"Romney typifies the American duplicity toward the 12 million Palestinians. His campaign speaks of a 'two-state solution.' But in private he admits that such a thing, involving giving Palestinians their own state, is 'almost impossible to imagine.' So the talk of a two-state solution is just a smokescreen for keeping the Palestinians stateless."
Romney had already shown his hand on which "side" of the "Palestinian problem" he favors, when, during a recent trip to Israel, he said the Israelis have a culture that is "superior" to that of neighboring Arab states. That comment registers very high on the "racist" scale.
It is difficult not to begin to realize that Romney is an empty vessel waiting to be filled by foreign policy "guides" like Romney's foreign policy consigliore, Dan Senor, who previously had served as the lead public relations official for the Bush Administration in Iraq after the initial "shock and awe" invasion.
Think Progress describes how Senor emerged as a key advisor in the Romney campaign:
"Since his 2008 run for the presidency, Mitt Romney has gotten his foreign policy advice from a gaggle of moderates and neoconservatives and other hawks. In this election cycle, the neoconservatives and other 'Cheney-ites' reportedly marginalized moderates on the staff. One of the neocons -- Dan Senor, who has been advising Romney since 2006 -- seems to have stepped into the breach."
Romney's July, 2012, trip to Israel was the brain child of Senor and his friend, Ron Dermer, the American-born political operative who is Netanyahu's chief strategist and speechwriter. The Jewish Tablet reports on the trip:
"Senor -- who is famous in pro-Israel circles as the author of the best-selling 2009 book Start-Up Nation -- has taken Romney to Israel twice before, once in 2007, before the governor's first presidential bid, and again last year. This spring, he accompanied New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who has endorsed Romney, to the prime minister's office in Givat Ram to meet with Netanyahu and Dermer.
"But the current trip, coming so late in the campaign season, was planned quietly, for fear of provoking a possible last-minute visit by President Obama, who has been criticized by some Jewish groups for failing to return to Jerusalem since his inauguration. Late last month, while Senor was in Jerusalem for his niece's bat mitzvah, he met Dermer for breakfast at the King David Hotel; a few days later, with the Romney campaign's blessing, Dermer gave the scoop to the New York Times."
Senor's book, the Start-Up Nation, praised the spirit and ingenuity of the Israeli people for the manner in which they have been able to "start-up" many businesses that have become the driving force of Israel's economy. He contrasts that with surrounding Arab states, which may have been the source of Romney's comment on Israel's "superiority" in matters cultural.
The media coverage of the Boca Raton video, which runs for 70 minutes, has been extensive. Most attention has focused on the class bias which Romney admits to when he describes the 47% of U.S. voters as essentially moochers living off of the largess of the government which the "rest of us" have to finance.
Since the video surfaced, polls indicate a swing away from Romney. Republican candidates for the Senate and House have begun to distance themselves from their presidential candidate. Worse yet, for Romney, even conservative media pundits have joined in the outrage.
Few have expressed that outrage as effectively and with such regret, as the New York Times' David Brooks. Evoking Thurston Howell, a television character who epitomized stuffy rich people, Brooks gave his piece the title, Thurston Howell Romney. Ouch. Brooks' final words include this harsh indictment:
"Romney, who criticizes President Obama for dividing the nation, divided the nation into two groups: the makers and the moochers. Forty-seven percent of the country, he said, are people 'who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to take care of them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.'
"This comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really doesn't know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare? . . . .
"Romney's comment is a country-club fantasy. It's what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney."
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