Friday, July 27, 2012

Mitt And The Brits - An Open Letter To The UK


Dear Cousins,
I hope you don't mind if I take issue with your behavior towards a guest, the visiting Mitt Romney.

Well, to be quite honest, I really don't care whether you mind or not.

Your British press is enjoying itself immensely over a few minor gaffes Governor Romney is supposed to have committed, a number of your politicians have fed the fire and of course the dinosaur media here is absolutely ecstatic, particularly the Soros contingent.

It seems that even your politicians now realize that they went a bit overboard and are trying to walk things back. In reality, they owe Governor Romney a heart felt apology.

Well and good, but it's something perhaps some of you should have thought about more before you piled in so thoroughly.

Let's look at Mitt Romney's 'terrible mistakes' shall we?

The man who successfully ran the Salt Lake City Olympics took a look around at a city a number of people have referred to as Londonistan because of its population of resident jihadis and in answer to a question by NBC's Brian Williams, merely said that it was hard to know how things might turn out, and expressed some concern about the security arrangements, citing stories that the private security firm had said they were shorthanded. At no time did he say London 'wasn't ready', but that particular soundbite was manufactured by your press and your politicians and jammed down Romney's throat. Did he really deserve to be ridiculed in your press, snidely lectured by your Prime Minister or booed by a mob egged on by one of your local politicos? Simply for telling the truth?

Considering London's history of terrorist attacks and the fact that a wanna be jihadi got through the police cordon easily and almost succeeded in wresting the Olympic torch away from the woman holding it while screaming 'Allahu Akbar' , perhaps his concerns were not all that misplaced. The man could just as easily have been carrying a bomb.

Of course, had Governor Romney gone with the easy answer and said that everything looked fine and there was an incident afterwards, he would then have been attacked in the UK and here at home by the media for 'knowing nothing about security' and 'not being ready to lead'! Nice how that works out.

What else was there...oh yes, he referred to someone whom to us is a minor British politician as 'Mr. Leader' instead of Ed Milliband, he mentioned he had a meeting with the head of MI6 and horror of horrors, he referred to our common Anglo Saxon heritage. How dare he!

The sort of overt disrespect shown Governor Romney ( and some of our other leaders) in Britain has never happened to one of your leaders here in America, and believe me, there have been a number of occasions where that would have been far more warranted than anything Governor Romney did or said. But it didn't happen, simply because we Americans are, generally speaking, a notoriously polite people who understand courtesy and how to treat guests. You see, like most Americans, I was raised to understand that when you have a guest in your home who commits a gaffe of etiquette, you do your very best to cover for them rather than ridicule them. I seem to recall you doing that for President Obama quite recently. Apparently, the rules in Britain change according to the political agenda. And of course, who's involved.

The kabuki outrage over Governor Romney invoking our countries' common Anglo-Saxon heritage is particularly revealing.

I fully realize that in today's Britain, multiculturalism - or, let's be honest, attempting to accommodate and placate a restive Muslim population - is all the agenda, to the point where sharia has an equal status with British common law, honor killings occur with distressing regularity, the Royal Navy is essentially a thing of the past, Britain's soldiers are unable to parade in their own country without being mocked and insulted, and a number of Britons seem to no longer have any pride in their country's heritage. Fine by me, but was it really so sensible to make a point of mocking and disillusioning someone who still appears to honor that heritage and seeks to find common ground with you?

Our current president Barack Obama has already let it be known on a number of occasions that he has little regard for the special relationship between America and Britain.Perhaps some of you agree with him.

But here's a point worth considering. In the event Britain needed a strong friend and ally in a dire situation, who would be more likely to lend a helping hand - President Obama or a President Romney?

I think you know the answer, in your heart of hearts.

Apparently the emotional investment you had in 2008 in Barack Obama as rock star and antidote to President Bush didn't quite work out as you planned, but that isn't stopping some of you from doubling down, as we say on this side of the Pond.But it just might be that you've picked the wrong horse in this race. It's a fools bet after all, since even if you manage to win and President Obama's re-elected you end up losing.

And at any rate, since Mitt Romney at this point has at least a 50% chance of becoming our next president, the wisdom of alienating him with boorish behavior to score a few short term political points would seem non-existent no matter how you answer that question.

It may very well be that the special relationship between Britain and America is a thing of the past, especially if you appear to be willing to treat a visiting American leader to your country in this fashion. Fine by me, if that's what it is.After all, you don't pal around with people whom insult you.

But as my mother told me, you need to be careful before you burn your bridges.

Think about it.

And if what I've written here upsets some of you, you're quite welcome.

Regards,
Rob Miller

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Piss off, you patronizing American wingnut.

Matthew Yabsley said...

Hello Joshua,

Firstly i would like to thank you for a well written and frank post. I did enjoy reading it.

I would like to venture an opinion on the matter if i may, coming from an Englishmans point of view.

Whilst the comments you made were fair, i do believe you might of overlooked a big part of why such treatment of Romney took place.

When there is a lot of bad sentiment in any situation then nothing any individual does, or has done will ever be seen in a good light.

Mitt Romney is quite a hateful individual and this has not gone without being noticed. The UK know who Mitt Romney is, especially the press and his treatment is reflective of this built up contempt for such an individual.

If you factor this is then there is little suprise he got treated like that in the press. I feel the total response he got from his visit to the UK is entirely inline with the frustrations the UK has with the constant barrage of mindless, religiously manipulative candidates that keep getting put forward in America.

Kind regards.

Rob said...

Hello Matthew,
And thanks for your response.And for the kind words.

