When Mitt Romney began his foreign tour this week, he was hoping to rekindle the Anglo-Saxon love between America and the nation of Great Britain—a love that had, in the estimation of conservatives, been forsaken when President Obama returned a bust of Winston Churchill that was on loan.
But even the best laid plans sometimes go awry; less than one full day into his trip, Romney's agenda was already in shambles.
Upon arriving in London, Mitt's first order of business was to throw Ann's horse under a double-decker bus.
He then proceeded to insult his hosts (again) with a series of boneheaded public comments, which royally pissed off our second-tier ally, and created an international incident.
The British press and politicians responded by making a mockery of Romney—in light of which, it's hardly surprising that he's decided to conduct his next foreign affair in secret.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Preempted for Olympics coverage.
Face the Nation: Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor; DNC Chair/Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL); Jan Crawford (CBS News); Penn State University President Rodney Erickson; Penn State Scandal Roundtable: Buzz Bissinger (Daily Beast), Sara Ganim (The Patriot-News), Bill Rhoden (New York Times), James Brown (CBS Sports) and Jim Rome (CBS Sports).
This Week: Obama Campaign Senior Adviser Robert Gibbs; Romney Campaign Senior Adviser Kevin Madden; Former Vice President Dick Cheney; Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile, David Chalian (Yahoo! News), Dana Loesch (Breitbart.com) and Ruth Marcus (Washington Post).
Fox News Sunday: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; Roundtable: Former Huckabee Campaign Manager Chip Saltsman, Liz Marlantes (Christian Science Monitor), Kimberly Strassel (Wall Street Journal) and Juan Wiliams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL); Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH); Reliable Sources: Keli Goff (Loop21.com); Ryan Lizza (The New Yorker); Jim Geraghty (National Review); American University Professor Jane Hall; Fred Francis (Formerly of NBC News); Frank Deford (Sports Illustrated); George Washington University Professor Frank Sesno.
The Chris Matthews Show: Dan Rather (HDNet); John Harris (Politico); Nia Malika Henderson (Washington Post); Kathleen Parker (Washington Post).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Author Kenneth Rogoff; Tom Friedman (New York Times); Richard Haass (Council on Foreign Relations); Former State Department Director of Public Planning Anne-Marie Slaughter; Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
Up with Chris Hayes: Preempted for Olympics coverage.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: a report on kids and their parents in central Florida who are living in cars (preview); and, a report on new revelations about Vincent van Gogh's death which suggest that he may not have killed himself (preview).
On Comedy Central...
Jon Stewart took Mitt Romney to task over his "You didn't build that" shenanigans.
The Daily Show
Monday: Actress Rashida Jones
Tuesday: Author/Economist Dambisa Moyo
Wednesday: Author/Journalist Fred Guteri
Thursday: Actress Jessica Biel
And Stephen Colbert bit into the controversy surrounding Chick-Fil-A.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Comedian/Author Joan Rivers
Tuesday: Artist Jeff Koons
Wednesday: TBA
Thursday: Chris Hayes (MSNBC)
Elsewhere...
Rep. Darrell Issa continued to get wet every time he thinks about Ronald Reagan.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is floating legislation that would name most U.S. coastal waters after former President Ronald Reagan.
Issa reintroduced his bill Wednesday to rename the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which generally extends from three miles to 200 miles offshore, as the Ronald Wilson Reagan Exclusive Economic Zone. [...]
Issa, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has introduced the bill multiple times in past sessions of Congress.
Under the proposal, references to the EEZ in U.S. laws, regulations, maps and other documents would carry Reagan's name.
Meanwhile...
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade interviewed a couple of small business (lemonade stand) owners who took issue with President Obama's out-of-context comments.
Kilmeade: Clara, how do you feel about the President saying that you needed help to start this business. And just speak from — speak from within…
Clara: I would say that's rude because we worked very hard to build this business. But we did have help.
Kilmeade: And your help came from?
Clara: Our help came from our investors, our dad and stepmom, along with other friends and family.
And, speaking of misleading edits...
Mitt Romney's campaign released a new video showing him being enthusiastically received by the audience during his recent speech at the NAACP convention.
Mitt Romney was famously booed during his speech to the NAACP earlier in July, but you wouldn't know it from watching a new video he's released aimed at African-American voters.
The video features African-American Romney supporters explaining why they favor the Republican nominee. Their comments are edited together with footage of audience members nodding their heads along with Romney and standing to clap at his remarks, giving the impression that he was warmly received at the civil rights groups' annual convention.
Let the games begin!
- Trix