Peace in the Middle East -- probably not going to happen, and it’s Palestinians’ fault, according to Mitt Romney.
That was the sentiment from the Republican nominee for president at a closed-door fundraiser, according to released excerpts of video from the left-leaning magazine Mother Jones. Romney painted Palestinians as “having no interest” in peace and “committed to the destruction of Israel.”
“I'm torn by two perspectives in this regard,” Romney said when asked how he thinks the “Palestinian problem can be solved.” “One is the one that I've had for some time which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.”
This contradicts public comments from Romney that he believes in a "two-state solution." “I believe in a two-state solution which suggests there will be two states, including a Jewish state," he told the newspaper Haaretz.
Romney talks about the difficulty in establishing borders for an independent Palestine that would allow Israelis to thwart the flow of weapons from Iran to the region.
“We have got to keep the Iranians from bringing weaponry into the West Bank,” Romney said.
Related: Leaked video is the latest hit for Romney
He adds: “These are problems that are very hard to solve. And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes -- committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel. I just say there is no way, and so, what you do is you move things along the best way you can and hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize this is going to remain an unsolved problem.
Former Gov. John Sununu talks Mitt Romney's remarks saying his comments were "in response to a president who has decided to run a campaign on class warfare."
“The idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up, to give the Palestinians to act is the worst thing in the world. We have done that time and time again. It does not work. The only answer is to show strength again, American strength, American resolve and the Palestinians someday reach a point where they want peace or that we are trying to force peace on them. That is worth having a discussion. But until then it's just a political thing.”
Recommended: Conservatives reaction mixed to Romney 47 percent video
Romney has been sharply critical of President Obama's handling of the Israeli-Palestinian relationship -- in particular, President Obama's urging Israel to halt settlement expansion.
American presidents have struggled for decades to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Though the United States has provided Israel with military support and arms, it has traditionally maintained a role of neutrality when it comes to discussing the peace process.
This is not the first time Romney has found himself in the midst of controversy when it comes to Israeli-Palestinian issues.
Back in July, at a fundraiser during his overseas trip, Romney implied Palestinian “culture” was to blame for lower gross-domestic product in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority versus Israel.
“Culture makes all the difference,” Romney said. “Culture makes all the difference.”
The Romney campaign did not immediately respond to an email request for response.
A full transcript of the exchange is below:
QUESTION: You were in Jerusalem. And we appreciate you being there. How do you think that the Palestinian problem can be solved? What are you going to do about it?
ROMNEY: “I'm torn by two perspectives in this regard. One is the one that I've had for some time which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish. Now why do I say that? Some might say because the Palestinians have West Bank and have security and have set up a separate nation for the Palestinians. And then come a couple of thorny questions. I don't have a map here to look at the geography. But the border between Israel and the West Bank is obviously right there right next to Tel Aviv, which is the financial capital the industrial capital of Israel the center of Israel.
It's what the border would be seven miles from Tel Aviv to what would the West Bank. Nine miles, okay I came close. Nine miles. The challenge is the other side of the West Bank, the other side of what would be this new Palestinian state would be Syria at one point or Jordan. Of course the Iranians would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did to Lebanon what they did in Gaza, which is the Iranians would want to bring missile and armament into West bank and potentially threaten Israel.
So Israel of course would have to say that can't happen; we have got to keep the Iranians from bringing weaponry into the West Bank. Well that means who, the Israelis would patrol the border between Jordan, Syria, and this new Palestinian nation. Well the Palestinians would say no way we are an independent nation, you can't guard our border with other Arab nations. How about the airport? How about flying into this Palestinian nation? Are we going to allow military aircraft to come in and weaponry to come in, if not who is going to keep it from coming in? Well the Israelis. The Palestinians are going to say well we are not an independent nation if Israel is able to come in and tell us what to land in our airport.
These are problems that are very hard to solve. And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes. Committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel. [inaudible] I just say there is no way and so what you do is you move things along the best way you can and hope for some degree of stability but you recognize this is going to remain an unsolved problem.
The idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up, to give the Palestinians to act is the worst thing in the world we have done that time and time again. It does not work. The only answer is to show strength again, American strength, American resolve and the Palestinians someday reach a point where they want peace or that we are trying to force peace on them. That is worth having a discussion. But until then it's just a political thing.


Mitt mitt mitt mitt
Whats up with all that ...?
Don't you get it?
You do not know jack.....
Your approval rating will take a hit
But then again, it was not much to begin with..
Actually.todays [sept. 18th] RASMUSSEN Daily Tracking Poll has Romney UP over Obama by 2%.
Rasmussen was the most accurate poll in the 2008 Presidential election.
