Mitt Romney's candidacy

Number Nine

I don't think very many Democrats and independents consider Romney to be a "moderate"; certainly not as far right as the more fashionable Republican candidates, but not a moderate from the perspective of less "conservative Christian"-inclined Americans.

WhoWee

Why are you describing the independents/Dems in a religious framework - Mitt isn't running a religion-oriented campaign. Mitt is running primarily on his executive level experience.

Number Nine

I'm not describing him in a religious framework. That's not what I said.

WhoWee

You didn't describe Mitt that way - you described the voters that way - "but not a moderate from the perspective of less "conservative Christian"-inclined Americans."

Jimmy Snyder

Some mother, Mrs. Churo, told Romney that her daughter, serving in Afghanistan, wants to know why we are still there after having killed Bin Laden. The mother says the daughter is confused about why she is still there. I take it that the daughter thought the mission in Afganistan had been to take out Bin Laden which was not the case, and that when we did take him out and didn't leave, it dawned on her that the mission was a different one, but in the ensuing year she hadn't been able to ferret out what that mission was. Apparently, now she has given up trying. Quoting the mother quoting the daughter "There is no mission here. We have no definition of a mission."

Romney took a dim view of this. "If your daughter is not familiar with the mission that she's on, how in the world can the commander in chief sleep at night, knowing that we have soldiers in harm's way that don't know exactly, precisely, what it is that they're doing there". Actually, it was soldier, not soldiers, but he's proabably right, there's more than one. But here's the kicker. Romney knows what the mission is. Romney said, he fully understood its purpose to be helping Afghan forces to achieve sovereignty and security."

The way I see it, the President must have called Romney and told him what the mission was adding "but don't tell Churo." Then tried to get some sleep. Most likely it didn't sit well with Romney that he was keeping this information under his hat and couldn't sleep himself. That's why he figured the President couldn't sleep either. So it was a bleary-eyed Romney that slipped up and told the mother what the mission is. Hopefully, the mother will now tell her daughter and everybody can get some sleep.

WhoWee

Perhaps Mitt believes the soldier(s) should know why they are in harm's way - is that unreasonable?

Jimmy Snyder

Perhaps all he wanted was a reason to say something bad about Obama. Again, Romney knows why we are there. Why doesn't the soldier? Did Obama do something to prevent her from knowing what Romney knows?

WhoWee

I'm reading the quote you posted

""If your daughter is not familiar with the mission that she's on, how in the world can the commander in chief sleep at night, knowing that we have soldiers in harm's way that don't know exactly, precisely, what it is that they're doing there". "

and I don't see any indication that Mitt meant Obama did anything to prevent her from knowing anything - it also doesn't specify that Romney knows anything special - it infers (IMO) that President Obama has not communicated adequately with/to the troops. The comment (IMO) implies that President Obama doesn't have a strategic plan.

Jimmy Snyder

It doesn't mention strategic plan anywhere, just mission. And I still can't find out how Romney was able to find out what the mission is and the soldier wasn't. What could Obama have possibly done so that Romney knew and the soldier didn't know. After years of wondering too.

Edit. It might help to ask Romney how he found out what the mission is. If he could recall where he heard it, it might help us understand.

Gokul43201

If Mitt Romney were shown transcripts of speeches (yes, naturally they must be secret transcripts that only I - and Google - know of) given by the President to the troops (including a couple after Bin Laden's killing), where the Commander describes the mission to the troops, how would he reconcile that with his opinion on the President's amazing knack for slumber?

PS: This reminds me of a bit of trivia that I'll pose as a question: In 2006, Zogby polled about a 1000 members of the military that were stationed in Iraq at the time. What fraction of the respondents said that the U.S. mission in Iraq was mainly to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9-11 attacks? Choices: (1) less that 5% (2) 5% to 20% (3) 20% to 50% (4) more than 50%

mheslep

Point taken about misconceptions, confirmation bias among the public. To insure the point was general, and not a narrower political point, let me add my own: A Zogby 2007 poll of the US public found what fraction of Democrats believed Pres. Bush either let 911 happen or made it happen: 1)<5, 2)5-20, 3)20-41, 4)more than 42%?

WhoWee

Where does it say that Mitt claims to know the President's plan?

Gokul43201

It says so about halfway down Jimmy's post. Also, here, for instance: The former Massachusetts governor said he found the president's failure to make the mission clear one of the "most disturbing and hard to explain" elements of Obama's tenure. Though American troops may have a hard time finding clarity in their mission, Romney said, he fully understood its purpose to be helping Afghan forces to achieve sovereignty and security.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_1...leep-at-night/

Jimmy Snyder

This morning my wife asked me how I could sleep at night knowing that WhoWee didn't get the point. And here's the kicker. Then she said that she did get the point.

WhoWee

Ok - to be fair though, you only had one quotation mark - didn't think it was a direct quote.

( Actually, it was soldier, not soldiers, but he's proabably right, there's more than one. But here's the kicker. Romney knows what the mission is. Romney said, he fully understood its purpose to be helping Afghan forces to achieve sovereignty and security." )

Jimmy Snyder

Sorry to be so rough. The funny thing is, I support Romney and expect to vote for him in the general election. But this is the silly season and if he acts silly, I'll say so.

russ_watters

I don't see why this issue is so difficult. All that happened is that a soldier's mom said something stupid (under emotional strain, but still) and like any good politician should, Romney used it to take a cheap shot at Obama. So can we turn the page now from this silly tangent, please?