Bigger Fatter Politics is a fact based news source for all things fat and political. We present news and presidential politics from a fat centric and food centric perspective.
Showing posts with label Russia greatest foe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia greatest foe. Show all posts
Monday’s foreign policy presidential debate will feature plenty of
talk about Libya, China, the Middle East, and terrorism but if it’s
anything like every other political event ever anywhere, it will also
feature plenty of exaggerations, mistruths and outright lies. Starting
tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be calling them out in real time and
bringing you the, you know, facts — so refresh this page often to stay
up-to-date. Tweet at @aseitzwald if you see something you want checked.
Also be sure to check out Alex Pareene's liveblog.
11:00: Romney’s afghanistan policy –Romney Flip Flopped
Romney tonight clarified his Afghanistan policy tonight, saying he
wants to pull troops out of the country in 2014 and hand over full
security control to the Afghans. That means he has the same Afghanistan policy as Obama’s.
10:35: Auto bailout –Romney Lied
In one of the most heated moments of the debate, though it had nothing
to do with foreign policy, Romney and Obama traded barbs over the auto
bailout. Obama said Romney would have let Detroit fail, Romney said that
that wasn’t true. Both men supported putting the auto
companies through a managed bankruptcy to help restructure them, but the
key question comes down to whether or not to use government loans to
help save the companies. Obama supported using government funds, Romney
did not, though Romney did say “the federal government should provide
guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that
their warranties are not at risk,” as he wrote in the infamous New York
Times op-ed titled “Let Detroit go bankrupt.”
This allowed Romney to lie and have it both ways. For years, he railedagainst
the bailout as wasteful and dangerous government intervention in
private industry. But as it became clear that the bailout was
succeeding, Romney softened his tone and claimed the Obama
administration followed his plan. The problem for Romney, however, is
that guarantees would have not have been enough to save the industry as
there was no private funding available which proves Romney sucks as a business man.
In
the end, both candidates some finger wagging: Obama ignored the fact
that Romney wanted to include federal guarantees and Romney is lying and
pretending that the guarantees were the same as loans and that he
supported the same policy as long.
10:10: Heaven and earth –
Obama attacks Romney on Bin Laden, saying, “You said we shouldn’t ‘move
heaven and earth to get one man.’” That’s true, but he glossed over the fact that Romney said he would take a more holistic approach to fighting Al Qaeda than going after Bin Laden alone. But.. Romney lied with that innuendo. Obama has decimated Al Qaeda's leadership.
9:55: Apology tour? Romney Lied Romney said Obama “went on what I would call an apology tour.” It’s one of the oldest and most thoroughlydebunkedmyths of the Obama era.
9:50: Romney wants to spend another $2 trillion on defense? Obama
said Romney wants to add $2 trillion in defense spending that the
Pentagon didn’t ask for it. Politifact rated that claim completely “true.”
9:45: Smallest Navy since World War I? Romney Lied Romney said Obama would reduce the Navy to its smallest size since World War I. Politifact gave that claim a Pants on Fire and called it ridiculous.
9:40: The 1980s are calling –
Obama delivered what will likely be one of the most memorable lines of
the night when he told Romney, “The 1980s are calling to ask for their
foreign policy back.” He was attacking Romney for being bellicose with
Russia, quoting Romney as saying Russia is our “Number one geopolitical
foe.” Romney countered by saying that Obama was taking Romney’s claim
out of context. Who’s right?
Romney did in fact call Russia,
“without question our number one geopolitical foe” in a CNN interview.
But Romney was making a more nuanced point that Obama lets on. Romney
continued in the very next sentence, “Of course the greatest threat the
world faces is a nuclear armed Iran.” So Romney was trying to say there
are different threats facing America, and Russia is biggest threat of a
certain kind. His statement was inartfully worded, but Romney is right:
Obama is taking his quote out of context but in defense of Obama, Russia is not our foe geopolitically of otherwise. This is just one a Romney's many insults to our allies.
9:30: Route to the sea? Romney Needs a Lesson in Geography
Romney comments that Syria “is Iran’s route to the sea.” It’s unclear
if Romney hasn’t looked at a map lately because Iran has its own sea access and shares no
border with Sryia. In order to get to Sryia, Iran would have to go
through Iraq, which hasn’t been a huge fan of Iran over the years.
9:20: Romney wanted to leave troops in Iraq?
Obama attacked Romney for allegedly saying in a recent speech that he
wanted to leave troops in Iraq indefinitely. Romney fired back that
Obama was misinterpreting what Romney said. Who’s right? The speech
Obama referred to was one Romney gave to the Virginia Military Institute
in early October, here’s what he said:
“In Iraq, the
costly gains made by our troops are being eroded by rising violence, a
resurgent Al-Qaeda, the weakening of democracy in Baghdad, and the
rising influence of Iran. And yet, America’s ability to influence events
for the better in Iraq has been undermined by the abrupt withdrawal of
our entire troop presence.”
The above is Romeny lying and distorting while putting our troops at risk in the bargain.
Looking at the text, it’s
clear that Romney attacked the president for withdrawing troops too
quickly, but he was not specific on whether he wanted to leave troops
there. So it could be argued that Obama is overstating the case a bit while Romney is lying and trying to
have it both ways.