If you have not heard, Mitt Romney has gone overseas. He has been in the UK for the last several days. In that short period fo time he has been able to both insult the British readiness to host the olympics but also the British people ‘ability to rise to the occasion’, which he said remained to be seen. This is arguably the worst ‘world debut’ in modern political history.
This prompted a major uproar that culminated last night at a rally in Hyde Park, where Romney was called out by London’s mayor Boris Johnson.
“I hear there’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we’re ready,” Johnson shouted to the crowd. “He wants to know whether we’re ready. Are we ready? Are we ready? Yes we are!”
Even the Prime Minister chimed in by reminding people that London is a major metropolitan area, not ‘in the middle of nowhere’ like Salt Lake City.
Even Karl Rove is of the opinion that Mitt Romney completely bombed in the UK.
On Fox News Friday, Rove became the latest to share in the collective astonishment:
“You have to shake your head. Gov. Romney went to the London Olympics at invitation of the International Olympic Committee. It was a great opportunity for him to talk about his experiences, look, he stepped away from the leadership of Bain Capital for three years in order to step in and save the floundering Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002. I bet there is lots of stories he could be talking about what a wonderful experience that was and how uplifting and inspiring it was. Instead he got stuck making a, somehow or another that the comments the Brits took as insult, and walked it back pretty quickly and walked it back adroitly but nonetheless the damage was done.”
Read more:
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/karl-rove-romney-blew-it-in-london-video.php?ref=fpa
Mitt the Twit
While Romney’s refined remarks satisfied Johnson, who told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program in an interview this morning that Romney has been “fulsome now in his praise,” they didn’t stop a slew of jeering headlines in the British press.
“Mitt falls at the first hurdle,” wrote the Guardian, while the Sun, Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper, headlined its story “Mitt the Twit.”
“Mitt Romney is perhaps the only politician who could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive,” wrote the Daily Telegraph in a commentary.
“Mitt Romney is worse than Sarah Palin.” – The Daily Mail.
