Now – most people who actually pay attention to politics closely might consider the question “Is Mitt Romney dishonest?” absolutely hilarious, but unfortunately – most Americans really don’t pay attention to the day to day. In fact – whoever is undecided at this point is almost exclusively a “low information” voter. So – when Mitt Romney lied about whether or not Obama said the attack on America’s embassy in Libya was an “act of terror” …. many low information started to realize for a moment ….wait a minute – this guy is just blatantly full of shit. And if you’re just finally tuning in – let me reassure you … Romney is absolutely full of shit.
When Obama fairly characterized Romney’s involvement in the Libyan tragedy as political and shortly thereafter when the moderator fact-checked Romney in front of 60 million viewers that in fact Obama had referred to the Libyan attack as an “act of terror” … that 90 second exchange became “the moment” in the debate. Romney was wrong despite his cocksure aggressiveness and Obama was right. When one steps back and reviews Romney’s foreign policy – from “the moment” on Libya, to his position on Iraq to his position on torture or Guantanamo or lock step support for an Israeli war with Iran … Mitt Romney is the 2nd coming of Bush on foreign policy. And that’s probably because most of his advisers actually created the Bush administration foreign policy.
As Foreign Policy notes HERE:
Out of Romney’s 24 special advisors on foreign policy, 17 served in the Bush-Cheney administration. If Romney were to win, it’s likely that many of these people would serve in his administration in some capacity — a frightening prospect given the legacy of this particular group. The last time they were in government, it was disastrous.
For example, one of Romney’s top surrogates on the campaign trail is John Bolton, who served as President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton embodies the reckless neoconservative thinking that was largely responsible for getting us into Iraq under false pretenses. Today, he openly roots for diplomacy with Iran to fail and is all-too-eager to send our men and women in uniform into war. Last year, for instance, Bolton said that, “It would be in our interest to overthrow this regime in Syria.”
When it comes to foreign policy – Romney supported the invasion of Iraq and berated President Obama for pulling troops out of Iraq. Romney even said regarding Dick Cheney that he was the ”kind of person I’d like to have” as VP. At the end of 2011 – when every American soldier was set to leave Iraq – Romney called this decision an “astonishing failure” HERE:
“President Obama’s astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women. The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government. The American people deserve to hear the recommendations that were made by our military commanders in Iraq.”
8+ years in Iraq was not orderly enough a transition I guess. And in October of 2012 – Romney said this at a campaign rally HERE:
“America’s ability to influence events for the better in Iraq has been undermined by the abrupt withdrawal of our entire troop presence. The president tried — and failed — to secure a responsible and gradual drawdown that would have better secured our gains.”
Mitt Romney has said he will support torturing prisoners. Of course he doesn’t call it torture … but just a reminder of what that looks like. More in the link HERE.
Regarding Iran – Romney would be content to outsource American foreign policy to Israel. The Israeli Prime Minister – Bibi Netanyahu – has openly called for attacking Iran preemptively to prevent them from having a nuclear bomb (source). Romney has said he thinks we should support Israel 100% no matter what (source). This provocation has been denounced from former Mossad Chief and former Defense Secretary Bob Gates. If Israel attacks Iran – America would be drawn into this war and American lives would be lost. All of this despite the fact that sanctions against Iran are working very, very well (source). The Israeli newspaper – Haaretz – says that “Romney apparently accepts instructions from Netanyahu” HERE. The only country that I can genuinely say finds Romney more amenable is Israel … and that’s because Romney would cowtow to the needs of Israeli citizens over and above the needs of American taxpayers. So – yeah … Israel loves him.
You think America attacking Iran can’t happen again after the clusterf-ck that was Iraq? Think again. On 6/17/2012 – Romney said this on Face the Nation HERE:
I can assure you if I’m President, the Iranians will have no question but that I would be willing to take military action, if necessary, to prevent them from becoming a nuclear threat to the world. I don’t believe at this stage, therefore, if I’m President, that we need to have war powers approval or a special authorization for military force. The President has that capacity now.
In other words – I can attack Iran at my own leisure … at my own choosing. He said it point blank HERE as well. In May of this year – a half dozen advisers to Romney advocated to Romney to support attacking Iran (source). And Romney wants to increase military spending to levels not seen since WW2 which would only further increase cuts in spending for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security or it would require huge tax increases on the middle class.
Romney has already said that Russia is our #1 geopolitical enemy which Colin Powell laughingly dismissed and Romney has been made fun of by our allies overseas for genuinely having no clue about what in the hell he’s talking about. And his policies would only be worse with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Even though Obama has been unsuccessful in closing Guantanamo … Romney’s position is that we should DOUBLE it (source).
Going back to the Bush years would be a horrible disaster. Yes – there have been drone strikes under Obama. Yes – those strikes killed innocents in some cases.Whatever consistency there has been with the Obama administration relative to the Bush years on foreign policy – it was due to not having any flexibility to make the changes necessary in a quick manner. You can’t simply pull out 100k troops out of Afghanistan after we’ve been there for 10 years. That has to be a responsible, gradual drawdown. Obama resisted calls to attack Iran. He resisted calls to bend to the immediate demands of Israel (even though he’s still boxed in politically there). Obama resisted sending American troops to Syria or Egypt or Libya … all of those countries received special forces instead.
Who we have as President makes a significant difference to our country’s future. The Bush years have shown that an incompetent President makes Americans less safe; under President Obama – we have been more safe, not less.
