From the desk of Victoria Jones, Managing Editor/White House Correspondent
The British will NEVER, EVER forgive Mitt Romney for strolling in, acting the ugly American and immediately insulting them about the Olympics. Even fellow conservative David Cameron struck back (nicely, too). To display that level of ignorance about the British character and spirit – expressing misgivings over readiness to hold the Olympics and doubts about their inability to come together – has he never heard of 7/7, the Blitz or the Battle of Agincourt? – he showed the worst kind of American arrogance and stupidity. When even the Daily Telegraph (which is a newspaper generally in the tank for the Conservatives) publishes a piece highly critical of Romney, you know he’s in trouble (Link). Even mild mannered Olympian Carl Lewis has weighed in, saying some Americans just shouldn’t leave the country.
Now the Mayor of London, who’s a scream and very eccentric, has gotten in on the act, and insulted Romney back. All this of course is in addition to the Romney campaign’s astonishingly racist Anglo-Saxon comment – that incensed Britain, which considers itself multicultural and not Anglo-Saxo, along with the statement that Obama wouldn’t sing a British hymn like Land of Hope and Glory. Romney then committed another gaffe when he admitted that he met with MI6, infuriating British intelligence officials, and handing another gift to the Obama campaign. Now Romney’s trying to say that he’s a man from Great Britain and Ann’s a woman from Wales (although his father was born in Mexico). And today he’s in full walking backwards mode, going on The Today Show and anywhere else he can get booked, crawling and grovelling. You can’t grovel to the British. They despise it. They despise him.
It’s a big mistake to insult the British for so many reasons – particularly to get in a slanging match with them. In person, in comedy, and in print, they can be ruder than any other nation in the world. And have a great time doing it. Both with filthy language (whose four letter words they refined and revere) and in the politest way possible, so that you don’t know you’ve been insulted until about half an hour later. The British have ruled an empire, lost it, won two world wars (and thanked America for coming in and making the wins happen), and always remained a proud little eccentric island nation unto themselves.
Romney doesn’t realize that as far as the British are concerned it’s now, for ever and ever, too little and too late. There’s no special relationship for him. He can f#*@ right off, matey.
