Showing posts with label bibi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bibi. Show all posts

Thursday, September 10, 2015

GOP Fails to Stop Obama's Iran Deal

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Previous Related Posts:
Clueless Tom Cotton Says Tehran Was Captured by... Iran
Obama Signs Historic Iran Deal - GOP Throws Tantrum
U.S. and Allies Reach Nuclear Deal with Iran
#47Traitors Hashtag Trends Worldwide
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Let's enjoy all the tears of impotent rage over "Lame Duck" Obama's huge world victory in getting the Iran Deal to move forward with help from the Dems, who blocked last minute maneuvers, and in spite of the Religious Nuts, Bibi Netanyahu, and Prophets of Doom like Glenn Beck. Call a Waaaahmbulance!

From USAToday
Senators voted 58-42 to bring to the floor a resolution disapproving the deal. That was two votes short of the 60 votes Republican leaders needed to advance the bill.

The Democrats' action spares Obama from having to veto any legislation and leaves the Iran agreement intact, though Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he may bring the bill back for another vote next week.

Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., predicted that the outcome would not change if McConnell tries again.

"You can call (a vote) ten more times and you’ll get the same result," Durbin said.

Under legislation passed by Congress in May, the deal will take effect unless both the House and Senate vote for a resolution of disapproval by Sept. 17.

President Obama said he was heartened by the vote.

"The Senate took an historic step forward and voted to enable the United States to work with our international partners to enable the implementation of the comprehensive, long-term deal that will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama said in a statement. "This vote is a victory for diplomacy, for American national security, and for the safety and security of the world."





































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Thursday, April 2, 2015

U.S. and Allies Reach a Deal with Iran

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Blessed are the Peacemakers: President Obama and John Kerry have helped broker a long-term nuclear deal with Iran. It's a great day for the Middle East and the World.

From USA Today
"Today, we have taken a decisive step. We have reached solutions on key parameters for a comprehensive future nuclear deal," European Union Foreign Affairs Minister Federica Mogherini said in formally announcing the deal in Lausanne, Switzerland.
She said Iran would not produce weapons-grade fuel and international monitors will have enhanced access to Iran's nuclear facilities.
She said sanctions would be "terminated" but did not specify the timetable, which has been a sticking point of the negotiations. Iran pushed to lift them immediately, while the United States wants most of them in place until Iran follows through on terms of the deal.The precise timing will be determined as the negotiators work out a final agreement scheduled for completion in June.



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In Israel, Netanyahu wasn't too happy. You'll recall he was tickled to death with the #47Traitors in the U.S. Senate who told Iraq not to make a deal.

Tweets from Bibi's spokesperson:







GOP Presidential hopefuls went on the record - surprise, they are against Obama!







And why not drag Hillary into this as well - thanks, Jeb!





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Saturday, March 21, 2015

Dumkopf Steve King Slams American Jews

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Dumkopf Steve King of Iowa is an expert on Jews now. Like criminal cowman Cliven Bundy, who wanted to "tell us something about The Negro," King wants to "Tell us something about The Jew in 'Merica." Because he's such an expert on that, right? I guess his pal Michele Bachmann 'splained it all to him because she is a Biblical scholar. Not.

From Talking Points Memo
King's initial comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu delivered a speech to members of Congress, which many Democrats skipped. King says skipping the speech showed they're "knee-jerk" supporters of Obama.
"It says this, they're knee-jerk supporters of the President's policy," King said. "The President's policies throughout the Middle East have been a disaster. I would say to them, 'Name a country with which we have better relations today than we had when Barack Obama took office.' And I gave that in speeches for about six weeks until some lag stood up and said, 'I can name you two, they are Cuba and Iran.'"

From Washington Post
“Here is what I don’t understand, I don’t understand how Jews in America can be Democrats first and Jewish second and support Israel along the line of just following their president,” he said. That analysis came during a conversation about the more than 50 congressional Democrats who skipped Benjamin Netanyahu’s Capitol Hill speech in early March.

