A small Michigan town called Commerce Township, may have been the scene of the fall of the Mitt Romney For President Campaign. Stepping up to the podium, the former Governor of Massechusetts, with his wife Anne, and new Vice Presidential Running Mate Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan in tow, was feeling good. Maybe a little too good, because this is what he said:
“I love being home, in this place where Ann and I were raised. Where both of us were born…No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.”
And the crowd erupted in a mix of laughter and groans, while the media fired up smartphones, tablets, and mics, then rushed to the Internet to get out the story in a hurry. The result was to take the focus off Missouri Senate Candidate Todd Akin’s awful use of the questionable term “legitimate rape” and put it right on Mitt Romney, and not in a good way.
Governor Romney’s comment not only ignited the worst elements of the Republican Party to chime in with praise, but angered President Obama and his supporters, and even upset the editors of the conservative new organ The Washington Times, which called his birther joke “not funny.”
The Birther Joke also caused other media to point to how Senator John McCain refused to play into the elements of prejudice and racism that have clouded this race, where Romney actually courts them because, as he stated, he’s trying to get to 50.1 percent of the American vote to be President.
Fat chance.
The Birther Joke points to what has become an obvious problem with Governor Romney: his monumentally bad judgement. Romney’s lack of tact comes at the most inappropriate, yet high profile moments. It was on display front-and-center for the World to see during The London Olympics, and most famously when Mitt elected to say the city could have done better in its presentation, using the UK as some kind of platform to trumpet his success in producing the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. In total Romney’s UK presentation caused the British Press to do what the American media’s largely afraid to do: refer to Governor Romney in most unkind terms, like “idiot”.
That’s what The Morton Report Columnist Margaret Holder called Romney in her column “Mitt Romney: Another Idiot Abroad.” Holder writes: “However, there are no excuses for the latest idiot abroad — presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who disgraced himself in the UK with repeated gaffes and insults…Not even Mr. Bean, in his holiday adventures, could quite match Romney’s record, which now has its own dedicated Twitter page. Former newspaper editor and political presenter Andrew Neil scathingly tweeted, ”Romney visit to London must be the worst of any presidential candidate in living memory.”
Well, to correct Ms. Holder, it’s not a Twitter page, but a Twitter hashtag called #RomneyShambles and the page that reports tweets with that hashtag is constantly updated on a by-the-minute basis. That can only mean there are a lot of people monitoring and reporting all of the bad statements and observation and actions of not just Governor Romney, but those associated with his campaign, even Todd Akin.
While all of this may not seem like much to some, that’s a mistake. America is being asked to consider this man as the leader of the Free World. Right now, much of the same Free World can’t stand him, and the level of discord has risen to a new level in the wake of his most unfunny Birther Joke. Mitt Romney must be the most socially inept Presidential Candidate in history.
This bloggers’ video (posted above) features clips of Governor Romney working a crowd of African American folks in 2011, and using terms that make the viewer wince. While standing with a group for a picture, Romney inexplicably says “Who let the dogs out, whoop, whoop!” in an effort to recall that popular song of the late 90s, but thinking the action would endear himself to the black crowd. Then, working the same audience, Romney went up to a little baby and observed that he or she had “bling” – and no, the baby did not have a pacifier, as someone tried to explain on Twitter. Romney was referring to the urban term “bling,” but his application of it leads one to wonder if he would use it in reference to something a white baby had on.
Probably not.
In closing Romney’s Birther Joke is just the latest example of a legion of awful missteps made by a man who wants to run America. It’s hard to see how he can make a claim that he can be a good president if he sticks his foot in his mouth so often. During the London Olympics, the UK media thanked the presence of First Lady Michelle Obama, if only to save them from the man they call an idiot, Mitt Romney.
Zennie Abraham | Zennie Abraham or “Zennie62” is the founder of Zennie62Media which consists of zennie62blog.com and a multimedia blog news aggregator and video network, and 78-blog network, with social media and content development services and consulting. Zennie is a pioneer video blogger, YouTube Partner, social media practitioner, game developer, and pundit. Note: news aggregator content does not reflect the personal views of Mr. Abraham.