Oh gawd. Mitt Romney says that Americans are the only people in the world who put their hands over their hearts when they’re singing the National Anthem:
Buzzfeed, which posts photos of all kinds of foreigners, including Fidel Castro, doing this, snarks:
He ran the Olympics, he should know better.
This is not going to get any better, is it?
UPDATE: Daniel asks the obvious, but still head-smacking, question.
Charles Cosimano says: It’s politics. Don’t get too worked up over it.
JustMe says: Mitt Romney says that Americans are the only people in the world who put their hands over their hearts when they’re singing the National Anthem
An authentic phony is right. Reagan and George W Bush could have said the same thing, and you could look into their eyes and see that they really believed it, either because they didn’t know any better or they had somehow convinced themselves that they really believed this. Not just that, but pointing out that it wasn’t true would have made you out to be a spoiled sport insistent on beating up on a nice old man/simple patriotic Texan.
But with Romney, you kind of get the idea that he carefully calculated this statement as something that would appeal to his audience. Not only does it come across as insincere, it makes it fun for the naysayers to point out the falseness of this story. We know he’s playing a game, so it becomes enjoyable to play the game right back and tell him, “aha, we caught you.”
An Anchronistic Apostle says: I am hoping that a fair number of Americans immediately put their hands to their foreheads, when they heard Mr. Romney’s assertion, to a most resounding “slap.”
Admittedly, the photo still (above) extends a suggestion to the contrary.
Clare Krishan says: uh oh Mormon self-delusion strikes again…
No Mitt, thank FDR for saving us from the fascist-aping Bellamy institued version of the Roman salute Americans practised when told to by their betters at the end of 19th century:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Students_pledging_allegiance_to_the_American_flag_with_the_Bellamy_salute.jpg
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_salute)
W.E.B. Dupree says: But did you know that American English is the only language with a word for “love”?
Clare Krishan says: … and maybe FDR cribbed it from the kids at 4H:
http://extension.arizona.edu/4h/sites/extension.arizona.edu.4h/files/pledge_small.gif
Noah says: Now imagine if Romney had made this erroneous statement in a debate, or at some sort of “values voter” powwow, and then Ron Paul corrected him. The audience would have booed — Paul, that is.
Al-Dhariyat says: Perhaps he meant that Americans are the only ones who put their hands over their hearts while singing the American national anthem.
No other national anthems need apply since they’re not the American national anthem. (or Amurrican).
Zach says: I can honestly say, in my roughly 15 years of personally observing politics (and as a history and politics nerd), Mitt Romney is the most gaffe-prone candidate I can think of. I’m only 26, though; are there other older readers who can recall a national-level candidate who misspoke this much?
EddieInCA says: “This is not going to get any better, is it?”
For the GOP… No. It’s not.
For Democrats. Yeah. It will get much better.
Noah says: are there other older readers who can recall a national-level candidate who misspoke this much?
George W. Bush
EddieInCA says: “I’m only 26, though; are there other older readers who can recall a national-level candidate who misspoke this much?”
Joe Biden
George W. Bush
Gerald Ford
I’m 51.
Clare Krishan says: FYI “heart-in-hand” has an American pietist pedigree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_in_Hand
but as Amish aren’t nationalists (the opposite I’d say) where’s Ken Burns/ PBS American Experience when Mitt needs them to back himself up?
Clare Krishan says: No Mitt – thank Enlightenment freemasonry aka SIGN OF A FELLOW CRAFT:
http://www.ephesians5-11.org/handshakes.htm
Charles Cosimano says: All politicians say silly things. But no one really cares about that. It is what makes them human.
Polichinello says: I don’t think Romney’s gaffes are nearly as troubling as the people who insist on getting worked up over them.
Chris says: And all this time I thought candidate Gordon Gecko only put his hand over his wallet!
Sheldon says: I think it’s time we became alarmed at the possibility that this clueless know-nothing actually has a chance to become President. One could have argued legitimately that Obama was unqualified when he took office, but there was never a sense that he was stupid and uninformed. It has already become clear that reports of Romney’s intelligence are greatly exaggerated, and that he lacks even minimal understanding of how the real world actually work – here and now abroad.
stef says: These older candidates really don’t “get” the Brave New Internet world of campaigning, do they?
EngineerScotty says: And here I thought that Romney had the nomination all sewn up, but here he is, still pandering (badly) to the worst impulses of the Tea Party.
