Soledad O'Brien Omits Key Romney Quote While Accusing Him of Hypocrisy
CNN's Soledad O'Brien omitted a key portion of Mitt Romney's remarks back in
May as she tried to convict him of hypocrisy with his own words on
Monday. Conservative blog The Right Scoop reported earlier on this.
Just hours before Romney's key address on foreign policy, O'Brien
reported, "So here's what we know he is going to say in his speech this –
later today. He's going to say 'Finally I will recommit America to the
goal of the democratic, prosperous Palestinian state living side by side
in peace and security with the Jewish state of Israel.' And as you well
know, this is very contradictory to what we know he was saying in that
tape that was leaked," she hammered his adviser Tara Wall.
So
after Romney promised to pursue peace between Israel and Palestine,
O'Brien pulled two clips of him speaking at a fund raiser back in May,
expressing despair over any hopes of peace. Here are Romney's quotes:
"I'm torn by two perspectives in this regard. One is the one which I've
had for some time which is that the Palestinians have no interest
whatsoever in establishing peace and that the -- and that the pathway to
peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish."
"I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway for
political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of
Israel and these thorny issues and I say there's just no way. And so
what you do is you say, you move things along the best way you can. You
hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going
to remain an unsolved problem."
Then O'Brien thought she nailed Romney for being "completely
contradictory" per Monday's prepared remarks, before asking "Which one
is true?"
First, what she omitted is patently obvious – Romney said he was "torn
by two perspectives," meaning that he did reserve hope for peace. Here
is a key quote from that fund raiser that O'Brien could have included, but didn't [bold emphasis mine]:
"I have to tell ya, the idea of pushing on the Israelis?—to give something up, to get the Palestinians to act, is the worst idea in the world. We have done that time and time and time again. It does not work. So, the only answer is show your strength. Again, American strength, American resolve, as the Palestinians someday reach the point where they want peace more than we're trying to push peace on them—and then it's worth having the discussion."
So Romney clearly has the desire to pursue peace between Israel and Palestine, but it's up to Palestine to "reach the point" and wish for it themselves, rather than the U.S. force peace upon both nations. O'Brien's report made it seem that Romney despaired of peace back in May but promised to pursue it in Monday's speech, which is not fully accurate.
Here a transcript of the segment that aired on Starting Point, on October 8 at 7:09 a.m. EDT:
[7:09]
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: So let's take a look at peace in the Middle East and
the -- obviously dispute between Israel and the Palestinian territory.
So here's what we know he is going to say in his speech this – later
today. He's going to say "Finally I will recommit America to the goal of
the democratic, prosperous Palestinian state living side by side in
peace and security with the Jewish state of Israel." And as you well
know, this is very contradictory to what we know he was saying in that
tape that was leaked, the 47 percent tape that they talk about. So let
me play you a little bit of what he said about this very issue, the
peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Listen.
(Video Clip)
MITT ROMNEY, Republican presidential candidate: I'm torn by two
perspectives in this regard. One is the one which I've had for some time
which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in
establishing peace, and that the -- and that the pathway to peace is
almost unthinkable to accomplish.
(End Video Clip)
O'BRIEN: And I'm going to play another chunk of it a little bit later
on in that same speech, the one that was recorded surreptitiously, let's
play that.
(Video Clip)
ROMNEY: I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway for
political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of
Israel and these thorny issues and I say there's just no way. And so
what you do is you say, you move things along the best way you can. You
hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going
to remain an unsolved problem.
(End Video Clip)
O'BRIEN: Okay. So as you know and you just heard, that's completely
contradictory to what I read you the first time around. "I will recommit
America to the goal of a democratic, prosperous Palestinian state,
living side by side in peace and security with the Jewish state of
Israel." Those are completely contradictory. Which one is true?
WALL: The fact is, it's the President who's failed in the negotiation
process. He is the leader, right now, of this country and he has failed –
O'BRIEN: And Tara, that was an excellent shift, but answer for me about
Governor Romney. We can talk about the President in a minute.
WALL: That is my answer. Well, no, that is my answer, Soledad. I mean, the answer is –
O'BRIEN: Your answer is about President Obama? A (Inaudible) about Governor Romney is an answer about President Obama?
WALL: I think the governor has made his position clear, relative to
where we stand with Israel. And the President is the one that has failed
–
O'BRIEN: He hasn't, is my point. He hasn't.
WALL: – that decided to meet with entertainment folks and people like
that, rather than Benjamin Netanyahu and I think that there -- again,
there's a clear position here –
O'BRIEN: It's not. That's my point. It's not clear. My point, Tara –
hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Just hold on. My point is, it's completely
contradictory. So my question is, which is it?
WALL: In your viewpoint.
O'BRIEN: And answer to me – well, okay, then tell me how it's not
completely contradictory, in your viewpoint, but don't talk to me about
President Obama at this moment. Answer the question about Governor
Romney in two things –
WALL: We will stand side by side with -- we will stand side by side
with Israel, and the governor has made that clear. I'm not going to get
into a big foreign policy debate with you here. That's not – that's not –
that's not my position. That's not my role. And that's – you know – if
you want to talk about that, I suggest you put on a couple of foreign
affairs experts and let them go at it and pick this apart the way that
you'd like to have it picked apart. But I think we clearly stated what
our position is –
O'BRIEN: That's unfair. I'm just asking you about a contradictory
message. That's unfair. I'm only asking you about a contradictory
message.
WALL: Well that's contradictory in your view. That's contradictory in your view, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, you could explain it then. Alright, Tara Wall, thank you for talking with us this morning.
WALL: Not if I don't agree with the premise.
O'BRIEN: Or you could explain that even, I would take. But apparently
we're not going to get to that either. Thank you for talking to us this
morning, we appreciate it.
