonder, then, that Romney and others like him don't want full exposure.
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Early Sunday morning, our time, the news out of Israel is that Romney will back an attack on Iraq by Israel.
“Make no mistake: the ayatollahs in Tehran are testing our moral defenses. They want to know who will object, and who will look the other way,” says Romney in an excerpt. “My message to the people of Israel and the leaders of Iran is one and the same: I will not look away; and neither will my country.” ...The Hill
And Netanyahu smiles a knowing little smile and agrees.
During a brief photo opportunity with Netanyahu earlier Sunday, the Israeli prime minister praised Romney’s tough stance. ...The Hill
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Heard the story about Mitt Romney and the hot chocolate?
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Maureen Dowd recognizes Mitt as a man so self-involved he doesn't even fake attention to the people around him, for crying out loud!
The alarming thing about Romney is that he has been running for president for years, but he still doesn’t know how to read a room. He doesn’t take anything in, he just puts it out. He doesn’t hear himself the way the rest of us hear him.
In the Mitt-sphere, populated by his shiny white family, the Mormon Church and a narrow, homogenous inner circle, Romney’s image of himself as wise, caring, smart and capable is relentlessly reinforced. That leaves him constantly surprised that other people don’t love what he is saying. ...Maureen Dowd, NYT
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