In what VSP (very serious people) mouthpiece Mark Halperin calls a surprising response (why, I have no idea) , Vice President Joe Biden wasted no time in blasting Romney's foreign policy insult (er...speech) to the Veterans of Foreign Wars today. Only problem is the corporate media continues it's unethical blackout of messages from the Obama administration. I haven't heard any teevee talking heads say a word about it.
More of VP Biden statement after the squiggly
VP Biden took apart Romney's speech point by point in a statement released from his office today. I suspect this is in advance of what is likely to be verbal counterpunch on the campaign trail in days to come.
The opening paragraph of the statement listed the President's foreign policy accomplishments including the decimation of al Qaeda, deposing of Gaddafi and closed on the cryptic refrain "Bin Laden is Dead and General Motors is Alive". The subsequent paragraphs demolished Romney's false assertions and lies against the president.
“Today, Governor Romney had an opportunity to fulfill a long-standing promise by laying out his foreign policy vision and agenda. He had a chance to say how he would lead as Commander-in-Chief. Instead, all we heard from Governor Romney was empty rhetoric and bluster. He reflexively criticizes the President’s policies without offering any alternatives. When he does venture a position, it’s a safe bet that he previously took exactly the opposite position and will probably change his mind again and land in the wrong place – far out of the mainstream. Or he mischaracterizes our record to create a non-existent contrast.”
On Afghanistan VP Biden defended the administration's policy and timeline for withdrawal, and pointed out Romeny's flip flopping -- “Governor Romney supported the President’s timeline to end the war in Afghanistan, then he opposed it and now it is hard to know where he stands".
On Russia Biden lambasted Romney's antiquated view of geopolitics, saying:
“When it comes to Russia – which he recently called “our number one geo-political foe” – Governor Romney remains mired in a Cold War mindset. We have serious disagreements with Moscow, but our cooperation has made the American people more secure. Russia cancelled the sale of cutting edge radar to Iran and joined us in imposing the toughest sanctions in history on Tehran. Together, we negotiated a major nuclear arms reduction treaty – New START – that virtually the entire Republican foreign policy establishment supported but Governor Romney and a very small group of Cold War holdovers opposed.
It gets even icier on Romney's Poland posture re: Missile defense
“On the eve of his trip to Poland, the Governor is either profoundly misinformed – or misinforming the American people. He asserts that the President abandoned a missile defense system in that country. President Obama asked me to secure Allied support for a new missile defense plan for Europe. Who did we ask to host its main components? Poland, along with Turkey, Romania, Germany and Spain. These countries and all of NATO embraced our approach because it protects more of Europe more quickly than the old plan.
Romney's & the GOP's lies on President Obama stance on Israel similarly provoked strong reaction from DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz earlier, that no-one has been a stronger defender of Israel's security than President Obama. But it is clear what Romney and his ilk are doing and it is shameful using partisan differences t drive false wedges on a sensitive foreign policy issue just to advance Sheldon Adelson's wishes, and to tickle the neo-con warmonger's itchy groins. Biden in his statement pushed back with facts about the specifics of US defense of Israel's security needs, and calling Romney's lies "untruths" and "outrageous accusations that the President joined in the chorus of insults levied against Israel at the United Nations, President Obama has stood up repeatedly, publicly and often alone against efforts to delegitimize Israel at the U.N. and around the world."
On Iran, Biden says point blank:
Governor Romney does a compelling job laying out exactly what the Administration is already doing. The only step he seems to think we should take that we are not already taking is to launch a war. If that is what the Governor is for, he should tell the American people.
Biden also noted that it was telling that Romney FAILED to say a single word about al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden. Says he didn't because he COULDN'T since he has flip flopped badly on that issue -- "That’s not surprising. When he last ran for President, Governor Romney was asked what he would do about bin Laden. He said then: ‘it is not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.'"
And one more time Biden rubbed it in:
“Thanks to President Obama’s leadership, bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive — and everything we have learned from Governor Romney today and during this campaign tells the American people that a Romney presidency would have resulted in just the opposite.”