Romney Says Iraq in “Low Level” Civil War
Massachusetts Governor and Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney was in town yesterday as the keynote speaker for annual state Republican Party dinner. He got a warm reception and is a very personable fellow, but as one GOP member put it, “he came across as clinically optimistic.” Romney hit all the main points, the war on terror, education, etc. However he did make a couple gaffs. He said “every child deserves a mother and father” which I thought they already had. And when it comes to health care, “poor people just don’t stay home and die” they go to the emergency room. Those were easy misstatements I can forgive.
But perhaps what surprised me the most was during the press availability afterwards. While chastising Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for saying Iraq was lost, he said Iraq was now in a civil war. He says the U.S. won the war when it beat Saddam Hussein and is now in the nation building process and trying support the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. He says Iraq is in a “low-level civil war.” He says he supports the President’s surge and the U.S. should know in a few months whether the surge is working. He says he doesn’t give the surge a 100 percent chance of working because of the insurgency and sectarian violence.
April 21st, 2007 at 6:38 am
Another DefeatoPublican! Doesn’t he know that it’ll take another ten years, many billions of dollars and thousands more American lives before George Bush’s “Victory in Iraq” can be assured?
Has he no patience? Doesn’t he know that Islamo-Fascist-Iraqis are just waiting to swim over and blow up the Mormon Temple in Utah?
BTW, good and timely reporting!
April 21st, 2007 at 9:12 am
What did he have to say about Rokita in his press availability in light of the DNC press release yesterday?
April 21st, 2007 at 11:08 am
Another question: if you were at the big-ticket GOP Dinner itself: what percentage of the crowd were African-Americans? I’d be astonished if it were greater than 1% …
April 21st, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Mitt Romney’s entire speech was optimistic about America’s future and covered many different issues including pointing out the necessity of winning the war against militant Islamic Jahadists. He made a point to say the “jury is still out” on the success of this stage of the conflict in Iraq, and certainly was not going to let a journalist goat him into anything hinting at defeatism.
Additionally, his extended comments regarding “every child needing a mother and father” clearly were tied to his support of being married before you have children and strong family values.
Lastly his small verbal gaff during an extended speech regarding “the poor not staying home to die” was a part of his reasoning that the uninsured healthcare problem is not going away and that it needs to be addressed.
Overall, I think he did a great job.
April 21st, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Gary: I didn’t ask about Rokita. After the Black Caucus accepted his apology I made the editorial decision that the story was over.
Wilson: I didn’t look to count the number of black people in the audience of more than 700. It was a dark room.
Anon 12:26: His speech was optimistic, but I’ve done enough public speaking, acting and stand-up comedy to be able to tell when something comes across as almost too perfect in delivery. Thus, the clinical optimism.
April 21st, 2007 at 5:45 pm
His comment that every child deserves a mother and father is the code the wedgies use to say it’s wrong for children to be raised by two gay parents. He could have become the ideal GOP candidate had he stuck to the principles upon which he was elected governor in a Democratic state. Instead, he repudiated all the earlier “pro liberty” positions he took. He’s proven to be quite a phony.
April 21st, 2007 at 8:05 pm
I’ll take “clinical optimism” over a condition of “critical pessimism” any day!!!