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Romney suffers fresh blow from Palestinian comments in leaked video Romney suffers fresh blow in second day of fallout from leaked video
(about 1 hour later)
Mitt Romney's battered presidential campaign was hit again on Tuesday with fresh material from a secretly recorded video in which he sets out his views on the Israel-Palestinian issue and claims the Palestinians are not interested in peace. Mitt Romney's battered presidential campaign slid further into crisis on Tuesday after the release of secretly recorded video excerpts revealed his privately held positions on key domestic and foreign policy issues.
Just a few hours after Romney was forced to defend describing 47% of Americans as government-dependent "victims" who do not pay taxes, a new excerpt of the video recorded at a private fundraiser with wealthy donors in May was released by liberal magazine Mother Jones. Just a few hours after Romney was forced to convene a press conference to defend comments in which he described 47% of Americans as government-dependent "victims" who do not pay taxes, a second clip was released in which the Republican is heard setting out his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, claiming the Palestinians are not interested in peace.
"I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, 'There's just no way'," Romney is heard to say. "And so what you do is you say, 'You move things along the best way you can.' You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognise that this is going to remain an unsolved problem." The revelations, which have forced the Romney campaign on to the defensive for the second week in succession, were met with dismay from conservative commentators and strategists, with one influential editor describing Romney's views as "stupid".
He then adds: "All right, we have a potentially volatile situation but we sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it." The video, which was obtained by the liberal magazine Mother Jones, is in a different league from the long list of self-inflicted gaffes by Romney over the summer. His campaign team, with their candidate already trailing Barack Obama, is anxiously awaiting the next batch of polls to see the extent of the fallout.
While the comments are not as devastating to his campaign as the 47% remarks revealed on Monday, his interpretation of a complex conflict is crude and will further enrage Palestinians still smarting from dismissive remarks he made about their culture on a recent visit to Israel. The video was shot during an hour-long appearance by Romney in May at a $50,000-a-head fund-raising dinner at the Florida home of investment banker Marc Leder. More excerpts are being lined up for release, making it impossible for his campaign to dampen the firestorm and return to its core focus, the economy.
Romney claimed that one of the reasons the creation of a Palestinian state on the West Bank would be difficult was that it could then become a base through which Iran and other Arab nations could channel rockets and other weapons to threaten the Israeli financial capital Tel Aviv. He describes Tel Aviv as being only seven miles from the West Bank, though in fact it is over 40 miles away. The latest clip shows Romney dismissing the chances of peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not an unusual view, but he then goes on to firmly put the blame solely on the Palestinians.
US presidents have attempted to portray themselves in the past as independent referees in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though in reality they have tended to side with Israel. Romney's comments rule him out of the role of independent arbiter. He contentiously described the the Palestinians as "committed to the destruction and elimination" of Israel and indicated he was unlikely to pursue, as president, the creation of a Palestinian state, warning that Iran would use it as a base for attacks on Israel.
The Israeli-Palestinian excerpt can be easily brushed aside by the Romney campaign but the 47% excerpt which was released on Monday is harder to handle.
Within the space of a few minutes, Romney managed to potentially offend the elderly, veterans, students, Latinos and other demographic groups, most of whom do, in fact, pay some taxes and have earned their entitlements.
In a remark that sounded especially callous from someone who claims that as president he would represent all Americans, he said: "My job is not to worry about those people."
One of the most destructive aspects of the video is the contrast between what he says in public and in private, opening him up to accusations of hypocrisy.
The release of the video came only hours after the Romney team, struggling in the polls and repeatedly forced on the defensive by the Obama campaign team, had announced it was rebooting its campaign.
The new-look strategy, in which Romney was to set out specific policies rather than focusing on attacking Obama, barely lasted 12 hours before the video emerged and the Romney campaign team was again engaged in damage-control.
The media coverage was almost entirely negative. The New York Daily News on its front page had the headline 'Mitt Hits The Fan'.
The Obama campaign was quick to jump on Romney's 47% remarks, with White House press secretary Jay Carney telling reporters on Tuesday that Obama was the president of all the people, not just those who voted for him. That was followed up with a new Obama campaign video in which footage from the 47% video was intercut with members of the public responding to it. "I actually felt sick to my stomach," said one woman.
But it is the reaction of conservatives that will cause the Romney campaign the most concern. Some are labelling his election run as the most inept they have seen in half a century.
