Daily Telegraph headline (
story)
It
all started with Mitt Romney casting doubt on the U.K.'s ability to pull off the 2012 Summer Olympics ...
Here are the local headlines the Republican presidential candidate woke up to: “Mitt Romney casts doubt on London 2012 preparations” (The Times of London) and “Mitt Romney questions whether Britain is ready for Games” (The Daily Telegraph).
... and it escalated with British PM David Cameron
saying Romney's Olympics took place "in the middle of nowhere" ...
Cameron didn't appreciate the comments from the Republican presidential candidate and said he planned to present a positive message when he met with Romney later on Wednesday.
"This is a time of some economic difficulty for the UK but look at what we are capable of achieving as nation even at a difficult economic time," Cameron said, according to The Telegraph of London. "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."
... and now even though Romney
walked it back, "the middle of nowhere"
is firing back:
"While those of us who have had the fortune of visiting London know it is certainly a wonderful city, Prime Minister Cameron's comments likely reflect his lack of familiarity with Salt Lake City," Art Raymond, a spokesman for Mayor Ralph Becker, said in a statement sent to BuzzFeed. [...] "He can stop by any time. We'd love to have him and are happy to send a map so he doesn't run into any trouble locating the middle of nowhere."
It's almost enough to make you forget about
this:
At the same time, Romney faced scrutiny for a London fundraiser Thursday night that's expected to attract employees of Barclays, which has been in the spotlight after becoming the first bank to admit its employees were involved in manipulating a key market index.
Last month, U.S. and British agencies fined Barclays a total of $453 million. In the wake of that shock, chief executive Bob Diamond resigned. Diamond had been scheduled to attend the fundraiser at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in the tony Knightsbridge district, but has pulled out. He already had sent Romney a check for $2,500.
Of course, that Romney would hold such a fundraiser ultimately says a lot more about what kind of president he would be. But as long as he loses in November, the answer to that question won't really matter.
10:24 AM PT: Rumor (started by yours truly): Romney to attend dressage match in effort to divert attention from gaffe-a-thon.