Foreign policy at forefront is a Romney hurdle

By STEVE PEOPLES and THOMAS BEAUMONT

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It did — and at a bad time for the GOP hopeful. Momentum in the race is on President Barack Obama's side and Republicans are fretting over the state of their nominee's campaign...Romney is publicly confident and on Friday dismissed a new flurry of polls showing him behind...by late Friday, a new poll by The New York Times and CBS News found that Romney had lost his longstanding edge to Obama on who voters say is most likely to restore the economy and create jobs. And the latest surveys from NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll showed Obama with a slight edge in Florida, Ohio and Virginia.

Untested on the international stage and with limited foreign policy experience, Romney staked his entire rationale for his candidacy on the notion that he can fix the nation's dour economy given his decades of work in the private sector. He doubled down on that strategy when he chose as his running mate House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a 42-year-old Wisconsin congressman with little international affairs experience.

Then, the unrest in Egypt and Libya flared, and Romney accused Obama of apologizing for America, his first statement mischaracterizing events in Cairo before all the facts were known, including that a beloved U.S. ambassador to Libya had died...Several Republicans, including Arizona Sen. John McCain, have urged Romney to give a major foreign affairs speech laying out his critique of Obama. But the campaign has no plans for any major policy speeches that break major new ground before the debates.

Romney's foreign policy bobble was the latest in a series of recent missteps. He stumbled through a summer trip abroad that had been intended to show he could lead on the world stage. Then, he became the first Republican since 1952 to accept his party's nomination without mentioning war, giving Democrats an opening to criticize and raising eyebrows among Republicans. Romney also took heat for actor Clint Eastwood's rambling convention appearance.

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http://news.yahoo.com/foreign-policy-forefront-romney-hurdle-074217550--election.html

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Confused? Well, this doesn't clear it up:

The Romney campaign did not offer an on-the-record response for the apparent discrepancy in message and position between Mr. Romney and his top foreign policy advisers. But they privately maintain there is no change in policy and point to the portion of the ABC News interview where he says that Iran should not have “the capacity to terrorize the world.”

They also said Stephanopoulos was wrong to say Obama's policy was the same as Romney's. Of course, Stephanopoulos wasn't the only one to make that "mistake." Mitt Romney did as well. Three different times.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/14/1131846/-Romney-campaign-quickly-distances-itself-from-Mitt-s-statement-of-support-for-Obama-s-Iran-policy