Rep. Steve Israel of New York didn't care for King's appraisal of American Jews:



From Crooks and Liars
Rep. Israel then took that same complaint to CNN's State of the Union, where he ripped King for those comments. After first noting that he escorted Bibi Netanyahu in and out of the Congressional chamber when Netanyahu addressed Congress, he let King have it.
"I really do not need lessons from people like Steve King on what it is to be Jewish, or a Democrat." Israel continued, "You know, Steve King, who said America is a Christian nation, should not be lecturing Jews on how we should be Jewish."
Israel also went on to point out that King lecturing Jews on how to be Jewish is chutzpah.



King then slammed Steve Israel on Twitter:




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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

GOP Crazies Try to Help Netanyahu on Election Day ~ UPDATE: He Won!

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Previous Related Posts:
Netanyahu Comes to Congress, Tries to Take Over
Bibi's Bomb
Romney Shambles Day 4: Bomb Bomb Iran
Romney Shambles Day 3: On to Israel
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Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been struggling at the last minute to win election in his country. The way our Rightwing Nutjobs have been supporting him, you would think he was running for President of the U.S. Some might say our Congress is to blame for his last-minute dip in the election polls - after all, John Boehner and the Tea Party encouraged his warmongering Speech in the House of Representatives, and right after that we had "Tehran" Tom Cotton's Letter to Iran by 47 Senators (hashtag #47Traitors).

And now Israel's Election Day is here, and a few GOP crazies have come out of the woodwork to support their friend Bibi, who after all, will be in charge of Armageddon someday, which is why the Republican Right supports Israel in the first place. Just ignore the Biblical Prophecy that it is Israel that will fail so Jesus can return. Or something like that. Anyway, until the Onward Christian Soldiers crowd takes over Israel after the apocalypse, they are fine with a nice warmonger like Bibi running the place.



UPDATE: Netanyahu has WON the election, but it was a close call. However, Bibi wasted no time in declaring himself a clear winner, just as our GOP calls it a "mandate" when someone squeaks by.

And Israel still has to figure out how to create a governing body in the aftermath with their various parties and complicated Knesset. So good luck with that.

From CNN
Netanyahu's Likud party has at least 29 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, Haaretz reported. It said main rival Zionist Union has 24 seats.
Millions of Israelis cast ballots to determine their party's next leader and the make up of parliament.
The incumbent claimed victory ahead of a final count.
"Against all odds, we achieved this huge victory," Netanyahu told cheering supporters. "Now we should form a strong and stable government that will be able to take care of the security, safety and welfare of each and every citizen of Israel."
The Zionist Union hit back, accusing the Likud party of misleading.
"The rightist bloc has shrunk. Everything is possible until the real results are in, when we can know which parties passed the electoral threshold and which government we can form," it said in a statement. "All the spins and statements are premature."
Official results are not expected until next week, and the process of building coalitions could take much longer.

And now Bibi is talking Unity! Hooray!













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Pre-Election Stories and Comments Below:

When Netanyahu started sinking in the polls last week, first he freaked out, then he started blaming everybody in the world. Yeah, because we all vote in the Israeli elections, right? Was anyone you know polled about their vote in Israel's elections? But still - it's a Left Wing Plot!

Via Global Post
As election day on March 17 draws near the term “Bibi fatigue” is increasingly appearing in the media.
Critics accuse him of being power hungry, lacking vision and failing to address the economic concerns of young Israelis who have long been critical of his tunnel vision focusing on security that has led to thousands being spent on wars while they find themselves unable to find jobs or buy houses.
On March 7, around 40,000 demonstrators gathered to protest Netanyahu.
Netanyahu himself has publicly blamed a global leftist conspiracy.
"There is a huge international effort, with major money, that is partnering up with leftist organizations here and also with media figures in order to bring down the Likud government that I head," Netanyahu said on Channel 2 television on Saturday.





Then on election eve, Bibi vowed that he would never recognize the Palestinian State! It's so good to appeal to the worst haters in your country to get them to vote. Our Republicans do that all the time. Nice dog whistle there, Mr. Bibi.



Ultra-conservative actor Jon Voight thinks it will help Netanyahu to say that President Obama hates Israel and just wants to control it. Gee, I wish the President could control his own Congress before taking on Israel, too. But never mind - don't expect this stuff to make sense! Blame Obama!





Then another actor, Chuck Norris, Mr. Tough Guy himself, made a heartfelt plea - with a plug for one of his movies made in Israel! Never miss an opportunity to kick some self-promotional ass, Mr. Norris!