I fail to see exactly what Mitt Romney has done that qualifies as 'hateful' especially when it comes to the UK.Certainly I can't think of anything he might have done that merited the way he was treated.

However, given that treatment, there may certainly be a chance he would respond in such a manner as to make your view of him a self fulfilling prophecy.

Given Britain's situation in the world and over a decade of of Labour rule seeing to it that the country is virtually unable to defend itself or protect its citizens and military abroad, that might not have been wise.

As for our presidential candidates? I fully grant that we have had two mediocre presidents in a row and now have an abysmal one.

As I documented, the UK's emotional investment in the abysmal one doesn't seem to have worked out well at all in terms of your personal interest.

Gratuitously insulting the other fellow to President Obama's ( and his chief backer George Soros') advantage seems like a fairly self-defeating program to me, but than as a thick yank, perhaps I lack the subtlety to appreciate this strategy.

I might also say in response that your last three prime ministers essentially rank just as low on the scale, if not lower, as our last three presidents to my view,although Mr. Cameron seems merely mediocre rather than abysmal.None of them would ever be treated here the way Mitt Romney was treated on your side of the pond.

I also concede that America is a religious country by and large, whereas Britain seems to treat only Islam with honor and respect these days.

I likewise don't mind telling you that I have absolutely no problem with that aspect of America.

Given the sort of Muslim figures that have been welcomed with open arms into Britain in the last few years at places like the Finsbury Mosque,and given some of the statements by Muslim Peers like Lord Ahmed and prominent members of the Muslim Council of Britain, I'm afraid I must admit that I find your disparagement of the religious sentiments of our politicians to be a tad hypocritical, to say the least.

Or so it seems to me.

Best,
Rob Miller

Anonymous said...

hell nas no wrath as Boris Johnson scorned, or something like, that.

Anonymous said...

Governor's Romney's remarks were perfectly legitimate, David's Cameron's and Boris Johnson reaction was'nt , while David Cameron is a veritable moron,who should keep his mounths shut in public (he, for all purposes called Governor Romney a hick from nowhere), Boris Johnson seemst to be a reasonable and pleasent guy. I understand, that he feels slighted for not being included in Governor's busy London schedule, but I'm ssure he knows, he overreacted badly. By the way, don't expect any public appologies.

Roland said...

So Cameron should keep his mouth shut in public? What sterling intellect your site attracts, Rob. Putting aside the humorous notion that your open letter is being passed around by a cowed Parliament, I find it fascinating and somewhat comforting that your initial reaction to Mitt the Twit's missteps is to deny that they are missteps and insult the British even further.

The Democrats may not be known for liking business, but they certainly understand it better when it comes to campaigns. A good business works quickly and effectively to fix problems so that they don't happen again. Kudos to Karl Rove and the rest for raking Romney over the coals for failing this simple of tests - he shouldn't be making mistakes of that kind.

I notice that you defended the 'Anglo-Saxon' remark. Even Romney condemned that one. I guess he's a moron too? Your practice of denial and insult tells me that you won't be working for a PR firm anytime soon.

Maybe Obama's reelection will deliver to you a cold, hard truth: when you're in a hole, stop digging.

Rob said...

Good old Roland!
I can always depend on you to bring a certain style of ‘discourse’ into the mix, if one could call it that.

So you’re fine with the leader of the UK making a rude ass out of himself, jumping on something Mitt Romney never even said and essentially sneering that Romney comes from ‘the middle of nowhere’? Somehow I knew you would be.

Aside from the fact that even the Brit politicians know realize they went overboard and are trying to walk this back , I think most of my points were quite justified. As a matter of fact Roland, the way the Brits treated Mitt Romney was kind of the way you argue. You manufacture sound bites to enhance your political agenda that people never said, and then base your demonization of them on what you just manufactured! Easy that way, isn’t it?

And like them, you’re doing it because you have an investment in Obama, which means you’ll cover far more serious gaffes and errors on President Obama’s part while manufacturing absolutely anything you can to crap on anyone who opposes him.

The joke on the Brits (and you too, whether you know it or not) is that your investment has already proven disastrous, and the Brits apparently realize that on some level, having whined about it constantly over the last three and a half years - yet they’re doubling down!

It’s a lose - lose proposition for them either way. On the one hand, if Romney wins, a fifty per cent chance at this point, they’ve gratuitously insulted him to no purpose and alienated him. If Obama wins, they have more of the same distancing and disrespect they’ve been complaining about. A bit masochistic Old Boy, eh, what?

By the way, Governor Romney never ‘condemned’ the remark made by his staffer about the US and UK sharing an Anglo-Saxon heritage, he merely said he was sorry if it offended anyone.

After the treatment he was subjected to, I'm sure he realizes that his attempting to make common cause with the sort of leaders the UK now has was a bit of wishful thinking on his part, and being an intelligent man I'm sure he now knows better.

You know what Roland? I have no problem with anyone disagreeing with me, but I do have a problem with someone just wasting my time.

As for who wins in November, I guess we’ll see, won’t we? But as I said, the ironic thing is that if you get what you want, you still lose.

And that is pretty much all I have to say to you on the matter.

Regards,
Rob

Anonymous said...

Regarding missteps, Roland, how about toasting the queen while "God Save The Queen" is playing (Barack), or greeting her with a bearhug (Michelle), watch the episodes on "You Tube", pay attention to queens face and have a good time

Old School said...

Please don't think all of us are represented by the sort of nonsense Governor Romney was subjected to whilst he was here.

I agree with you that an apology of sorts is justified, but as I'm sure you suspect, it won't be forthcoming.