# Once Again Romney Says The Same Thing As Obama But Claims It's Different **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 26, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484 "2012-07-26T19:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484/41 "2012-07-29T10:00:56Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Al Qaeda was effectively part of the government. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484/42 "2012-07-29T10:13:55Z")
Bin Laden was able to forge an alliance between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Al Qaeda-trained 055 Brigade integrated with the Taliban army between 1997 and 2001. Several hundred Arab Afghan fighters sent by bin Laden assisted the Taliban in the Mazar-e-Sharif slaughter.[245] The so-called Brigade 055 was also responsible for massacres against civilians in other parts of Afghanistan.[20] From 1996 to 2001 the organization of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri had become a virtual state within the Taliban state. Taliban-Al-Qaeda connections were also strengthened by the reported marriage of one of bin Laden’s sons to Omar’s daughter. While in Afghanistan, bin Laden may have helped finance the Taliban.[246][247] After the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, bin Laden and several Al-Qaeda members were indicted in U.S. criminal court.[248] The Taliban rejected extradition requests by the U.S., variously claiming that bin Laden had “gone missing”,[249] or that Washington “cannot provide any evidence or any proof” that bin Laden is involved in terrorist activities and that “without any evidence, bin Laden is a man without sin… he is a free man.”[250][251] Bin Laden pretty much owned the Taliban. > **[Taliban](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban#Al_Qaeda)** > > Factions: > The Taliban (/ˈtælɪbæn, ˈtɑːlɪbɑːn/; Pashto: طالبان, romanized: ṭālibān, lit. 'students' or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,\[a\] is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist and Pashtun nationalist militant political movement in Afghanistan. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the American invasion. It recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 following the ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484/43 "2012-07-29T21:13:57Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Disliking Mitt Romney because he’s a spineless politician with no core beliefs would be as bad as… well, disliking Barack Obama because he’s a spineless politician with no core beliefs. … That was a nice list of Romney flip-flops, but my list of Obama flip-flops was just off the top of my head, and they are performance flip-flops, which gives them more weight. [QUOTE=adaher in another thread] Obama is capable of neither because he refuses to change course. He acts as if the 2010 election never happened. He just keeps proposing the same bills he proposed before 2010. ([http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15324346&postcount=189](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15324346&postcount=189)) [/QUOTE] So you’re against Obama because he’s a spineless flip-flopper who is too inflexible to change his positions. Not quite as impressive as disliking him for being a secret atheist Muslim follower of Rev. Wright, but not bad. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484/44 "2012-07-30T03:52:05Z")
I dislike Obama because he’s performed poorly and won’t take responsiblity for it. Secondly, the conditions that he claims prevent him from succeeding will still exist in his 2nd term. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484/45 "2012-07-30T20:43:05Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I dislike Obama because he’s performed poorly Can you elaborate on this please? What metrics are you using? How are you scoring his performance? How does his performance compare with our last president? Better? Worse? How so? What things did you want him to accomplish that he didn’t? Did the republicans cooperate with him to get these things done, or did they do everything they could to prevent it? Do you also place blame on them for preventing the things that you wanted Obama to do, or do you only blame Obama for not getting all of the things done that you wanted him to succeed at? Did you want him to succeed at all once he was elected? I suspect that you did not. I suspect that you never liked Obama, you didn’t want him elected, you don’t agree with the things that he wants to do, and are glad for whatever he was stopped from doing by the republicans, but are now acting all hurt that he didn’t get everything done that he said he wanted to during his term, and now you’re claiming that that’s the reason that you don’t want to vote for him this time. In other words, I think your criticisms are independent of the reality of the last four years, and you’d be against him now no matter what had played out just like you were against him then. There’s nothing wrong with being a team player, but its better if you just admit it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484/46 "2012-07-30T20:48:52Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Drones require human intelligence on the ground to be effective. Otherwise they are only marginally more useful than cruise missiles. So what? We can get intelligence. Look, AQ is operating in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. They don’t need Afghanistan. And there is nothing unique about Afghanstan. If we had to occupy every country where AQ went to hide, we’d be occupying half a dozen countries today. > [@](#): > > They are attached at the hip. Not really. The Taliban is local movement, uninterested in world affairs except as they affect Afghanistan. AQ are “foreign fighters” with a bigger agenda. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484/47 "2012-07-30T20:52:35Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > Can you elaborate on this please? **adaher** never responded to my request in post #19 for some examples of Obama flip-flops. It wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t respond to you. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484/48 "2012-07-30T20:58:21Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > **adaher** never responded to my request in post #19 for some examples of Obama flip-flops. It wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t respond to you. Yeah, I’m not holding my breath really. He also claimed that Obama too rigidly sticks to his agenda at the same time as saying that he’s a spineless flip-flopper. I’m not really sure how that is supposed to work. Logic seems to dictate that both of these can’t be true simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484/49 "2012-07-30T21:46:20Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Secondly, the conditions that he claims prevent him from succeeding will still exist in his 2nd term. I don’t know if that’s guaranteed. If the Republicans’ pure obstructionism tactics aren’t rewarded by the electorate, they may just drop them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-romney-says-the-same-thing-as-obama-but-claims-its-different/629484.md?page=2)