At a House Intelligence hearing last Tuesday, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright decided to apologize to Mitt Romney. The 2012 Republican nominee and now Utah Senator was roundly mocked by Democrats and the wider liberal media for saying that Russia was our greatest geopolitical foe. Oh yes, the Left viewed this as antiquated, which they used to fuel the fire that Romney, and the GOP, were the party of yesteryear. In the end, Romney turned out to be right about everything he said on the stump. Obamacare premiums went through the stratosphere; people were tossed off their health insurance, and Russia decided to annex Crimea. But don’t call this an invasion of Ukraine, folks. In Obama-world, this was an “uncontested arrival.” Democrats tried to act tough saying our greatest geopolitical threat was more geared towards Al-Qaeda, which is a non-state actor that doesn’t possess nuclear weapons like Russia. Obama thought he had them on the run…until September 2012 when they attacked our consulate in Benghazi and killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. There goes that narrative.
The straw the broke the camel’s back was 2016, where Russia’s interference operation, which was really just peddling shoddy Facebook posts, is supposedly the reason why Hillary Clinton’s lost the election. It was not a heavily invested operation, a mere six-figure expenditure. If you think $100,000 can rock the foundations of America, your faith in such institutions is appalling. Yes, Russia interfered as we have in other nation’s elections. It’s nothing new. Now, did the Kremlin and the Trump campaign collude to tilt the 2016 election, which s really at the heart of all this vanilla geopolitical nonsense that the Left is trying to cast as unprecedented? No. There’s zero evidence for that—and there has been for over a year. It has to be one of the greatest unicorn chases in modern political history. Where were we? Oh yeah, Albright’s apology of sorts (via Free Beacon):
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright apologized to Mitt Romney on Tuesday for previously mocking his 2012 description of Russia as the country's top geopolitical foe.
Reporters tweeted Albright offered a mea culpa to now-Sen. Romney (R., Utah), then the 2012 GOP nominee, at a House Intelligence Committee hearing, saying "we underestimated what was going on with Russia."
Romney's comment in a CNN interview that Russia was "our No. 1 geopolitical foe" was widely viewed as a gaffe by Democrats and the media. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden mocked his "Cold War" mindset, and then-Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) said it was a "preposterous notion."
[…]
Albright was featured in an Obama campaign video castigating then-presidential candidate Romney for his assessment of Russia at the time, along with former Obama official Michele Flournoy.
"The statements that Governor Romney makes show little understanding of what is actually going on in the 21st century," Albright said in the video. "He is not up to date, and that is a very dangerous aspect. That's just an example of his 20th-century approach to 21st-century issues."
[…]
The New York Times editorial board wrote of Romney's remarks in 2012: "His comments display either a shocking lack of knowledge about international affairs or just craven politics. Either way, they are reckless and unworthy of a major presidential contender."
Recommended
Yeah, while liberals are often wrong on social policy (they may have a few decent ideas), they’re almost always wrong on foreign policy, and that dates back to post-World War I. In fact, Russia’s menacing activities have been ongoing for quite some time, even under Obama. That’s another thing about liberals; they have very short memories. To be frank, Democrats are still sour over losing the 2016 election. So, I’m not taking this apology as something that’s genuine other than to make up for the glaring miscalculation that someone who's supposed to be a foreign policy ace made back in 2012. Russia was never a problem until it became a convenient punching bag for the one most spectacular defeats in modern political history for the Democratic Party.
When Dems ridiculed Romney in '12, Putin had already sent tanks into Georgia, been implicated in murders of dissidents and journalists, was still seen as Russia's most powerful figure & was about to retake the presidency. Lots happened after, but a lot was already on the record. https://t.co/kzVjZcTjhT
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) February 26, 2019
Join the conversation as a VIP Member