Wow, that's desperation
Has Bibi always been this paranoid?
And who is Bibi of Washington to complain about foreign leaders interfering in another country's affairs?
~ Jack Rabbit on Democratic Underground

all his key words are similar to a rove-republican campaign
~ Sunlei on Democratic Underground

Now that (Jon Voight's) face has gotten all puffy and he has no career anymore, I guess there's nothing for him but to be a troll.
~ Krusher on Talking Points Memo

Oh Yeah?
I heard that Jeb Bush doesn't love Liechtenstein, Rand Paul has no use for Haiti and Scott Walker hates a lot of Cheeseheads and is secretly a Bears fan.
~ Blue_Grit on Talking Points Memo

Riiiiiiight. Netanyahu makes a side deal with the Rs, comes here and makes a complete fool of himself--oh, and just like every wingnut head-of-state on the planet in living memory, effs up his country's economy right down to the ground . . . and it's President Obama's fault.
~ MollyNYC on Talking Points Memo

The only thing missing is Clint Eastwood talking to a matzoh ball.
~ Tasherbean on Salon

Christian conservatives have gone from being plucky weirdos about Israel to full-blown creepy obsessives. They'd sooner put Israel's interests ahead of American interests, which is absolutely breathtaking...and rather offensive.
~ indyotto on Salon

I liked Chuck Norris in the early and mid-1990s. He was into Zen Buddhism and dated cool women like Beverly Johnson.
Then Chuck married a fanatical Christian and he jumped onto HER bandwagon. Suddenly, Chuck and his new wife were on TV, preaching that the Bible should be taught in public schools, along with prayer. More recently, he and the wife did a video pathetically claiming we would have "2000 years of darkness" if Obama was re-elected President.
Really, Chuck-----you were cool once (long ago) but now you're just another Huckabee-loving nut job.
There's nothing more obnoxious than a "reformed sinner."
I wonder what Chuck's first wife---and grown children---think of his bizarre "Godliness" and hypocrisy.
~ Los Angeles girl on Salon

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Tuesday, March 10, 2015

#47Traitors in U.S. Senate Write a Letter to Iran, Break the Logan Act

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The Logan Act states the following:

"Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both."

However, 47 U.S. Senators, including Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, and ex-Presidential candidate John McCain, decided to ignore that law and write a letter to the leader of Iran, threatening that any treaty made with President Obama wouldn't be ratified by them. So they have broken the Logan Act and shamed the United States once again on a global scale.

I'm proud to say that neither Senator from Tennessee signed this letter. Good for Corker and Alexander showing they can stand up to the mob!

Via Politico
In a highly unusual move, a group of 47 Republicans in the upper chamber has written to Iran’s top leaders to let them know that any nuclear deal they reach with the United States would be “nothing more than an executive agreement.”
Freshman Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) organized the letter, which features signatures from top Republican Senate leadership and potential presidential candidates such as Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
The following Republican senators did not sign the bill: Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Dan Coats of Indiana, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Susan Collins of Maine, Bob Corker of Tennessee, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
. . . The letter, first reported by Bloomberg View columnist Josh Rogin, is meant to turn up the heat on President Barack Obama to give Congress some power over the nuclear negotiations.
“It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system. Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution—the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices—which you should seriously consider as negotiations progress,” the senators wrote. “Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement.”









It's bad enough that Congress allowed Netanyahu to make his case just last week, but this goes beyond taking advice from a foreign leader. This is tampering with the Constitutional duties of the President of the U.S., who is the only one who can make treaties with foreign leaders.

In a case of classic Group Think behavior, the group of 47 followed the lead of the Junior Senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton, a yahoo if there ever was one. They have followed him out on a limb and right over a cliff on this one. If Pres. Obama and the Democrats had the will and the nerve, they would throw the book at all of them and slap them in prison on treason or sedition charges. But unfortunately, that's not how Washington works, so this will probably just be another embarassment to our country that we don't do anything about, like school shootings and Tea Party led shutdowns.

Senator Harry Reid, Democratic Minority Leader in the Senate spoke out:

From The Hill
“Republicans are undermining our commander in chief while empowering the ayatollahs,” he said from the Senate floor. “We should always have robust debate about foreign policy, but it's unprecedented for one political party to directly intervene in an international negotiation with the sole goal of embarrassing the president of the United States.”