Yeah right, rasmussen's hebrew edition maybe..
Hilarious.
In other words,you're too afraid to actually look it up.Now THAT'S funny!
Todays RASMUSSEN Daily Tracking Poll has Romney UP 2% on Obama.
Rasmussen was the most accurate national poll in the 2008 election.
Dream Mike, dream...
American people are too smart to follow somebody who supports greedy, ungrateful, backstabbing criminal freaking brats.
Here is a NY Times assessment of Rasmussen's poor performance in 2008:
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/rasmussen-polls-were-biased-and-inaccurate-quinnipiac-surveyusa-performed-strongly/
Mike is living in a rather desperate fantasy world, it seems.
Mike believes Wikipedia, too. Hey Mike, I have some property to sell you, it's best seen at low tide.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Pew Research Center and Rasmussen Reports were the most accurate in predicting the results of the 2008 election, according to a new analysis by Fordham University political scientist Costas Panagopoulos.
The Fordham analysis ranks 23 survey research organizations on their final, national pre-election polls, as reported on pollster.com.
On average, the polls slightly overestimated Obama’s strength. The final polls showed the Democratic ahead by an average of 7.52 percentage points — 1.37 percentage points above his current 6.15-point popular vote lead. Seventeen of the 23 surveys overstated Obama’s final victory level, while four underestimated it. Only two — Rasmussen and Pew — were spot on.
Sorry, Mike. You're full of @!$%#. Rasmussen is famous as the least reliable polling service. Nice try, though.
Ill yell ya....if you want the latest information on the Muslim unrest,NBC is not the choice...but if you want to know about Jennifer Anistons pregnant stomach,this is home..
Ain't that the truth.
MEMRI.ORG - They catalogue hundreds of translated arab-muslim articles,TV programming,newspaper cartoons etc. It's eye opening for those who've never seen how intenesly hateful their media is.It makes Obama's apologies look totally insane.
He is right. When the state of Israel was formed after WW11 the Palestinians swore that they would never settle for the split of the land and that they would fight till the end of time.
Now they want to say that was not the case. Yes it was!
The Jews were OK with what they got. They were grateful for whatever they were getting after the war.
I don't believe in any religion so taking sides is not my thing, but history, yes.
So in a way yes, it is their fault. Would they have just taken what was divided up then, they would not have lost any land in the war that followed.
They lost the land because they were the aggressors and they wanted ALL the land. They didn't win, so to this day they are crying foul.
Well guess what, this land has changed hands so many times over the last what 3000 yrs, that to say it belongs MORE to one group than the other is pure Bullsh*t.
The leaders at the end of the war did what they thought was best for all involved in the war.
Nobody, not the Russians, Germans, or other countries got exactly what they wanted. So why should the Palestinians have gotten exactly what they wanted? That is just how the spoils of war go.
Wow, he's giving up on mid-east peace before ever getting started. Guess if you set the bar low then people aren't too disappointed. Wonder if that's his real plan for the economy and that's why he won't tell us details. The new Romney campaign slogan? "Oh why bother?" Gotta love that enthusiasm. Gave up on 47% of the U.S. population, gave up on working towards peace, gave up on the values he had such a short time ago.... Maybe we should just give him his 'participator' ribbon and a cup of cocoa now.
Question? How is Romney planning to finance WWIII? oh! i get it...by elimination ObamaCare,Social Security,Food stamps,public education,student loans and low interest mortgage subsidies for first buyers... in return he will create millions of jobs in tank and weapons factories!!! yeahh!!! so unemployment will drop because of the following:
1. More factory jobs in defense
2. Less workers available since about a million young people will die.
3. Reduce Social Security payments, it won't be needed since so many old folks will die.
4. His stock options will increase since factories will be steaming head.
So is a win /win situation for him!!!
Just make sure you insure your bunkers!!!
So many opinions, and so many vantage points!
Opinion: There is no such thing as a Palestinian, it is an invented nationality.
Truth: Are there any non-invented nationalities? Unless one believes that the world was created the way it is now, along with instant political borders. The fact is that what we now know as countries, is a relatively new concept, and the modern political entities we call countries only developed over the past 250 years or so. Before settling on the name Israel, which was a last minute decision, Israelis were known in the US and the rest of the world as Palestinian Jews.
Opinion: Muslims were dropped in by aliens, when Jews have been living there 3,000 years before Islam.
Truth: no one has been able to document the aliens theory, but I'll agree: Islam came a good 2-3 millenniums after Judaism. The same goes for Christianity. So what? the people who became Muslim, either by choice or at the edge of the sword, were already there. Just because they did not worship the God of Moses does not make them non-existent. Gazans are indeed Egyptians, and their culture is different from the West Bank, but is that an excuse for keeping all these people living the way they are?
