Fooling Some of the People is Sometimes Quite Enough

In 2012, Mitt Romney was mocked by Barack Obama for seeing Russia as a threat. He didn’t forget. "The '80s called' and we didn't answer," says Romney today.

Nearly 10 years ago, Gov. Mitt Romney was painted by his presidential opponent in their third debate as being out of touch — especially with foreign policy. “...when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia. Not al Qaeda. You said Russia,” Obama told him. “And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back,” he quipped.
This week, that moment in 2012 that came roaring back, thanks to the collective memory of the internet.

“Putin’s impunity predictably follows our tepid response to his previous horrors in Georgia and Crimea, our naïve efforts at one-sided ‘reset,’ and the shortsightedness of ‘America First,'” Romney said in a statement late Wednesday night, as news broke of the initial attack. “The ’80s called’ and we didn’t answer,” he added.

 

The Background to Obama’s Debate Attack

In March, 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney scolded his future opponent for telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev he'd have more "flexibility" toward the country after his election.

"This is to Russia, without question, our number one geopolitical foe," Romney told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "They fight every cause for the world’s worst actors. The idea that [President Barack Obama] has some more flexibility in mind for Russia is very, very troubling, indeed."

Pressed by Blitzer, Romney then said the "greatest threat" America faced was a nuclear-armed Iran. But the perceived damage was done.

The Democrats Pick up the Attack

Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and top officials like Secretary of State John Kerry and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blasted Romney for the comments at the time, when Romney was heading towards clinching the GOP nomination and facing Obama in the general election.

"You don't call Russia our No. 1 enemy unless you're still stuck in a Cold War mind warp," Obama said that year.

"Governor Romney is mired in a Cold War mindset," Biden said. Kerry called it "preposterous," while Clinton said it was "dated to be looking backwards."

The Obama team cut a video with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright saying it showed Romney was unprepared for the job. Albright apologized in 2019.

The "Mainstream" Media Jumps on the Bandwagon

Romney's Russia comment was ripped not only by Democrats reaching for power,but by the media as a gaffe underscoring Romney's foreign policy inexperience. It’s a stark example of the mainstream press echoing Democratic talking points, particularly in light of subsequent years of fervent and fake “Russiagate” media coverage, continious bellicose actions by autocratic Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and this week's invasion of Ukraine.

Those rogues were—and are—the “darlings” of the left and democrat party:
The New York Times, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell and Chris Matthews (he of the “tingle up his leg”), CNN’s Paul Begala, and the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein.

The New York Times editorial board said Romney's "comments display either a shocking lack of knowledge about international affairs or just craven politics." "Either way, they are reckless and unworthy of a major presidential contender," the Times wrote at the time.

It would go on to endorse Obama in the general election; the Times has not endorsed a Republican for president since 1956.

"A throwback to the Cold War," MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell said of Romney's comments in 2012. "I mean, we work with Russia all the time."

Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews (you know, the "thrill goes up my leg") criticized Romney and praised Medvedev's comeback that the Republican should "look at [your] watch: We are in 2012 and not the mid-1970s." 

"Is he trying to play Ronald Reagan here or what?" he asked his panel on "Hardball." "He's not a dumb man, but he said something that was clearly dumb," liberal columnist Cynthia Tucker told Matthews. 

The Huffington Post's Sam Stein, now with Politico, said it was an "antiquated worldview.

Paul Begala, a longtime Democratic strategist and now a CNN contributor, considered it a devastating burn at the time, saying Obama "nails Mitt … Bam!"

The mainstream media in 2012 were shills for the Obama-Biden campaign and the Democratic Party just like they are today. Former President Obama's failed leadership and the mainstream media's mockery of Romney's comments are as much to blame for the situation currently unfolding in Ukraine as President Biden's policies and repeated weakness on the world stage.

They didn’t tell you the truth in 2012, why would you think they would now?