Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu is offering rare praise of Sen. Mitt Romney, arguing he was right in 2012 when he said that Russia was the No. 1 U.S. geopolitical foe.
Although Romney received widespread criticism during his 2012 campaign for president for his claim about Russia, Lieu joined a growing chorus saying the events over the last decade, and particularly renewed Russian aggression as the nation prepares for a likely invasion of Ukraine, proved him correct.
"This action by Putin further confirms that Mitt Romney was right when he called Russia the No. 1 geopolitical foe," Lieu told CNN. "Now depending on where their forces go, it could determine whether we enter a very large war or not. If Putin merely sends forces into the existing regions in Donbas where the Russian-backed separatists already control those regions, that will be different than if he sent his forces into the regions in which the Ukrainian forces currently control. That could be very bad."
In 2012, President Barack Obama had a hot mic incident with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in which Obama said he would have more "flexibility" after the presidential election. Romney responded by asserting that Russia was the "No. 1 geopolitical foe" of the United States. Many top Democrats and political analysts criticized him for that assertion, arguing that he was naïve on foreign policy.
Obama said during the third presidential debate that "the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back" in response to Romney's criticisms of Russia.
"I have clear eyes on this. I'm not going to wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to Russia or Mr. Putin. And I'm certainly not going to say to him, I'll give you more flexibility after the election. After the election, he'll get more backbone," Romney said in response.
Russia's actions over the last decade have caused analysts to revisit Romney's remarks during the 2012 election. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea. The U.S. intelligence community accused them of engaging in a propaganda campaign interfering in the 2016 election. Over recent weeks, Russia has also amassed an estimated 169,000 to 190,000 troops along the Ukrainian border.
The Kremlin announced Monday it would recognize two separatist-held regions in Ukraine, which has drawn widespread international condemnation.
And when the Confederates saw Jackson standing fearless like a stonewall, the army of Northern Virginia took courage and drove the federal army off their land.
Romney’s foreign policy was one of the reasons why I voted for him. I thought he simply had better executive and diplomatic experience than a state Senator who really never voted on anything. We need the GOP to produce more Romneys and Liz Cheneys and less whatever the ****’s been happening since 2012.
A video unearthed from 2001 by the Republican National Committee’s research team revealed then-Senator Biden praising Russian President Vladimir Putin for embracing the West, heralding his actions as comparable to Peter the Great.
“I’m close to amazed by how far Putin seems to have come in making – throwing – his lot in with the West,” Biden said as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He seems to have – out of all the briefings I’ve gotten – actually stiff-armed his military and stiff-armed some of the browns and reds in his government and out of government.”
“And made a very – I don’t think anybody since Peter the Great has made such a significant – at least an initial move to the West,” Biden claimed:
Peter the Great was the first Emperor of Russia. Through multiple wars, he expanded the nation into a major European power. He also moved to transpose medieval political systems with the western enlightenment.
Biden’s comparison of Putin with Peter the Great is unfounded. Putin is seeking to restore the lost twentieth-century boundary of the old Soviet Union and denied the “real statehood” of Ukraine in a televised address to the nation on Monday. Putin further stated Ukraine was part of Russia’s “own history, culture, spiritual space.”
Biden has a history of questionable foreign policy judgment and analysis. Robert Gates, George W. Bush and Barack Obama’s secretary of defense, wrote in 2014 that Biden “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
Biden’s foreign policy judgment before he became president are as follows:
Suggested sending $200 million to Iran, “no strings attached.”
Voted against the successful Persian Gulf War that forced Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.
Insisted “the Taliban per se is not our enemy.”
Opposed the troop surges that brought some stability to both Iraq and Afghanistan
Claimed he was responsible for ending the genocide in Bosnia
Voted against trade agreements with Singapore, Chile, Oman, and the Dominican Republic
Opposed the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, telling Obama “don’t go.”
Opposed killing Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump asserted that Russia’s “taking over” of Ukraine is due to Biden’s weakness. “I know Vladimir Putin very well, and he would have never done during the Trump Administration what he is doing now, no way!”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) told CBS News Biden’s decisions as president could increase the price for a barrel of oil past $100 and perhaps to $115.
“I don’t believe the sanctions will stop them from doing what their plan is but I do think that if you don’t pay a price for doing this, he’s going to do more of it,” Rubio said. “I think Ukrainians are gonna fight back but this is gonna have an impact on Americans even though it seems to be really far away.”
Gas prices are already at their highest level since 2014.
The best part about this is waiting four years to see how all the crazy apocalyptic predictions made by the fear mongering idiots in Right Wing media turned out to be painfully wrong...Gasoline would hit $10/gallon. Hyperinflation would ensue.
