I See BM

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday July 07, 2010 · 10:41 PM PDT

2010/07/07 · 22:41

You may have caught a brief mention of this in today's Midday open thread. Or maybe you just skimmed over it without following the links. If so, you missed likely 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney displaying breathtaking ignorance about what is supposed to be a Republican strong point: foreign policy.

And possibly sinking his 2012 prospects in the process:

In 35 years of following debates over nuclear arms control, I have never seen anything quite as shabby, misleading and—let's not mince words—thoroughly ignorant as Mitt Romney's attack on the New START treaty in the July 6 Washington Post.

That's Fred Kaplan at Slate, talking about Romney's op-ed in yesterday's Washington Post. Please follow for smacking in a downward direction...

Let's go straight to the wrongest of the wrong:

"Similarly, multiple nuclear warheads that are mounted on bombers are effectively not counted. Unlike past treaty restrictions, ICBMs are not prohibited from bombers. This means that Russia is free to mount a nearly unlimited number of ICBMs on bombers—including MIRVs (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles) or multiple warheads—without tripping the treaty's limits."

Emphasis mine. That was Mitt Romney critiquing Obama's START Treaty.

Do you see what is wrong with it? Okay, I'll help you.

ICBM's are Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. No, they are not "prohibited from bombers", in the same sense that screen doors aren't "prohibited" from submarines. That is to say, they don't fucking belong there to begin with.

But let's let Kaplan explain:

ICBMs are not "mounted on," or loaded inside, bombers. The only nuclear weapons carried by bombers are bombs; that's why they're called bombers. (Many years ago, some B-52s and B-1s were equipped with air-launched cruise missiles, which flew through the atmosphere, as opposed to intercontinental ballistic missiles, which arc outside the atmosphere. These ALCMs are almost completely phased out, in any case.) Certainly bombers are incapable of carrying MIRVs (which, by the way, are "multiple warheads" loaded onto the tips of missiles).

Romneyfail.

Please take a moment to acknowledge Our National Security Experts in the GOP.

Tagline: They've got what it takes to keep you safe...unless they have to know shit.

If you haven't already, please read all of Kaplan's destruction of Romney. And start taking bets as to whether Romney's supreme ignorance will make any difference to Republican primary voters.

Never mind, all bets are off. Of course it won't make a difference.

This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member.

Make YOUR voice heard!

Comments are closed on this story.