Romney courts donors, raises cash in Israel (Palestinian leaders-comments racist and out of touch)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By KASIE HUNT

JERUSALEM (AP) - Mitt Romney told Jewish donors Monday that their culture is part of what has allowed them to be more economically successful than the nearby Palestinians, outraging Palestinian leaders who called his comments racist and out of touch.

"As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality," the Republican presidential candidate told about 40 wealthy donors who breakfasted around a U-shaped table at the luxurious King David Hotel.

The reaction of Palestinian leaders to Romney's comments was swift and pointed.

"What is this man doing here?" said Saeb Erekat, a top Palestinian official. "Yesterday, he destroyed negotiations by saying Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and today he is saying Israeli culture is more advanced than Palestinian culture. Isn't this racism?"

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120730/DA0B67380.html

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American businessman Sheldon Adelson, who has said he will donate millions to Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign, is seated before Romney delivers a speech in Jerusalem, Sunday, July 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

[Laurian]

1. Adelson is one creepy looking guy.....ugh.

[Scootaloo]

3. Separated at birth?

[Berlum]

10. "I am your father, Willard." - Darth Adelsen-Vader (R)

"Well, if not literally your pop, I am your ReGrubLICKan 1% "Family-Values" CashMoneyBucks Las Vegas Payola PuppetMaster"

- Darth Adelsen-Vader (R)

[progressivebydesign]

18. Oh my. Best post, ever. n/t

[hlthe2b]

4. Pasty little cretin, isn't he?

[Berlum]

13. Ya gotta wonder whether Willard got his THING about gambling from Adelsen

[CarmanK]

9. That's because he is a very, very rich creep who would destroy democracy to save his ass from DOJ

He is under investigation by the DOJ for violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices ACT. How much would you pay to stay out of jail? His dealings in Macau are suspect.

[elleng]

20. Just thining the same thing.

UGH!

[Enrique]

2. the "power of culture"

it must be their Anglo-Saxon work ethic, right Mitt?

And Mitt i am sure has the same analysis of the economic disparities between American whites and blacks. Its the "culture".

[starroute]

21. He should apply his keen analytical skills to the United States

And tell us all about how the culture of the Northeast and New England is highly superior to that of the Deep South -- and how the culture of California is vastly superior to that of Utah.

[Capt. Obvious]

5. Romney retroactively addresses National Party of South Africa

"Your Afrikaner culture is what allows your economy to be robust and thriving. Now compare that to the neighboring bantustan of Bophuthatswana which wallows in dire poverty."

[ohgeewhiz]

14. Fantastic analogy! Well done! n/t

[Capt. Obvious]

17. Thank you

[Stuckinthebush]

6. Such one dimensional thinking is dangerous

The President of the United States can't be such a lazy thinker. Look where it got us with Bush.

[Igel]

22. Prosperity has many mothers.

Some people like including "black sheep" mothers. Others insist that they be excluded.

Look at Jared Diamond. He gave a lot of people a belief. He wasn't forceful enough in deriding the "all or nothing" kind of thinking that many of his readers needed.

Diamond's right. But Diamond didn't argue for everything he thought. He didn't need to. He presented what he thought missing. He's a counterpoint to a school of thought that was being developed at about the same time, but which most of Diamond's readers never were aware of. He was one hand clapping, knew he was one hand clapping, said he was one hand clapping. We saw the waving and thought the argument was about the waving because it said a civilization isn't responsible for what it has or for its collapse. We saw him waving his hand and thought he was conducting; he was focused on the sound the two hands' clapping made.

In Collapse he pointed out how important the environment was. This was also viewed as something external to civilizations, and often they are--you have a 200-year drought, that's a real stress on a civilization and it's bound to fail.

I happen to think that things like equal rights, respect for law, consideration of the common good, freedom of speech, social trust that leads to medium sized organizations and social structures, hard work, valuing education, long-term thinking, believing that effort is strongly correlated with success, rational thought and science, are all mothers of prosperity. So is environmentalism, after a certain point (but not before).

They're also all cultural traits. That was a large part of Diamond's _Collapse_. It was a cultural trait that Diamond, being who he is, could point to as being important. It was a rebuttal to those who thought he was conducting when he was trying to clap. It didn't sell as well. And again, as he was trying to slap people they again saw him waving his hands and believed he was conducting. His focus was still "clapping."

I also think that using words like "advanced" culture is like calling somebody a "bigot." It's not meant to understand or dialog, it's meant to shut down the other person and extreme offense--offendedness and offensiveness. People adapt their culture to conditions as needed; they also tend to stick with cultural traits long after they've become an economic drag on the civilization (but that's okay: viewing everything through the prism of money or the economy is *also* a cultural trait).

The Palestinian economy was soaring at one point. It was doing well, prosperity was on the increase, unemployment falling. Then it flatlined. It flatlined for cultural reasons. The intifada shut it down. Soon after that the Israelis locked down the West Bank and gave everybody the Diamondesque reason they wanted. As it is, the Pal economy needs more links to the outside. Why it should be any better than the Jordanian or Syrian economy is a mystery. They're limited not by external, Diamondesque factors, but by internal factors. This is as true now as it was in the 1920s and 1910s.