And Iran's government responded to the letter, schooling the Senate on how this works:

From Washington Post
“It has come to our attention while observing” the negotiations, the letter says, “that you may not fully understand our constitutional system.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif got an undergraduate and master’s degree from San Francisco University in international relations and another master’s from the University of Denver, so it’s possible he knows. (The president, however, went to college in Scotland.)
Zarif dismissed the letter — and lectured the authors — Monday as “propaganda.”
. . . “We believe that the letter has no legal value and is propaganda,” Zarif said, quoted in Iranian media. “The senators must know that under international law, Congress cannot change the content of the agreement,” he said, and “any congressional action to prevent the implementation of any agreement will violate [Washington's] international commitments.”
He then said: “The world is not just in America.”

Vice President Joe Biden was much more blunt about the letter:
Via Huff Post
In thirty-six years in the United States Senate, I cannot recall another instance in which Senators wrote directly to advise another country -- much less a longtime foreign adversary -- that the President does not have the constitutional authority to reach a meaningful understanding with them. This letter sends a highly misleading signal to friend and foe alike that that our Commander-in-Chief cannot deliver on America’s commitments -- a message that is as false as it is dangerous," Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
"The decision to undercut our President and circumvent our constitutional system offends me as a matter of principle. As a matter of policy, the letter and its authors have also offered no viable alternative to the diplomatic resolution with Iran that their letter seeks to undermine."













































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Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Bibi Netanyahu Comes to Congress, Tries to Take Over

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Previous Related Posts:
Bibi's Bomb
Romney Shambles Day 4: Bomb Bomb Iran
Romney Shambles Day 3: On to Israel

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Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke to the Congress of the United States the other day, urging them to bomb Iran and to stop Obama from seeking diplomatic solutions to problems.

He's a warmonger who wants us to get rid of the Arabs and Persians and only be allies with Israel. He wanted the same thing before the Iraq war, and that didn't work out too well for either the U.S. or the Middle East. So why should we listen to him now?

From Ynet News
CNN's chief international correspondent dubbed Netanyahu's performance on Capitol Hill "a very dark Strangelovian speech" while Fox News flattered the Israeli prime minister. But the most amusing commentary – and likely the most widely watched – belonged to Daily Show host Jon Stewart.
With his trademark frustration, Stewart blasted Netanyahu for claiming to speak for the entire Jewish people ahead of "festival of slights" to celebrate the "sacred Jewish holiday of Suck-on-it."
"The truth is no one can speak for all Jews for we are a varied and heterodoxical people... We like to argue," said Stewart a few hours after Netanyahu's speech.
. . . Top CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour said that Netanyahu's address "was a very dark Strangelovian speech painting the picture of a dystopian world, raising the specter of a genocidal nation, a genocidal regime spraying nuclear weapons to annihilate the whole world and the whole region. Now, obviously many people are very concerned about Iran and there is a deep lack of trust, but surely the same was said of the Soviet Union all those years ago.



Chris Matthews of MSNBC called the speech a "takeover" of our foreign policy, and opened up a can of whoop-ass on Bibi.

Via Raw Story
“I’ll get to the heart of this speech now,” Matthews told MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts. “This man from a foreign government walked into the United States legislative chamber and tried to take over U.S. foreign policy. He said, ‘You should trust me, not your president on this. I am the man you should trust, I am your true leader on this question of U.S. geopolitics. To protect yourself, you must listen to me and not this president.’”

“It was a startling situation,” . . . “To allow someone to come in — knowing that was going to be their message — to the U.S. Congress. This was a decision made by Boehner and certainly complied with by Netanyahu and his ambassador [Ron Dermer]. They went into the U.S. Congress to take over U.S. foreign policy from the president.”

“Think it through, what country in the world would let a foreign leader come in and attempt to wrest from the president control of the U.S. foreign policy?” Matthews asked.

“This was a takeover attempt by Netanyahu with this complying America partners to take American foreign policy out of the hands of the president.”



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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Bibi's Bomb

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pic via gifsfln

From Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Speech to the U.N. 9/27/12
So, how much enriched uranium do you need for a bomb? And how close is Iran to getting it? Let me show you. I brought a diagram for you. Here's the diagram.