Opinion: Egypt and Jordan are the only two countries who made peace with Israel.
Truth: Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania have all normalized diplomatic relations with Israel. For that matter, I will point out that Canada and the USA have not signed peace treaties with Israel. Why? because they're not at war. The only Arab countries that actively engaged in War with Israel are: Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. A couple of other Arab countries talked big, but never engaged (Iraq and Algeria). The UAE has exchanged trade and cooperation missions with Israel, but they were never at active war with each other. The PLO removed the elimination of Israel from its charter, and the Camp David accords, as well as a number of subsequent accords, show that they want a two-state solution.
Opinion: The land of Israel was and will always be the homeland of the Jews. We don't see Israeli Jews who were thrown out of Iraq, Iran, Syria asking for their land, (right of return) homes, businesses, etc back (about 800,000 of them). Perhaps those countries should give the Jews former properties to the "Palestinians", and call it square?
Truth: Oddly enough, the Arabs who were displaced had always called the land their own. While there have alway been Jews there, there have always been "Arabs" as well. They were not always Muslim, as religion came later. In fact, they all look the same: Jews and Arabs (Middle Eastern Jews that is). I'm reading a book written by one of our Ambassadors to Israel, and he describes the meeting between the Saudi King and FDR in 1945. FDR was trying to convince the Saudi to allow at least one million Jews to settle in Palestine, and the Saudi King said: do you want to displace people, so you can replace them with other people? how is that fair? FDR: but they were displaced by Germany and Poland. Saudi King: aren't you winning that war? why don't you give them the choice of German and Polish homes, instead of pushing people out of their homes in Palestine. At the end of the meeting, FDR changed his mind, and gave the Saudis a letter committing not to support partition.
Opinion: Arabs are savages who do not wish peace.
Truth: with the exception of oil-rich Arab countries, most of the Arab countries are third world countries. Poverty, and near illiteracy rules, and religion is all they have. You ask "how is this my problem"? and to a point, it's not. But, that we can watch settlers, take over more and more of the West Bank, and then expect Arabs whose lands are taken away not to react to it. Of course if you believe that they're just Arabs, so why don't they just go live with their brethren elsewhere, then it's not even a logical starting point for a conversation. It would be like telling the Lakotas that they should go live with their brethren on a reservation elsewhere.. Wait, never mind, we've already done that...
Fact is that Muslim fanaticism scares the living crap out of me, but continuing to marginalize Arabs, and Muslims, is not going to make the situation any better.
Back to Romney: I am not sure this guy is any better than Palin. If Palestinians have the West Bank, they will have a direct route to Iran? Is he serious? in fact, the West bank is wrapped by Israel on one end, and Jordan on the other. I don't imagine Israel will allow Iranian arms through, and Jordan is a Sunni-Muslim kingdom, that fears Iran more than Israel. This guy should get a lesson in geography. This is not to mention that the West Bank looks like a piece of Swiss cheese that's growing more holes every day, and where people have to stop at multiple road blocks, in between Israeli checkpoints (protecting settlements), just to get to and from work.
It's easy to paint people as savaged to justify not to have to consider all sides of a story, but it's not fair.
Yep,though a little long.
Before the P.L.O. came along "Palestinian" meant "Jew".Palestine [now mostly Jordan] was the Jewish region.That's why Balfour promised it to the Zionists after WWI - only to renege on the promise.Only after the Palestine Liberation Organization sized the name did the arabs in that area start calling themselves "palestinian".
No Pacis Dream, your the phony people. Your an Ashkanazi pretending to be a jew. Read REV.2-9 Beaware of the man calling himself a jew who is not a jew, satan has his synagogue. Revelations the anti-christ will be of hebrew origin. God has warned us of you murdering thieves.
ROTFLOL!!!! FRICKIN' HILARIOUS!
Enjoy the vids of your crazy people burning their own societies to the ground and killing each other.Virtually all the victims of political violence in the muslim world are other muslims.Ya'll are eating your own.
So by all means keep on keepin' on! LOL! Chop off hands n' heads,beat women,hang teenagers from construction cranes for "social crimes" and lets get some more of them mass graves filled! You're well on your way to success!!!!
As Israel's demographics change, so do the chances for an actual peace accord with Palistinians and other Arab neighbors. The conservative orthodox population is growing at twice the rate of the secular Jewish population. Within 20 years they can be in the majority, and therefore be major players in politics, policy and dipomacy. They want to reclaim all lands that they believe were a part of Israel historically and mythologically. And they think that G-d will help secure those lands (ie. by helping them destroy their enemies). Israel may end up being as radically expansionist as the most radical Islamists such as Al-qaida
Thank you very much Tom for the truth. Not all of us jews think like the zionist.