At the risk of linking to me own blog, my only further response is “take it away, Gilbert and Sullivan!”
http://deadhorsetimes.blogspot.com/2012/02/presdiential-candidates-song.html
Gordon says: Yes. Obama is not phony at all. Or gaffe prone.
He never said 57 states,talked about people clinging to guns and god,or forgot what religion he is supposd to be. Maybe Mitt needs a teleprompter.
Barack and his bigoted secularist clowns to the left of me, Mitt and his “let them eat cake” jokers on the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with fear.
Judgment is a bitch.
VikingLS says: Zach
Dan Quayle if we’re including VPs.
The problem with Romney’s gaffes is that they seem to be the product of deciet rather than stupidity.
He REALLY should be running for vice president. Mitt and Joe in a debate would be the best slapstick comedy in decades!
Jack Ross says: The real reason FDR started urging Americans to put their hands over their hearts is it because it had until then been customary to say the Pledge of Allegiance while giving the fascist salute:
Samizdat3 says: Do Republicans still think Mitt Romney is a strong candidate? I’m being honest, people think he’s electable, but he had a pretty glass jaw when he went against McCain. I mean look at who he is running against, Newt Gingrich is the best alternative? What? Oh well, I guess he’ll have plenty of money for ads. Plenty of billionaires to keep the dough flowing.
Polichinello says: Jack, It wasn’t originally a “fascist” salute. It was a Roman salute, and it was attributed to Republican Rome in a lot artwork. See The Oath of the Horatii:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_the_Horatii
Polichinello says: I think it’s time we became alarmed at the possibility that this clueless know-nothing actually has a chance to become President.
This is exactly what I meant. Look at this piece of silly manufactured outrage. Most of Romney’s gaffe’s are only “gaffes” because he mistakenly assumed he was talking to adults who would bother to understand the context of his speech. This bit about the pledge was most likely something he wanted to believe and didn’t follow up with research, and, really, if you were told this, would you go out of your way to look into this? He probably got it from a speechwriter and assumed it was right. Yes, this was a mistake, and, yes, this speechwriter deserves a strong talking-to, but that should be the end of it.
sjay says: “are there other older readers who can recall a national-level candidate who misspoke this much?”
I’m 55. Add Spiro T. Agnew.
William Burns says: A “gaffe” is when a politician accidentally tells the truth. This is a politician deliberately telling a lie.
Ann Weller says: “American English is the only language with a word for ‘love’”? You’ve got to be kidding–this is totally untrue.
An Anachronistic Apostle says: I’m only 26, though; are there other older readers who can recall a national-level candidate who misspoke this much?
Pat Paulsen, but I think it was intentional.
See, e.g., http://www.paulsen.com/collectibles.html
David J. White says: and, really, if you were told this, would you go out of your way to look into this?
Actually, I would. At the very least, I would see if snopes.com had anything to say about it. But then, I realized a long time ago that I’m not in the target demographic for most of what passes for political campaigning and commentary in this country.
David J. White says: I can honestly say, in my roughly 15 years of personally observing politics (and as a history and politics nerd), …. I’m only 26, though
Interesting, Zach. That means you started paying attention to politics when you were about 11. I was born in arly 1962 and started really paying attention to national politics around the time of the 1972 election, but particularly with Watergate in 1973, when I was also about 11. I wonder if that’s a typical age for people to started getting interested in this stuff.
MH - secular misanthropist says: I keep reading the post title as “Romney: An Authentic Pony” and it’s freaking me out a bit.
Ah, 2012 is going to show us what it would have been like if Spiro T. Agnew, rather than Gerald Ford, had been the Republican candidate in 1976…
Lulu says: This is a pretty amusing thread–esp. Dupree’s joke about American English being the only language with a word for love, which apparently didn’t read like a joke at all. You doubters out there will never be speechwriters; “Americans are the only people who blah blah blah” is powerful (if inane) language because it is mythmaking, it’s “truthy,” and it doesn’t “misunderestimate” the average voter’s gullibility. Oh, and Americans are the only people who love their mammas ’cause we invented Mother’s Day. Pony on up to that, MH!
Noah says: I keep reading the post title as “Romney: An Authentic Pony” and it’s freaking me out a bit.
Well, all that public speaking is making him a little hoarse 
At some point for the GOP American exceptionalism moved from “The USA is great” to “The USA is better than everyone else.” The first statement is national pride, while the second reeks in insecurity, not to mention ridiculous comments like this.