Romney camp denies "Anglo-Saxon heritage" comment

[Enrique]

Source: CBS News

(CBS News) As Mitt Romney kicks off his European trip Wednesday with a visit in London, the Romney campaign is dismissing a report from the UK's Daily Telegraph that an adviser to the campaign made comments suggesting the Republican presidential candidate's commitment to rebuilding the so-called "special relationship" between England and the United States has to do with a sense of "Anglo-Saxon heritage."

According to the telegraph, the adviser suggested that Mr. Obama could not understand the depth of the relationship between the two countries because he cannot fully appreciate the shared "Anglo-Saxon heritage."

"We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special," the adviser said of Romney, according to the Telegraph: "The White House didn't fully appreciate the shared history we have."

Andrea Saul, Romney's press secretary, disputed the comments and emphasized that they did not reflect the beliefs of the former Massachusetts governor.

"It's not true. If anyone said that, they weren't reflecting the views of Governor Romney or anyone inside the campaign," she told CBSNews.com in an email. Saul did not comment on what specifically was not true.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57479578-503544/romney-camp-denies-anglo-saxon-heritage-comment/

---

I thought both campaigns had quote approval?

[gopiscrap]

1. How can they deny it..it was siad by one of their operatives

and is totally indicative of their mindset!!!

[elleng]

20. Saul said

"It's not true. If anyone said that, they weren't reflecting the views of Governor Romney or anyone inside the campaign,"
Believe it or not.

[maddezmom]

22. not. they are lying again. check out the lastest attempt to take it back....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021018986

[elleng]

27. Right, lying again, but

as Scuba said, his 'base,' such as it is, heard it the first time.
HOPE independents hear the whole kerfuffle, and keep it in their 'bad' list for rmoney.
Thanks, maddezmom.

[dixiegrrrrl]

33. Aaaand once again....

[IMG][/IMG]

[Scuba]

2. His base heard the message, now they deny it. That works for Mitt.

[yardwork]

13. That's exactly the way this works. Romney's base heard it, they approve, gets 'em pumped up.

The old white supremacist dog whistle.

Ultimately, though, I think that this is a failing strategy for Romney. He's already got the racist vote. This kind of behavior isn't going to endear Romney to independents and even many Republicans are going to be turned off by this. Not all Republicans are racists.

[HillWilliam]

19. They're not even bothering to whistle any more

they're singing the words out loud. I never thought I'd live to hear such piggery right out in the open. SMDH.

[coalition_unwilling]

38. I'm going to have to disagree with you. All Republicans ARE racists now -

that's why no Republican of national stature has stepped forward to condemn these remarks. Instead it's the old 'nod, nod, wink wink' non-denial denial routine. They're all a bunch of fucking racists. Off to the dustbin of history with 'em all.

[coalition_unwilling]

39. Actually, I'm not sure Romney had already locked down the

racist vote. Close, but not quite yet, as his Massachusetts pedigree probably disqualifies him from earning some racists' support. Gestures and language like this help to consolidate the racist voting bloc.

[Mendocino]

41. "Not all republicans are racists"

but nearly all racists are republican.

A variation of a quote I heard long ago, "Not all republicans are stupid, but most stupid people are republican."

Thank you Rackjite.

[yardwork]

42. I agree wholeheartedly!

[docgee]

24. Perhaps we can organize a rumor...

A rumor claiming his base is not all locked up, so that his campaign says more and more radical shit, and alienates the moderate voters.

[Scuba]

30. I believe that rumor's already out there. Hard to get so many different hate groups to agree.

[MADem]

3. Oh, racist please!

Own that shit! Own it and apologize for it, but don't play the "No one ever said that" crap.

Reminds me of this guy:

[awoke_in_2003]

23. Reminds me of Baghdad Bob...

except he was pretty amusing.

[MADem]

40. Hahahaha! I'd forgotten about that guy! nt

[wordpix]

4. "he feels that the special relationship is special" -wow, what brilliance from a Rmoney advisor!

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. Ahhh ...

Andrea Saul, Romney's press secretary, disputed the comments and emphasized that they did not reflect the beliefs of the former Massachusetts governor.