Romney as President is what is unthinkable. He misread the situation on the ground in LONDON, at the OLYMPICS, which headed before (remember when he got all that money from the Federal Government for that one?), and he has proven to be a buffoon nearly every day since. Jimmy Carter is a more moral, better man than Mitt, and so is Barack Obama, and so is every person NOT calling themselves of member of the regressive, immoral, hypocritical, war-profiteering GOP.
If this country defaults on it's debt a state of emergency will be declared and AUSTERITY will be imposed.Every social program the poor and working class now rely on will be slashed,then slashed again.And it will be done in a crises with no way out.Markets will be in free fall,along with it the economy and along with that ---- tax revenues.
A horror show.
Incredibly the President demonstrates no urgency and has no serious plan to avert this crises.Above all,because of the current circumstances,Obama is the greatest threat to the poor and middle class in this country's history.His intent means nothing.His policy failures - everything.
It is an outrage that Mitt Romney thinks that peace between the Palestinians and Israelis is almost unthinkable. Obviously, the Governor does not want to get his hands dirty, in trying to formulate any workable solution. So if he becomes President, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not affect him whatsoever? Did Sheldon Adelson's money pay him to say that?
If this country defaults on it's debt a state of emergency will be declared and AUSTERITY will be imposed.Every social program the poor and working class now rely on will be slashed,then slashed again.And it will be done in a crises with no way out.Markets will be in free fall,along with it the economy and along with that ---- tax revenues.
A horror show.
Incredibly the President demonstrates no urgency and has no serious plan to avert this crises.Above all,because of the current circumstances,Obama is the greatest threat to the poor and middle class in this country's history.His intent means nothing.His policy failures - everything.
Just last week, the Obama administration started its third round of printing fiat money (currency that a government has declared to be legal tender, despite the fact that it has no intrinsic value and is not backed by reserves). $600 billion is the current estimate. That's almost $2,000 apiece for every man, woman, and child in the country! Massive inflation is now inevitable.
Under Romney, inflation may be relatively mild; under Obama it will be brutal.
Those of you who are still planning to vote for Obama - what's your plan for when you see the buying power of your savings and income cut in half?
A Palestinian state will be established in the so-called West Bank just as soon as the United States gives in to the demands of Louis Farrakhan and his Muslim followers for an independent state of their own. Maybe they would settle for everything beyond the West Bank of the Potomoc River. Oh, by the way, the Mexican government has always wanted the USA to return California and New Mexico; both of which were taken from them by force of arms. You might consider it to be 'Occupied Territory.'
Romney gets it! The culture of the Palestinians is fundamentally different from those of civilized countries like Israel and the US. There are thousands of examples of this difference, but one, in particular, illustrates the contrast very well:
The Palestinians put a suicide bomb vest on a mentally handicapped Palestinian teenager, Hussam Abdo. Instead of simply shooting him at the border, the Israelis helped him disarm the vest and saved his life. The life that the Palestinians had just tried to destroy. US or European soldiers would have been merciful, too.
It is far more important than posturing or politics to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the nations, like Israel, who share our core values.
Romney's clear vision and clear statements are just what the US desperately needs.
Mitt Romney clearly wants to be a "War President". Remember how the last "War President" worked out? Not too good huh?
Like this one ???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufcSskWteiI&feature=related
Vote for Romney, get World War III.
Get World War III, finish bankrupting the country.
And that's how the great experiment called "USA" ends.
Mitt Romney is nationally 5% behind in the polls...
If they would just survey people, who think that marrying outside the family is a bad idea, Mitt would be way ahead !
He would also have a substantial lead with people, who are missing 3 or more teeth !
If you don't believe something is possible, then you can never do it. I for one don't want anyone in the white house that doesn't believe he can bring peace to any place. The arab coast is not in flames with muslims that hate us. A few hunderd protesters and a small group of miltant is about the same as the christians terrorist here that blow of feberal buildings and clinics. They just like to kill, like mad dogs, put both out of our misery then there will be peace.
The GOP/RNC "Speculator and Chief" is a clear "War Hawk." He is not only dumb on all Foreign Policy Issues, and very dangerous on how he is unable to think clearly. "Romulian Romney" has no clear plan for the Middle East, and has NO intent on leading as President on this issue. He clearly stated this on the video, and he believes that to compromise is "Evil." It is fact that "Chump=Change-Cheney" will be running the Foreign Policy issues for he "Speculator and Chief." This incompetent will do nothing about the Middle East, and he has NO Clue of what to do. Watch this part of the video Ameica, and then come to your own conclusions. A "Flip-Flopper" on Foreign Policy is too radioactive for the world to endure.
