Romney bars press from "major address" on foreign policy

From Democrats.org:

Most of the time, when a presidential candidate gives a major policy address, his campaign invites the public to attend or at the very least allows members of the media to cover it. But not smooth talking Mitt Romney. [Thursday night] in Denver, when Romney gave a speech to the American Enterprise Institute that campaign aides spent the week billing it as a "major address" on national security issues, no reporters or members of the public were permitted to attend. [The Atlantic Online, 6/18/07; AP, 6/22/07] Instead, his campaign issued canned quotes from his prepared remarks.

Romney’s decision to keep the press out of last night’s speech follows an embarrassing string of goofs, gaffes, and flip-flops during his previous forays into foreign policy. From calling the capture of Osama bin Laden “insignificant,” to saying he would shift U.S. troops to military bases in Saudi Arabia—bases the United States closed four years ago—to offending Cuban Americans by misquoting Fidel Castro’s communist rallying cry and echoing stereotypical portrayals of Cuban immigrants, Romney’s foreign policy blunders reveal his lack of experience or knowledge of key issues. Worse still, while the American people overwhelmingly want a new direction in Iraq, Romney has consistently failed to offer a plan or outline his vision for how he would handle the war if elected.

“If Mitt Romney expects the American people to trust him to lead our country in a time of war, he should respect them enough to publicly outline his views on the issues, not try to spoon-feed them canned quotes and empty slogans,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. “Smooth talking Mitt may have hit a bumpy road in talking about national security, but the American people deserve candidates who offer real leadership and vision, not more of the same failed Bush policies. The American people already elected one inexperienced governor with no foreign policy credentials, no plan for Iraq, and a consistent pattern of foreign policy blunders, they’re not about to do it again.”