This morning the McCain campaign sent out one of its "In Case You Missed It" alerts (now shortened to ICYMI for all the hip kids). This bulletin touted Mitt Romney's appearance earlier today on CNN's "American Morning," with a spotlight on the ex-governor's critique of Barack Obama:
You know, he's going to do his very best to try to walk back from what he said at the Democratic debate; and, in the Democratic debates the other candidates made it very clear they would not sit down with Ahmadinejad, himself, or with Assad, or Kim Jung-Il, or Castro, without condition. And, Barack Obama said he would sit down with them in his first year. He would meet with them without condition. A statement like that shows a naive lack of experience that I think is going to haunt him throughout this campaign. It's the wrong course for him to have set.
He said he would meet personally with Ahmadinejad, with Assad, Kim Jung-Il, with Hugo Chavez, with Castro. That's simply the wrong course for American foreign policy. You only meet with those people when there have been conditions met and when there's been progress. Of course, you talk diplomatically. Diplomatic channels are always open between nations of the world. But the President doesn't grace the world's worst tyrants with a propaganda bonanza.
Did I miss something in the news this week? Has John McCain suffered a severe blow to the head? If not, then why on earth is he trotting out Mitt Romney as a font of foreign policy wisdom? We're talking about a presidential wannabe who, in terms of foreign policy cred, made Obama look like Joe Biden. And no one knows this better than McCain, who back in January, devoted an entire "Mitt Romney Issue Alert" to contrasting his own seriousness in this area with the ex-guv's complete lack thereof. Better still, the McCain press release hawking the ad included a list of Romney quotes and news clippings aiming to illustrate Mitt's utter boobishness.
So now Team McCain is touting Mitt's foreign policy sagacity. How adorable. Next thing you know they'll all be out varmint hunting together.
--Michelle Cottle