Idiocy from Romney on the Middle East

I decided when I started writing this blog not to make specific comments on the politics of the Middle East. However, here's what I think of Mitt Romney's comment on the Middle East: What he said about Palestinian vs. Israeli culture accounting for economic differences is, to be charitable, deliberately superficial, and certainly absurd. Anyone who can disregard billions of foreign aid and investments sent to Israel, as well as the asymmetrical power relationship between Israel and the Palestinians, is either a fool or a knave. This of course fits what any reasonable person should already have observed about Mitt Romney.

Romney first denied that he meant these remarks, then recently said, yes, he did. Not only can't he decide on which side of an issue he stands, he can't seem to decide whether he said or meant any particular thing, even two days after videos and tapes caught his words. So strong is the Romney/Republican faith in the Big Lie that they simply refuse to acknowledge the accuracy of recording equipment.

American investors, especially American Jews, as well and the U.S. government as a whole, have bankrolled Israeli industry and its military for decades now. The fact the the Arab religious and political oligarchies have done so little for the Palestinians -- as well as their own populations -- is an absolute scandal and outrage. The Israelis know this of course.

So Mitt Romney, ever glib and ever stupid, bulls his way into the china shop -- ignoring facts and subtleties, ever on the lookout for the Florida Jewish vote. How despicable can you be?

BTW: Just heard via Harry Reid that a long-time Bain investor claims that Romney paid little or no income taxes in the years before the only two returns he made public (check out the HuffPo). Now of course this is simply an allegation, yet there certainly has to be some reason why Romney refuses to release these returns. They may also show the extent of the off-shore sheltering of his investments, and the fact that he gave nowhere near the 10% that he claims to always donate to the Mormon church. In any case, in spite of advice from many in his own party, he won't show us what he claims to be proud of. His main defense so far is to repeat a lie (see ref. to "Big Lie" above) about how many years of tax returns John Kerry released.

If the Democratic ad agencies and their supposed stable of Hollywood artists can exploit this, there should be a congressional investigation.