************** This is a bomb; this is a fuse.

In the case of Iran's nuclear plans to build a bomb, this bomb has to be filled with enough enriched uranium. And Iran has to go through three stages.

The first stage: they have to enrich enough of low enriched uranium.
The second stage: they have to enrich enough medium enriched uranium.
And the third stage and final stage: they have to enrich enough high enriched uranium for the first bomb.

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via newsgifs

Where's Iran? Iran's completed the first stage. It took them many years, but they completed it and they're 70% of the way there.

Now they are well into the second stage. By next spring, at most by next summer at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage. From there, it's only a few months, possibly a few weeks before they get enough enriched uranium for the first bomb.

***************** Ladies and Gentlemen, What I told you now is not based on secret information. It's not based on military intelligence. It's based on public reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Anybody can read them. They're online.

So if these are the facts, and they are, where should the red line be drawn? The red line should be drawn right here…………..

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For the second time in the recent history of the United Nations, today an unfounded and imaginary graph was used to justify a threat against a founding member of the United Nations. However, it is worth mentioning that in our increasingly interconnected world and in the information age, it is hardly possible for the nations to be fooled by such absurd means.
~ Iran’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Eshaq al-e-Habib, via NYT

Even before the speech was complete, the viral cartoons began to hit the Internet. The immediate association when one looked at the drawing of the bomb was Looney Tunes. And so the very first images to hit the Internet involved the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.
And then there’s been a lot of general playing around with the image: photos of Bibi using the red line to delineate between the place on a bag of potato chips where the chips end and the rest of the bag is filled with air - or how high to fill a kiddush cup of wine for the Friday night blessing.
~ Haaretz

From Haaretz:

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Via Buzzfeed:

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From Jest.com:

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Romney Shambles Day Three: On to Israel - Updated


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Romney Shambles Day One: Disconcerting London Gaffes
Romney Shambles Day Two: British Press Pounces
Romney Shambles Day Three: On to Israel
Romney Shambles Day Four: Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran
Romney Shambles Day Five: Poland
Romney Shambles Day Six: Warsaw Speech
Romney Shambles Review

Romney’s stumblebum London debut leaves even supporters distraught
~ Headline in the National Post UK



The British media were quick to launch into Mitt Romney in the wake of his less-than-complimentary views on London's Olympics.
The Daily Telegraph's Lucy Jones branded him a 'wazzock' (which the Urban Dictionary defines as an idiot or daft person') after the U.S. presidential hopeful questioned Britain's desire to host the Games.
She said: 'Who does Mitt Romney think he is? I feel a glimmer of protectiveness and pride... there's one thing Romney could learn while he's in Britain this week: some manners.'
~ Quoted in the Daily Mail


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. . . the British press devour(ed) Mr. Romney like a pile of mushy peas. His campaign was slow and flat-footed in recognizing it had a problem, and unable to improvise a quick response.
Afterward, the campaign said that Mr. Romney had misspoken because he was tired and jet-lagged. “Even the Energizer Bunny needs new batteries once in a while,” said an adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a delicate topic.
~ The New York Times


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[London Mayor Boris] Johnson . . . lived up to his reputation as an eccentric, odd fellow. It was unbecoming to attack Governor Romney in that way. There really was no need. But Johnson made it clear in 2008 that his vote would have gone to Obama. . .
. . . What [Romney] gave was the honest assessment of the [Olympic] situation based on his previous experience. Unfortunately in a diplomatic context that's not the sort of thing that should have been coming out of the candidate's mouth. It was bad messaging and media prep. . . .
The trip should have been a straightforward one, he said. ‘You show up, you smile, you do photo ops, you talk about the special relationship, the deep bonds that connect us and then you go home, or in this case on to Israel and Poland. . . .
Unfortunately, it shows that the campaign by solely focussing on jobs has really neglected foreign policy and international affairs . . .
(Calling Labour Leader Milliband "Mr. Leader"). . . The first rule of diplomacy is that when you're in a foreign country you get titles and forms of address correct. . . . It played into some stereotypical impressions of Americans, that they’re ignorant of local concerns, that they don’t get names or titles right. . . .
Governor Romney didn’t do himself any favours. Did he do himself long-term damage? I doubt it. There's a good chance that Cameron may not win re-election, which means for at least half of Romney's term he would have another Prime Minister in there.
~ Unknown Romney Campaign Official quoted in The Daily Mail