Does anyone know if Romney leveled any smart ass cracks at Jimmy Carter today ???
Paybacks are HELL ain't they MITT old boy ??
LMFAO !!!
The reason why the Democrats are playing the "class warfare" card is because Republican policies and conservative ideology have seperated this country especially along the lines of income......the reason why we have a Progressive Tax Code is because the Democrats finally stood up for the little guy because they got sick of "trickle down economics." Let's clear the playing field on both sides shall we!
The simmering religious in the Middle East may eventually destroy civilization. Mitt “Cyborg” Romney stirs it up because he is an agent of the Mormon Church. To gain an existential understanding of the cult that produced Mitt "Cyborg" Romney, and to get your socks scared off, read The Assassination of Spiro Agnew, available in paperback and ebook at:
Its unwilling, part-Mexican Mormon assassin dramatizes the Mormon superiority complex, manifesting it as racism, sexism, jingoism and an anti-federal government temperament. His research in the new library reveals ominous similarities between Islam and Mormonism. The spiritual power behind the cult, which is not the Holy Ghost, acts out.
“With a clarity of language and vision unsurpassed in contemporary American prose, Steven Janiszewski's Assassination of Spiro Agnew takes us into a U.S. mazed with madness and Mormonism and all things Utah, a U.S. that was then and still is. Do we need a novel, even as brilliant as this one, about a young man on a divine mission to assassinate the Vice President because he is too liberal? Yes, now more than ever. Readers, welcome to a masterpiece.”
Tom Whalen
www.tomwhalen.com
Read The Assassination of Spiro Agnew.
Mr. Rushdie would enjoy its post-modern style as much as he would be abhorred by the Mormon experience.
George Bush embarrassed the Office of President of the United States because any response other than 'No!', 'Yes!', or 'Maybe?' requires some degree of being literate, even though the man knew precisely what he wanted to do...dismantle the 'Constitution', the 'Bill of Rights', and make a lot of money for him and his cronies.
Romney, on the other hand, expresses his ideas eloquently and definitively, only not publicly. His goals are diametrically opposed to those of Bush... Mitt wants to dismantle the 'Constitution', the 'Bill of Rights', and make a lot of money for him and his cronies.
Unlike either of these men, Barak Obama is unique... he wants to dismantle the 'Constitution', the 'Bill of Rights', and make a lot of money for himself and his cronies.
When you get to the voting booths 'write in' Ron Paul.
Feisty Blonde, where are you getting your information? the zionist news. I am a Jew and the Jews were a very small minority in Palestine for 2,000 years. God said they would be scattered among the world. Did you know that they caused so much trouble during the civil war congress passed a law in 1862 that no Jews could go below the mason Dickson line? Look it up. They have been kicked out of many countries because they try to control their money. Israel DOES NOT WANT PEACE as proven time after time. They are literally trying to exterminate the Palestinians through apartheid. Please educate yourself because the damage caused by your statements is awful. God gave you a brain so use it.
Romney's statement is correct. Obama does not know the radical changes that have occurred in the Middle East. After the Arab Spring, the new alignment is Tehran-Cairo- Damascus axis. The Palestinian president is now very close to Tehran. Taking advantage of the impotence of Obama, Ahmadinejad has sent Iranian troops to Syria, calling them 'advisers.' Tehran is fully backed by Moscow and Beijing. So Romney has correctly analysed the danger. In addition to this, the danger of Hezbollah close to Jerusalem is there. Why Obama is blind to these dangers. Another term for Obama will be disastrous for America and the world.
The tithe of the Mormon's church is reached to several billions dolloars with their own warehouse for their own needy. That is awesome. And the former VP Mr. Cheney and the DOD have awarded the contracts of making weapons/tanks/jets . . . to the people of the Mormon. Do you know why Romney is pro-war?
During the war time, the most profit gaining is all the things, which are made from the industries, that the military have to have it, from uniform to vehicle, bullets, helicopter . . . Only things that lost during the war are civilization, e.g. infrastructures and civilians, and our military.
If Romney is continually pro-war in the Middle East, that may cause more problems in USA, unless when Israel goes to war, USA did nothing just watching; would that be happened?
Turning GOP's eyes back to USA is the only way to save us, USA, and keep peace in the Middle East.
Go, OBAMA 2012.
Because,,,,,,,,,,,Palestinians keep stealing land from Israel??? Yea right!!!!
If Israel quite their landgrabbing ways maybe their neighbors would consider Peace??