Politics at Play
7 Obama & Romney Gaffes That Will Make You Vote Independent
I once heard somewhere that a gaffe occurs not when politicians are lying, but when they're telling the truth. If that's correct, we, as a nation, might be in a lot of trouble. Thanks to the 24-hour news cycle and this pretty little thing called the Internet, no gaffe goes unnoticed. Since the media tends to have a liberal slant, we probably hear about Mitt Romney's off-the-cuff errors more than we do President Obama's, but make no mistake, neither candidate is perfect.
Whether you're on Team Elephant or Team Donkey, you might take one look at this list of Romney and Obama gaffes from the 2012 election and decide, shoot, I'm on Team Dingbat because, double shoot, it can't be any worse.
Let's start with Obama. He's had a rough go of it this week. The president's first misstep came on Wednesday while talking to Telemundo. When asked about the attacks on American embassies in North Africa and the protester presence in Cairo, Obama said that no, the United States doesn't consider Egypt an ally, "but we don’t consider them an enemy."
More from The Stir: Facebook Chooses Obama as the Next President of the United States
Ouch. As Noah Rothman at Mediaite points out, that's a pretty flippant response about our relationship with Egypt, one that's been a steady and mostly healthy partnership for the last 30 years. After Obama said that, the White House clarified his answer, saying that the president didn't mean they weren't an "ally", it's just that Egypt's not an "ally", per se. Ally, as the White House explains, is a legal term of art. Helpful.
Right after Obama's Egypt blunder, he went to Las Vegas and likened the contributions of his campaign volunteers to the service of the troops overseas and members of the State Department. Anyone else think handing out Obama buttons for your country and sacrificing your life for your country are kind of two different things?
Then there was the "you didn't build that" gaffe heard 'round the world. Regardless of whether or not he meant it, he still said it. Syntax is everything.
Now to Romney. Let's start with his "worst talking point ever", shall we? It came when the Governor claimed he "retroactively retired" from Bain Capital, which, you know, what? Sure, he doesn't want to be associated with outsourcing and bankruptcy, but this retro-retire phrase might even be worse.
Then there's that time he insulted all of London by saying he found a few things "disconcerting" about their preparedness for the Olympic games. Gulp. That didn't sit well with anyone. I bet Kate Middleton was pissed.
But most recently, Romney has come under fire for his alleged gaffe regarding the events in Libya. Mitt was quick to criticize Obama and the White House for sympathising with the attackers, rather than condemning them. Neither the president nor the White House was actually responsible for the tweet Romney was alluding to -- the one that "supported" the attackers -- and now people think Romney acts before he has all the facts.
And then there was that time he misspoke and introduced Paul Ryan as the next president of the United States.
And these are probably just the tip of the iceberg. As the election goes on, there were be many, many for gaffes. We just have to decide which ones we'll let slide, and which ones will make us write in Roseanne Barr for president.
Do gaffes matter to you?
Photo via markn3tel/Flickr
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Katy Khan
Well that statement sympthazing with the violent protestors was representing him...they should have all been on the same page in the white house. Romney, I imaginge is trying to appeal to conservatives who really do miss Bush. I don't think that Obama saying egypt is not an ally was a misstep..I think it was very intentional and I don't see anything wrong with Romney misspeaking by saying "president" instead of "vice president"...<---- that last one probably shouldn't be on this list. But yea...politicians can say some crazy sh*t sometimes.
JAFE
I think instead of "gaffes," we should be talking about important issues. That's the problem with this whole election. Nobody is really talking. They just seem to be attacking and it's gotten very old.
Autumnleaves87
I don't see these as gaffes by the president or nominee, but instead they are messages taken out of contact by the media and made into a much bigger deal than they should have been.
"You didn't build that" isn't a gaffe by the president.. its a gaffe of the whole republican party for using those 4 words completely out of context to drive their whole campaign. DUMB.
Romney giving his opinion on the Olympics was nothing more than him offering his uniquely qualified thoughts on the games and his concerns. Should anyone have taken it as a jab to the UK? No. DUMB again.
I think the media and journalists, the ones who made these stories the headlines in the first place, are the ones making the gaffes.
PonyChaser
JAFE is right, of course, we SHOULD be focusing on the bigger issues. Like the fact that Obama REFUSES to admit that we are heading for a brick wall, economically speaking, and wants four more years to continue to wreak havoc just like he's done the last four. Only he won't have re-election hanging over his head, so he can make it ten times worse.
But I also find it hilarious that we are equating "You didn't build that" with "Please welcome President Paul Ryan". That we are equating the condemnation of anyone claiming to represent any official body of our government issuing a pandering statement to a bunch of thug terrorists with "Egypt is not our ally".
The perspective is WAY off, here, people. Romney did NOT speak out of turn when condemning the Embassy's statement... the Embassy should never have HAD to issue a statement in the first place. But Obama is too busy playing golf to attend his briefing meetings, where he might have heard about this. And Obama DID mean "you didn't build that", because he finds it impossible that anyone accomplishes anything without the government's meddling fingers in it.
But no, by all means, let's pretend they're "gaffes" and let them convince us to vote for a completely irrelevant third party. You know, instead of learning the facts and letting them educate us.
Rae.302
PonyChaser
>.< just what we need. Another peanut farmer.
wormspoop
I have been a Ron Paul supporter since the 2008 election and will be writing him in once again. Mit and Obama both suck and there is no lesser of two evils. They're two different puppets with the same puppeteer. The New World Order is on it's way people, I hope your all prepared.
rightside
Romney's comments after the Embassy issued their statement regarding the growing tensions, was entirely appropriate and timely. No statements came out of the White House/Obama, so the Embassy statement was the first, and only, official message. It basically said 'sorry we hurt your wittle feewings...that's naughty!'.
I was glad to see the guy who can actually do the job was paying attention, while the guy who has the job was busy proving he sucks even more than Carter. And that, of course, assumes you are naive enough to believe the movie trailer had anything at all to do with these attacks (and a security official in Lybia didn't warn American officials of secuity issues 72 hours before the attacks, and American officials didn't ignor him because it wouldn't 'look good' to increase security...).
Pinkmani
Both President Obama and Mr. Romney have their pluses and minuses. At the end of the day, I don't care who the President is. I care about making the country safe, moving the economy forward, etc.
DebaLa
Macademias aside, good one, Pony!