Even though some of the Olympic competitions have already started, the opening ceremony is scheduled for 6pm local time tomorrow. Mitt Romney’s itinerary says he’ll be there, but he’d probably like to be anywhere else. All anyone in the U.K. is talking about is how stupid and obnoxious Mitt Romney has been since his arrival in their country. By insulting their preparations for the games, Romney received direct and harsh rebukes from both the Prime Minister and the mayor of London. He also violated Britain’s security protocols by revealing the whereabouts of the head of MI6, their equivalent of the CIA. He forgot the name of the Labor Party’s leader. He questioned whether the country could unite to celebrate the Olympics. And this all came after his adviser said (essentially) that Romney was a better ally of the U.K. than the current occupant of the White House because he isn’t a negro.
Romney will be jeered anywhere he goes in London. This is particularly true because it’s now being reported in Britain that Romney wrote the following in his idiotic 2010 book No Apology: The Case for American Greatness:
England [sic] is just a small island. Its roads and houses are small. With few exceptions, it doesn’t make things that people in the rest of the world want to buy. And if it hadn’t been separated from the continent by water, it almost certainly would have been lost to Hitler’s ambitions. Yet only two lifetimes ago, Britain ruled the largest and wealthiest empire in the history of humankind. Britain controlled a quarter of the earth’s land and a quarter of the earth’s population.
The British media are also reporting that Romney has insulted their health care system and has repeatedly denigrated Europe throughout the primaries and campaign. If all these things were not bad enough, 10 Downing Street has let it be known that they found Romney to be ‘apparently devoid of charm, warmth, humour or sincerity,’ and ‘worse than Sarah Palin.’
And all this criticism is coming from members of the Conservative Party and their preferred newspaper outlets like the U.K. Telegraph and The Daily Mail.
If Romney wanted to make the case that he’d get along with the U.K. better than Obama, he’s failed spectacularly. Tomorrow, he will be the least welcome person at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. And the Olympics were supposed to be Romney’s only remaining strength, since his record as governor is indefensible and his record at Bain Capital is appalling.