The old &quot We) didn't say it ... and if (we) did, (we) didn't mean it" defense!

I guess it didn't occur to this "advisor" that not everyone responds to american dog-whistles like their american base ... Huh?

And that "insensitivity" to, and/or unawareness of cultural differences should be a disqualifying factor because gaffs of that nature can result in nukes flying.

[maddezmom]

6. when asked what wasn't true...still waiting for a response from Rmoney's campaign

The London paper quoted an unnamed adviser saying, “We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and [Romney] feels that the special relationship is special. The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have.’’

Asked to be specific about what wasn’t true – whether the quote was fabricated or whether the sentiment was inaccurate – the campaign did not immediately respond.

Romney arrived in London on Wednesday on his first foreign trip as the GOP's presidential candidate; he will meet there with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Romney is also scheduled to visit Israel and Poland.

Speaking with members of Romney's foreign-policy advisory team, The Telegraph quoted one calling Obama "a left-winger" and saying, "He doesn’t value the [NATO] alliance as much; he’s very comfortable with American decline, and the traditional alliances don’t mean as much to him. He wouldn’t like singing ‘Land of Hope and Glory.' ”

more: http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/romney-campaign-disputes-anglo-saxon-heritage-remark-20120725

[JaneQPublic]

7. Mitt denies something proven by evidence?

Shocking!

That almost never happens,... except every time he's presented with facts that reflect poorly on him.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Yup.

The 1% is still largely a WASP enclave that is mistrustful
of anyone not in their circle.

[bettydavis]

9. THE GLOVES ARE OFF...

They said it, plain as day. This has been and is about white supremacy. They haven't been shy about it. Any person of conscience, colored or otherwise that can't hear it, is deaf or putting their fingers in their ears. For them to admit that white privilege exists is to admit that maybe part of your success had nothing to do with you. That you aren't really fast, you didn't really win the race. You're Daddy just had every other runners' legs broken before the starting shot. To accept that also means that part of some other folks' failures had nothing to do with them either. And then their entire being starts to unravel. But it's impossible to ignore history with all of those pesky slave museums and old "whites only" "colored only" signs in antique shops and everything. So what do you do? Have a mental breakdown in front of the entire world. That's what this is. In a US presidential race, the white candidate's spokesperson tells a British reporter his candidate is better for the job because he's white. I was just waiting for them to say it. oy vey this election is gonna be a doozy...

[indie_voter]

10. Finally. Somebody said it out loud

For years the Republicans have been dancing around this. Now it's been said.

President Obama doesn't understand white people. Never mind he's half white. He doesn't *look* half white. He's black. Therefore he has no business being in the *White* House.

I'm surprised at the level of rage I'm feeling. I should be glad it's finally out in the open.

Also, what happened to not insulting your rivals on foreign soil? I remember when the Republicans held this up as one of the seven deadly sins.

[liberal N proud]

11. Romney needs a disclaimer denying everything he has or might say.

[Enrique]

12. also anything he might sign

like SEC forms for example

[msanthrope]

29. Retroactively. nt

[Smilo]

14. The flip flop has rubbed off on his aides

......... btw Mittens we call bullshit - this was said by an aide - who doesn't even have the balls to give a name.

As others have said dog whistle politics are alive and well under Romney.

Rather ironic that the people Mittens is courting don't like Mormons because "they ain't Christians" - hate makes strange bedfellows.

[Bjorn Against]

15. This may be a trap, there are better things to go after Romney on

The fact is we don't know whether or not a Romney adviser actually said those words, all we have is a single news outlet that quotes an unnamed source. While I could certainly see the Romney campaign making racist statements it is better to focus our attacks in areas in which we have indisputable evidence, and Romney has given us plenty of those attacks. Romney is weak on Bain, he is weak on his tax returns, he is weak on his Etch-a-Sketch stances, he has lots of weaknesses that are well documented and those are what we should focus on.

