This has got to be a joke. After the Romneyshambles debacle of his trip to Britain, surely Mitt could at least visit Israel without sticking his foot in his mouth? Apparently not:
An adviser’s vague remark to reporters here left the press scrambling for nearly three hours this morning to determine whether Romney had promised to commit American forces or other support to a hypothetical Israel strike on Iran….Romney foreign policy advisor Dan Senor briefed the press on Sunday morning, saying, “if Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing the capability, the governor would respect that decision.”
The headline that hit news outlets across the globe by the Associated Press was: “Adviser: Romney would back strike against Iran,” implying, perhaps, that the U.S. could contribute forces to such a strike. Reuters ran with: “Romney backs Israel if needs to strike Iran: aide says.” Bloomberg’s headline: “Romney Says He’d Back Unilateral Israeli Strike on Iran.”
….The Romney campaign, meanwhile, went dark, with much of his top staff asleep in Boston or in meetings with Israeli leaders, as an international firestorm built over how Senor’s comments were being interpreted.
About three hours later, however, aides distributed a comment by Senor clarifying his remarks.
How could the Romney campaign possibly be this underprepared for its first big international outing? Dan Senor has been involved with foreign policy for two decades, and the Romney campaign is jam-packed with people who know the contours of Middle East policy inside out and know exactly which words you can use and which ones you can’t. What’s going on?
