# Mr Candidate goes to London **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 26, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485 "2012-07-26T19:30:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/41 "2012-07-27T07:10:36Z")
In truth, the fact that it is no longer on the front page is an indication that it is easy to make too much of it, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/42 "2012-07-27T07:21:30Z")
I’d say they were pretty bad myself - no big deal in terms of plain, everyday language, but in the language of diplomacy they’re shocking. Equivalent to rolling up to 10 Downing St and cutting one off on the doorstep. They represent a bad gaffe because they’re entirely unnecessary. It’s the Olympics, so not an important piece of geopolitics that really demands a position statement, and there’s not really anything majorly wrong with them in any case. It’s not like there’s a total clusterF that would merit some sort of oblique commentary, the organisation looks to have gone pretty well when you cut through the usual handwringing from the tabloid press. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/43 "2012-07-27T08:24:54Z")
From what I’ve seen, we think it’s hilarious and he looks like an idiot. Not a Cameron fan, but I chortled over his dig at Salt Lake City: > [@](#): > > “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course, it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere” ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/44 "2012-07-27T08:28:16Z")
Let’s see. Here’s what the conservative [Daily Telegraph](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/mitt-romney/9428764/Commentary-if-Mitt-Romney-doesnt-like-us-we-shouldnt-care.html) had to say: Mitt Romney is perhaps the only politician who could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive. Romney can’t comment on the freaking Olympic games without creating a diplomatic incident? He refers the Leader of the Opposition as… Mr. Leader? WTF? His point man claims that the White House doesn’t understand the US and UK’s shared history, but Romney does because of his [Anglo Saxon heritage](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/07/romney_camp_mitt_will_bring_a_white_mans_touch.php). Colbert had a field day with that one. Finally the Mittster tops it all off by bragging about meeting with an MI6 rep, [forgetting that you’re not suppose to acknowledge the existence of that intelligence agency](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/79036.html) in public. Is this bumbler ready for prime time? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/45 "2012-07-27T08:37:56Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > He refers the Leader of the Opposition as… Mr. Leader? WTF? All I can think of is [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fnmhj58o0k). ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/46 "2012-07-27T08:38:05Z")
At this point, my impression is that most UK citizens are slightly contemptuous of US politicians anyway. Obama has that stately air, but from the outside looking in, most US politicians come across as bigoted buffoons. We do not hear about the nuances of daily politics in America, we just see Bush getting re elected, Palin being taken seriously, and the worst type of partisan politics that will do the wrong thing just to score points over the other party. So Romney? He just gets grouped in with that tea party nonsense and given all the consideration he deserves. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/47 "2012-07-27T09:40:41Z")
More: > [@](#): > > And then there was Boris Johnson, the Conservative Mayor of London, mocking Willard Romney in front of thousands as the Olympic flame was used to light a cauldron in Hyde Park: > > SOURCE: [Account Suspended](http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2012/07/26/video-london-mayor-mocks-mitt-romney-in-front-of-1000s-plus-uk-daily-mail-tweets-worse-than-sarah-palin-total-car-crash/) There is a hashtag on Twitter for this: [#romneyshambles](https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23romneyshambles?q=%23romneyshambles) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/48 "2012-07-27T09:57:57Z")
> [@](#): > > #romneyshambles Which, in case you’re not aware, is a play on word-of-the-year “omnishambles”, used by the UK opposition in reference to a series of government cock-ups. I was a little surprised at that “middle of nowhere” retort from Cameron. He’s normally a smoothie, a former PR guy after all. I guess he really was a little bit miffed. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/49 "2012-07-27T10:12:17Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > If Mitt apologizes for dissing the British Olympics efforts, can Obama call his current travels “Romney’s apology tour”? Considering Johnson’s own comments? > [@Boris](#): > > Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing > [@Boris](#): > > the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief > [@Boris](#): > > it is said the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies Won’t even get to Prince Philip, heh. Yes, it is unfortunate that he makes David look reasonable given [rampant privatisation](http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2011/nov/22/nhs-bill-privatisation-stealth). ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/50 "2012-07-27T10:36:01Z")
