Mitt Romney's Slaphappy Israel Party: A Roundup

Mitt Romney had mondo problems winning over the British on the first leg of his diplomatic photo-op vacation, so you know what? Screw the "Special Relationship." Israel is now more special-er to the United States Empire than England ever was, harumph, so that's where Mitt Romney spent his last couple of days before jetting off to Poland. Oh, he saw the Western Wall, and some Israeli leaders, and stuff, and oh man, it's so much better than... it's just that England... grrr... England is stupid. What did Mitt Romney love the most about Israel?

• Was Mittens able to get Palestinian leaders to instantly call him a racist? Point: pointed. 

  GDANSK, Poland – A top Palestinian aide accused Mitt Romney today of making a “racist statement” when comparing the economic vitality of the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the Romney campaign said his remarks were “grossly mischaracterized.”

  Romney’s statement, the Palestinian said, appeared to credit Israel’s higher income to cultural differences.

  “It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation,” Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told the Associated Press. [...]

  The Romney campaign said the candidate’s remarks were “grossly mischaracterized,” pointing to previous statements by the presumptive nominee in which he has discussed nearby nations with vastly different economies. The campaign also circulated a transcript of Romney’s remarks at the private fundraiser, a move they usually reserve for public events only.

• And why not just give Israel the green light to obliterate the Islamic Republic of Iran whenever it feels like, while on a candidate tour? "The governor" has no objections. 

  “If Israel has to take action on its own,” Mr. Senor said in a briefing before the speech, “the governor would respect that decision.”

• Romney really loves Israel's socialized health care system. We have to figure out a solution to our health care costs, just like Israel did! (BUT IT MUST NOT BEAR ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ISRAEL'S SUCCESSFUL SYSTEM):

  "When our health care costs are completely out of control. Do you realize what health care spending is as a percentage of the GDP in Israel? 8 percent. You spend 8 percent of GDP on health care. And you’re a pretty healthy nation," Romney told donors at a fundraiser at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, speaking of a health care system that is compulsory for Israelis and funded by the government. "We spend 18 percent of our GDP on health care. 10 percentage points more. That gap, that 10 percent cost, let me compare that with the size of our military. Our military budget is 4 percent. Our gap with Israel is 10 points of GDP. We have to find ways, not just to provide health care to more people, but to find ways to finally manage our health care costs."

Now Romney is in Poland. Will he take it over? If not, the American people will judge him as too weak to be president.

[ ABC News , NYT , Buzzfeed ]