The influential editor of the conservative Weekly Standard William Kristol described Romney's comments about the 47% as "arrogant and stupid" and hinted he should stand down in favour of his a ticket headed by his running mate Paul Ryan, with senator Marco Rubio as his vice-presidential candidate.
Mark McKinnon, who was one of John McCain's campaign advisers in the 2008 campaign and one of the few Republican strategists to go on the record yesterday, told the Hill magazine: "It's a kidney shot because it reveals a very cynical view. He's pushing independent voters out the door."
He added that it could help motivate disgruntled Democrats into turning out in large numbers for the election.
With seven weeks left, there is still time for Romney to turn it around, with the support of tens of millions of dollars in advertising and a good performance in the debates with Obama, the first scheduled for 3 October in Denver, Colorado.
Romney, who was scheduled to hold fundraising events in Salt Lake City and Dallas on Tuesday, looked uncharacteristically haggard when he held an impromptu press conference on Monday night to deal with the 47% video and offered up a rambling defence. He said he had been speaking "off the cuff" and describing his comments as not "elegantly stated".
While Romney's views expressed in the new excerpt about the Palestinians are not a major surprise given his strong expression of support for the Israeli prime minister Binyanmin Netanyahu, US presidents like to portray themselves as neutral referees in the conflict, even if in fact they lean towards Israel. Romney has blown any lingering prospect of being seen as a neutral arbiter.
"I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel," he said. He suggested he would not actively engage in the promotion of a peace process, as his predecessors have done.
One of the reasons he said that it is difficult to allow the creation of a Palestinian state on the West Bank is that it could then become a base to which Iran and other Arab nations channel rockets and other weapons to threaten the Israeli financial capital Tel Aviv. He described Tel Aviv as being only seven miles from the West Bank, though in fact it is over 40 miles away.
Indicating he would not be pushing for a two-state solution, the creation of Palestine to stand alongside Israel, he said: "All right, we have a potentially volatile situation but we sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it."
The Obama administration, apart from a few tentative attempts at the start of his presidency, has made no serious effort to resolve the conflict. The Obama administration has hinted that, free from the constraints of fighting another election, it might take a more robust approach to the issue in a second term.The Obama administration, apart from a few tentative attempts at the start of his presidency, has made no serious effort to resolve the conflict. The Obama administration has hinted that, free from the constraints of fighting another election, it might take a more robust approach to the issue in a second term.
Mother Jones says it obtained the video from an unnamed source who recorded it at a $50,000-a-head Romney fundraiser in Boca Raton, Florida, held by hedge fund boss Marc Leder. The magazine has more excerpts lined up, making it impossible for the Romney campaign to dampen down the firestorm and get back to its core strategy of attacking Barack Obama's handling of the economy.
The media reaction to the 47% claim has been overwhelmingly negative. The New York Daily News on its front page had the headline 'Mitt Hits The Fan', while the editor of the conservative Weekly Standard William Kristol described Romney's comments as "arrogant and stupid" and hinted he should stand down in favour of a ticket headed by his running mate Paul Ryan, with senator Marco Rubio as his vice-presidential candidate.
The Obama campaign was quick to jump on Romney's 47% remarks, with campaign manager Jim Messina accusing the Republican of "disdainfully writing off half the nation". Ted Strickland, former Democratic governor of Ohio told CNN the problem with Romney was that he "spoke from his heart and that's what troubles me".
With seven weeks left, there is still time for Romney to turn it around, with the support of millions of dollars in advertising and a good performance in the debates with Obama, the first scheduled for 3 October in Denver, Colorado.
But Romney looked uncharacteristically haggard when he held an impromptu press conference on Monday night to offer up a rambling defence of the video revelations. He confirmed the authenticity of the video and opted against disavowing the views expressed in it. He said only that the case was not "elegantly stated" and that he had "spoken off the cuff".
The controversy broke only hours after the Romney campaign set out to recalibrate its strategy. It said it would attempt to give a clearer, more positive picture of their candidate as it seeks to regain the initiative with just 50 days to go until the election.
The new strategy will not abandon negative campaigning, but will focus on positive ads as well as speeches to spell out the Romney would pursue in office, in particular his five-point economic plan.
Romney began his campaign early in the summer intent on making the election about Obama's economic record and making himself as small a target as possible by disclosing little about his own policies.
But since then there has barely been a clear week in which Romney has been able to get his message across, either because of a barrage of ads on his record as chief executive of Bain Capital and his unwillingness to release more than two years' worth of tax records, or because of gaffes on his own side.