His comment about Olympics preparations were pretty fair I think - it’s pretty much what most Brits are thinking. But referring to Mr Leader and emphasizing Anglo-Saxon links? The 1950s are long gone. He’s clearly trying to emulate Obama’s State Visit here last year, and it ain’t working. We find the Conservative Party to be uncomfortably right-wing; we’re hardly going to be enamoured with the Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/51 "2012-07-27T10:59:02Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > Still as mistakes go this was pretty minor compared to the Olympic comments which were a colossal failure of common sense. The guy has moments of complete gracelessness. It’s like his social grace subroutine is getting rebooted when his mouth starts to move. Just like when he insulted the cookies at a highly structured “meet the little people” event, he couldn’t manage to say “what lovely cookies”. For everyone who thought “it’s just cookies”, now he’s insulted an entire nation instead of some podunk bakery. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/52 "2012-07-27T11:03:03Z")
IMO insulting Boris and forgetting Ed Miliband’s name are daily occurrences in the UK (Ed frequently gets referred to by his brother’s name) so they’re not that bad. Saying out loud that the Olympics are being poorly managed, even though it’s probably true, is much worse since it’s a direct insult to one’s host and talking about the MI6 visit really suggests that Romney doesn’t understand how to play international politics every well. In the grand scheme of things the various gaffes are trivial but they don’t reflect well on his awareness of the niceties of diplomatic discourse and they’re not likely to make him any friends here. For comparison, his remarks are worse than Obama’s sending Gordon Brown Region 1 DVDs (which was clumsy but not insulting) but roughly on par with Obama getting caught calling Cameron a “lightweight” (bearing in mind that Cameron was in opposition at the time; if he’d done it when Cameron was PM it would have been far worse). I would like to think that Mitt will take this all as a teaching moment and will improve his game in future, but I’m not convinced it’s in his personality to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/53 "2012-07-27T11:19:18Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Regarding security: You weren’t able to successfully contract it out to the lowest bidder? For shame! They **did**. That, apparently, is the problem. > [@Simplicio](#): > > But I’m pretty curious to see if he’ll apologize to the Mayor of London. Oh Lordy, never apologize to Boris. It only encourages him. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/54 "2012-07-27T11:29:58Z")
Of course, this will only endear him to the Republican base, most of whom will be giggling tonight thinking the British are playing “My Country 'Tis of Thee” at the opening ceremonies. And they’ll also be jumping up and down in their mobile homes, saying “Woo hoo! Romney pisses off those uppity furriners!” ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/55 "2012-07-27T11:30:19Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > tops it all off by bragging about meeting with an MI6 rep, [forgetting that you’re not suppose to acknowledge the existence of that intelligence agency](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/79036.html) in public. His other gaffs seem awkward, but het met with the MI6 chief, not a rep and Sir John Sawers publicly gave a speech as head of MI6 in 2010: > **[Urging Secrecy, British Spy Chief Goes Public (Published 2010)](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/world/europe/29britain.html?_r=1&hp)** > > Sir John Sawers delivered what he said was the first ever public address by a serving chief of the agency. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/56 "2012-07-27T11:43:52Z")
Definitely big gaffes, but not big enough to distract from the big story of the moment, the controversy over Obama’s gaffe. However, he certainly didn’t add to his foreign policy cred. Hopefully Romney makes a better president than candidate. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/57 "2012-07-27T11:51:03Z")
actually, conservatives have been complaining about Obama giving Britain short shrift throughout his Presidency. I doubt that Romney insulting the Brits will go over well. It won’t hurt him, as the insult wasn’t very dire, he was giving an honest answer to an honest question on a subject he knew a lot about. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/58 "2012-07-27T12:26:21Z")
I think most British people who thought about it at all, and that’s a small minority I’d guess, would just have added Romney’s name to the list of recent somewhat unimpressive Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/59 "2012-07-27T12:30:35Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It won’t hurt him, as the insult wasn’t very dire, he was giving an honest answer to an honest question on a subject he knew a lot about. Did it enhance his diplomatic credibility and give voters confidence in his ability to deal with foreign leaders in a way that will promote the interests of the US? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485/60 "2012-07-27T12:45:20Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > actually, conservatives have been complaining about Obama giving Britain short shrift throughout his Presidency. I doubt that Romney insulting the Brits will go over well. It won’t hurt him, as the insult wasn’t very dire, he was giving an honest answer to an honest question on a subject he knew a lot about. I’m just about to head over to the Hannity forums to see how they handle this, but I’m betting the most common response will be, “Should he have just given the Queen an iPod?” They don’t need to defend it. They don’t need to explain it. All they have to do is try to make Obama look worse. And, when it’s all over, they’re going to vote for Romney- because he’s not Obama. Personally, I’m willing to chalk Romney’s statements up to a minor gaffe, likely caused by jetlag and possibly some nervousness. No big deal. I \*do \*find it rather amusing, though, considering how the right has been so intent on seeing the worst in anything Obama says (and even stooping so low as to selectively edit what he’s said). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-candidate-goes-to-london/629485.md?page=4)