The Democrats have wasted no time in taking advantage of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Olympic gaffe after he insulted UK preparations for London 2012.
With the #hashtag #RomneyShambles now trending, as the story begins not only to resonate in the UK but in the US as well, the Democrats have produced a video summing up Romney’s British woes.
The incident forms an embarrassing foreign policy faux pas for Romney who is challenging Barack Obama in November’s US Presidential election.
The GOP candidate suggested he found London’s preparations for the 2012 Summer Olympics “disconcerting” in an interview on the eve of his trip to London with NBC News.
Romney, who has campaigned in part on the back of his experience running the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, was asked if he thought London was “ready” for the games:
“You know, it’s hard to know just how well it will turn out,” Romney told NBC. “There are a few things that were disconcerting. The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials … that obviously is not something which is encouraging.”
His remarks led David Cameron to respond: “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”
Gene adds: The Associated Press reports:
Mitt Romney may be just what the London Olympics needed.
In little more than 24 hours in London, the U.S. presidential candidate has gotten Britons to stop complaining about bumper-to-bumper traffic, cringing about cost overruns and fretting about shoddy security — and instead start taking pride in their country’s long-awaited day in the sun.
Well done, Mitt!