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.
~ Republican Strategist Karl Rove via Talking Points Memo





NPR: Obama Pre-Empts Romney on Israel
Obama's Friday signing of the U.S.-Israel Enhanced Security Act, which increases assistance to Israel to defend against missiles and rockets from Iranian-backed extremist groups, gave the president a chance to somewhat pre-empt Romney's trip.
Romney's visit to Israel this weekend is meant to underscore the Republican's campaign message, aimed at Jewish and evangelical Christians voters, that he would be a more loyal ally to Israel than Obama has been.
The legislation signed Friday by Obama passed with unusual speed and bipartisanship in a Congress best known for partisan gridlock. And it gave the president and his Democratic allies something with which to counter anti-Obama efforts by billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and the Republican Jewish Coalition — efforts reported this week by The New York Times.









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We can almost speak in shorthand. We share common experiences and have a perspective and underpinning which is similar.
~ Mitt Romney quoted in the New York Times, April 2012

From Vanity Fair on Romney and Netanyahu
Netanyahu is once reported to have said—he now denies it—that he “speaks English with a heavy Republican accent.” “Israel’s current prime minister is not just a friend, he’s an old friend,” Mitt Romney, with whom Netanyahu worked at the Boston Consulting Group in the 1970s, told aipac in March. (Romney, Netanyahu suggests, may have overstated the tie. “I remember him for sure, but I don’t think we had any particular connections,” he tells me. “I knew him and he knew me, I suppose.”)
. . . Netanyahu insists his relationship with Obama is friendlier than it has been portrayed. They are, he tells me, “two people who appreciate the savviness and strength of the other

Mitt Romney Lies About His BFF Bibi
~ Headline on Wonkette

Bibi Tosses Mitt Under the Bus
~ Headline on Mother Jones

President [George W.] Bush urged [deposed Egyptian President] Hosni Mubarak to move toward a more democratic posture, but President Obama abandoned the freedom agenda and we are seeing today a whirlwind of tumult in the Middle East in part because these nations did not embrace the reforms that could have changed the course of their history, in a more peaceful manner.
. . . Clearly we're disappointed in seeing Tunisia and Morocco elect Islamist governments. We're very concerned in seeing the new leader in Egypt as an Islamist leader. It is our hope to move these nations toward a more modern view of the world and to not present a threat to their neighbors and to the other nations of the world," he said.
~ Mitt Romney, quoted in gambling mogul and political superpac leader Sheldon Adelson's newspaper Israel Hayom

What's the new hashtag #RomKippur?
~ comment by Lib Dem FoP on Daily Kos









Press will be barred from the Monday-morning event at the King David hotel, a Romney campaign aide said, a break with the campaign’s protocol of allowing a small contingent of press to cover finance events in public locales such as hotels.
The Jerusalem fundraiser is expected to draw generous donors living in both the U.S. and Israel, including casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who recently gave $10 million to the super PAC that supports Mr. Romney.
~ Wall Street Journal



















Though there have been a few occasions when the campaign has tried to limit access — citing an especially small venue or the fact that Mr. Romney was not giving formal remarks — this is the first time that a public fund-raiser has been closed without any explanation.
Mr. Romney’s high-dollar event in London on Thursday, held at the Mandarin Oriental in Hyde Park, was open to a press pool.
. . . “Closed press, closed press, closed press,” a Romney spokesman Rick Gorka said when asked for a comment or explanation.
~ The New York Times





The campaign’s decision to close the fundraiser to the press violates the ground rules it negotiated with news organizations in April, when Romney wrapped up the Republican nomination and began opening some of his finance events to the news media.
Under the agreement, a pool of wire, print and television reporters can cover every Romney fundraiser held in public venues, including hotels and country clubs. The campaign does not allow media coverage of fundraisers held in private residences.
Campaign spokesman Rick Gorka declined to explain the campaign’s decision to violate protocol with the Jerusalem event. Pressed repeatedly by reporters to offer an explanation, Gorka said only that the fundraiser was “closed press.”
“That’s all I’ve got for you — it’s closed press,” Gorka said.
~ The Washington Post






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