Romney may be worse than Palin, but he's still a-okay with the GOP base

From Politicususa:

The British reaction to Mitt Romney has gone from openness, to skepticism, to mocking, to concluding that Mitt Romney is worse than Sarah Palin.

Daily Mail Political Editor James Chapman has been providing the world a play by play of Romney’s British implosion via his Twitter account. Romney started things off by criticizing London’s preparedness for the Olympics. He then forgot the name of British Labour Leader Ed Miliband, and then he admitted that he had been given a secret briefing by MI6. This led the British to ask aloud if they have another George W. Bush on their hands, “Romney blunders again by revealing he’s had (supposedly) top secret briefing by John Sawers, MI6 boss. Do we have a new Dubya on our hands?”

After his visit to Whitehall, Chapman offered two of the kinder reviews of Mitt Romney, “Serious dismay in Whitehall at Romney debut. ‘Worse than Sarah Palin.’ ‘Total car crash’. Two of the kinder verdicts.” Chapman also reported another verdict from British meet and greet with Mitt, “Another verdict from one Romney meeting: ‘Apparently devoid of charm, warmth, humour or sincerity’”

If you aren't aware, presumed GOP nominee Mitt Romney is on a tour of foreign lands in the hopes of establishing some world leader credentials.  In addition to the United Kingdom, Romney will visit Poland and Israel to hobnob with various big wigs. So far, as the excerpt above reveals, it hasn't gone well.

But, as delicious as it is to see Romney, the face of the Republican party, ridiculed on the world stage, I don't expect it will hurt him with his base.  The lambasting he's receiving may even help him with the nativists and xenophobes.  The prime motivation of Romney supporters is not Romney, himself; it's that he's running against a hated incumbent.  That's an advantage Romney has that Mad Johnny McCain never did.

Whether or not that will be enough for him to win the White House is an open question.  I have my doubts, though.  In 2004, when the Democrats nominated John Kerry, we had a similar situation in reverse.  I didn't vote for John Kerry so much as I voted against Junior Bush.  And we all know how that turned out.

The problem for Romney is that this (so far) disastrous foreign trip is compounding doubts in those voters who might otherwise have considered voting for him.  

British media is notoriously ruthless, so I think it prudent to add a dash of salt to the remarks.  It doesn't seem possible to me that anyone could truly believe that Romney is "worse than Palin."  But the reception he's getting in the capital of one of our closest allies reveals just how ridiculous the Republican party appears to the world at large.

See, progressives?  It's not just us!  Everyone outside of Hush-Puppy Land knows the snake-charmers and Tongues-speakers are nuts!

Oh, and I absolutely love the last line of the Politicus article: 

"Not since World War II has London seen a bombing as thorough as Mitt Romney’s."  

Ouch!