Veritas
Romney’s foreign policy was one of the reasons why I voted for him. I thought he simply had better executive and diplomatic experience than a state Senator who really never voted on anything. We need the GOP to produce more Romneys and Liz Cheneys and less whatever the ****’s been happening since 2012.
- Doc
Romney couldn't win. He still couldn't.
I do appreciate you sharing that Doc. It turns out you were right in 2012. But the American voter and the way this particular zinger dished out by Obama during the debate played out in their minds and in the mainstream media is a big reason we are where we are today.
Last edited by ajax18 on Wed Feb 23, 2022 9:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.
And when the Confederates saw Jackson standing fearless like a stonewall, the army of Northern Virginia took courage and drove the federal army off their land.
Romney’s foreign policy was one of the reasons why I voted for him. I thought he simply had better executive and diplomatic experience than a state Senator who really never voted on anything. We need the GOP to produce more Romneys and Liz Cheneys and less whatever the ****’s been happening since 2012.
- Doc
Douchebags and neocons? We need more of that? Uh, no, thanks.
The GOP would do better trying to swing someone like Tulsi to the party than trying to swing the party to those two lunaf***s.
Romney’s foreign policy was one of the reasons why I voted for him. I thought he simply had better executive and diplomatic experience than a state Senator who really never voted on anything. We need the GOP to produce more Romneys and Liz Cheneys and less whatever the ****’s been happening since 2012.
- Doc
Douchebags and neocons? We need more of that? Uh, no, thanks.
The GOP would do better trying to swing someone like Tulsi to the party than trying to swing the party to those two lunaf***s.
Yeah I totally agree. I can't believe the Democrats even allow Tulsi in the party. I personally regret voting for Romney in the 2012 primaries.
And when the Confederates saw Jackson standing fearless like a stonewall, the army of Northern Virginia took courage and drove the federal army off their land.
Douchebags and neocons? We need more of that? Uh, no, thanks.
The GOP would do better trying to swing someone like Tulsi to the party than trying to swing the party to those two lunaf***s.
Yeah I totally agree. I can't believe the Democrats even allow Tulsi in the party. I personally regret voting for Romney in the 2012 primaries.
I voted for Obama. Romney is ridiculous. He always has been. I can't fathom how ridiculous it would have been with both him and that ding dong half-wit criminal Cocaine Mitch McC in control. Good god.
Romney’s foreign policy was one of the reasons why I voted for him. I thought he simply had better executive and diplomatic experience than a state Senator who really never voted on anything. We need the GOP to produce more Romneys and Liz Cheneys and less whatever the ****’s been happening since 2012.
- Doc
That does seem really odd to me that you voted for Romney. I would have thought that Romney's promise to repeal Obamacare would have overcome any reservations you had about Obama's foreign policy. Perhaps you saw the real Romney better than I did at the time. I now doubt Romney would have followed through on 1/4 of his promises he made to conservatives in order to win the Republican presidential primary. Romney was right about the 47% but I now believe he was only saying that to please his donors at a private meeting. The journalist who taped that did it illegally. I don't think Romney would have cut welfare, social security, or made any cuts to the welfare state. And what exactly do you like about Liz Cheney other than that she voted to impeach President Trump? She hates socialism and welfare almost as much as I do. Her family was a huge reason we got into the Iraq war. I imagine she tacitly supports open borders in the same way the Bushs have always done. The establishment Republicans have promised border enforcement during the Republican primaries while refusing to ever do it after they got elected since 1960.
That being said. I tend to believe now that Romney and establishment Republicans were probably more right about foreign policy than Tea Party isolationists that emerged after the Iraq war. I do have to wonder what would be the point in going to war to stop the spread of communism by Russia only to see my own country elect a Sanders or Ocasio Cortez democratic socialist (a.k.a. communist) regime?
And when the Confederates saw Jackson standing fearless like a stonewall, the army of Northern Virginia took courage and drove the federal army off their land.
> Mormons love a casino owner who’s been divorced twice, commits charity fraud, sucks Russian balls, and advocates grabbing women's pussies more than a former Bishop like Romney.
Boy, if anyone really wants to understand a Mormon’s true religion just ask them about Romney.
> Mormons love a casino owner who’s been divorced twice, commits charity fraud, sucks Russian balls, and advocates grabbing women's pussies more than a former Bishop like Romney.
Well, it's not surprising given that religion is another name for culturally endorsed lying.
Religion is for people whose existential fear is greater than their common sense.