As horrible as the quote is there is at least at this point no way to conclusively prove that anyone in his campaign said it. I would not be surprised if someone in the campaign did say it under the condition of anonymity planning on putting out the denials once it was reported. I think the Romney campaign desperately wants to get us off the Bain attacks so I could see them trying to distract us with this, they would rather have us attack on something in which they can deny and we can not prove they are wrong in their denials. With Bain they issue all kinds of denials but there is extensive documentation to rebut their denials, that makes Bain a much more damaging issue for them.

Don't ever forget the Romney campaign knows we are going to be going after them and they are going to try to distract us by getting us to focus our attacks in areas where they believe they can withstand the attacks, do not fall into their trap. They obviously want to get our focus off Bain and the tax returns and we can not allow them to do that. If solid documentation of the Anglo-Saxon comments such as a recording come out then we can attack on that issue, but don't focus your attacks on something that can not be proven to have been said as the Romney campaign will use the fact that there is no recording of these statements to cast doubt and we will lose the debate. There are plenty of attacks we can use with rock solid evidence to back them up, don't allow them to distract you with claims that can not be proven.

Once someone gives me proof that the Romney campaign did make that statement I will change my position, but I am not going after this without something more than a quote in a newspaper.

[flamingdem]

16. You might be right, it just publicizes the angle that Mitt is selling

and what do we gain from being outraged, not much.

The Brit rags are mostly right wing and probably support Mitt.

[Enrique]

18. I don't think there is a question that he made the comments

it might be a trap, but the comments should be considered a fact. As much of a RW rag the Telegraph is, they don't fabricate quotes (as far as I know).

It looks to me, especially with what we know about quote approval, that Romney did this deliberately to score points with racists. He figures the gain will be greater than any cost. I think we need to make the cost high. We need to be smart about it, of course. I'm sure the Obama campaign will be smart about it.


edit: actually I might be wrong about the Telegraph:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/romney-camp-anglo-saxon-report-false/2012/07/25/gJQAS9D38W_blog.html

The Telegraph in particular prints many rumors, often infuriating Democrats. “They use anonymous sources to a degree that makes you wonder if they actually have them,” consultant Bob Shrum told Dave Weigel in 2009.

[randome]

28. A 'trap'? You think Romney is some kind of fucking genius???

It's a gaffe a day now! Look at all those traps!!!

[Bjorn Against]

37. Never said all his gaffes are traps, nice strawman though

If you don't think Republicans set traps for us sometimes however you don't know Republicans very well. All Romney has to do to win the debate on the issue is ask "Which one of my advisors made that comment?". If we answer "I don't know" we lose the debate, but we don't have a better answer than that. I would much rather focus on attacks that we can back up with hard evidence.

[kestrel91316]

17. How ignorant can that man get? For the record,

Obama has plenty of "Anglo-Saxon heritage" via his mother's side of the family.

Like that's even relevant.

[rocktivity]

36. And would this be a good time to mention

that the very existence of the United States was the result of it REBELLING against England's "Anglo-Saxon heritage?"


rocktivity

[AtheistCrusader]

21. Ha ha ha they fired that dude so fast... heh

[RedStateLiberal]

25. When serial liars say "trust me"

You don't just take their word for it. Sorry, but they have no credibility whatsoever.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

26. Of course they said that shit and they absolutely MEANT that shit!

Racist fucks!!!

[33Greeper]

31. My guess is that

John Bolton said it.

[Cali_Democrat]

32. White POWER!!!

[SoapBox]

34. Mittens is melting...

Man oh man.

Mittens and his Ilk are showing their colors...even if it is only white.

[rocktivity]

35. I feel like I'm watching one badly-made product after another rolling off an assembly line

..."It's not true. If anyone said that, they weren't reflecting the views of Governor Romney or anyone inside the campaign,"...Andrea Saul, Romney's press secretary...(said) in an email. Saul did not comment on what specifically was not true.

Well, WHAT isn't true???

- That the statement was made?
- That anyone connected to Romney campaign made the statement?
- That anyone connected to Romney made the statement?
- The statement itself?

Or has Romney been reduced to throwing talking points against a wall, grabbing credit for the ones that stick, and disavowing any knowledge of the ones that don't?

Cue the Benny Hill theme!


rocktivity

[DCBob]

43. key quote: "If anyone said that"

escape clause.