[valerief]

7. Somehow I don't think Mr. White-White-White Man has auburn hair naturally. nt

[Laurian]

11. I think it's a hoot when old men dye their hair an unnatural color.

Do you think he looks in the mirror in the morning and thinks, "Damn, I look good!". Remember Strom Thurmond? Same color.....

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

33. Strom did have a natural color since he combed his hair with buttered wheat toast.

[CarmanK]

8. Foreign money funneled into AMERICAN ELECTIONS?

And of course the plight of the Palestinians would have nothing to do with the restraints the Israeli's have put on the Palestinians? the Palestinians are an oppressed ppl, surrounded by a hostile ppls who lust after their land and want to destroy them at any cost. The building of settlements on Palestinian territory is a stick in the face of the Palestinians. The Israeli's are making the Palestinians pay for all their grievances throughout the centuries. there could be peace in the promised land as more and more Arab countries achieve indepedennce from tyranny and the generations of hatred that have plagued their ancestors.

[bemildred]

12. Ha ha, I'll bet you thought that was illegal?

Like the integrity of our elections was an important issue?
Fat chance.

[BeHereNow]

16. +1000. Romney seeking financial support from a foreign sovereign nation, and nobody says, WTF?

Really?
Guess, we the people, just don't have enough collective cash to have a say
in out elections.

SO, other countries buy their way into our elections-

Hmmm.

Nothing to see, move along...

BHN

[ohgeewhiz]

15. God, he's only a Republican candidate and he's

already more dangerous than Bush-2!

Can you imagine W saying these things 12 years ago?

[progressivebydesign]

19. He brought his OWN donors from America for that little bus-tour-of-the-Holy-Land cash grab.

that's just shocking to me. that anyone, outside of that creep Adelson, would actually support a guy that takes a fucking bus tour with his DONORS of the Holy Land. It's like a Disneyland ride for billionaires.

Of course, the FEC reports that 60% of Romney's own campaign cash comes from THREE families. Yep.. three. He has no real base of support among the actual voters, but he has at least one billion for attack ads.

I truly hope that the media in America, who is not tethered by their right wing corporate Boards, get to work on Romney, and tell the damn truth about him. Stop portraying hm as some feckless multi-millionaire man of faith who just wants to be President, gosh darn it!

He is the slimiest candidate we've had since Nixon, but I think Nixon actually had some friends. Does Romney have actual friends?? Other than the creepy billionaires that support him because they WANT something??? I mean.. do you think Adelson wants something for his money?? Deregulation for casinos?

EDIT to ADD: WISH I could draw. I'd do a Cash Cab with his donors in it, touring the Holy Land.

[ohgeewhiz]

25. Good post: and regarding Adelson, he's

under investigation for suspicion of violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices act. That means, Adelson wants to buy one thing with 1/1000th of his many billions... he wants Romney elected to call the dogs off of the investigation into whether Adelson violated any federal laws in by bribing the foreign government officials.

PBS, NPR and Rachel Maddow have done stories on this. One link here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/his-man-in-macau-inside-the-investigation-into-sheldon-adelsons-empire/

And here is a nice long explanation and interview with Rachel Maddow, with lots of fun background info.

Just Google, "Adelson FCPA investigation" for more.

[xtraxritical]

23. All that money and he looks like that?

[Zoeisright]

24. That sums up Willard perfectly.

Racist and out of touch.

[cstanleytech]

26. I thought it was illegal for foreign nationals to donate money unless

they had permanent resident status here in the US?

[Marrah_G]

27. that guy looks really creepy

[Stuart G]

28. So, Romney doesn't know what to say again???really?????

Good for us..cause some (old style, ) rea Republicans that know about this country, will now see what a waste Romney is.
You know, I've read here that there are some out there. Not the nutty teabaggers, but someone like Dick Lugar, yes, he
knows how dangerous language like this is...

Romney again proves he hasn't got a clue...not even a small one..

[Fritz67]

29. Willard does have lots of Neo Con advisors...

...and we know how badly the Neo Cons are practically masturbating to the thought of starting new wars in the Middle East.

Who would have thought their strategery would be "Send Mitt Romney over to insult everyone and piss them of badly enough that maybe they'll start shooting each other"?

[XemaSab]

30. I'm sort of surprised that the Jews themselves aren't pissed about this

To me, it sounds an awful lot like "Boy, you Jews sure are good with money!"

[Spitfire of ATJ]

32. Romney just told them he considers Jews to be as good as him.

Ain't that nice?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

31. Sheldon Adelson looks like warmed over death in this pic.

[img][/img]

Is that a missing patch of hair on the side of his head? Are we seeing the results of transplants gone bad?

[Betsy Ross]

34. I'm Jewish and think his comment was racist, and more specifically, anti-Semitic. n/t