More than this idiot, obviously.
In the third presidential debate between the two candidates in October 2012, Obama went directly after Romney for that remark. "When you were asked, 'What's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America,' you said 'Russia.' Not al Qaeda; you said Russia,"
Obama said. "And, the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War's been over for 20 years."
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Romney
did say that Putin/Russia were America’s greatest geopolitical threat (sort of), and
then he backtracked, at least twice.
During a March, 2012 interview with Wolf Blitzer -
Romney; "I'm saying in terms of a geopolitical opponent, the nation that lines up with the world's worst actors," Romney said. "
Of course the greatest threat that the world faces is a nuclear Iran, and a nuclear North Korea is already troubling enough. But when these terrible actors pursue their course in the world and we go to the United Nations looking for ways to stop them ... who is it that always stands up with the world's worst actors? It's always Russia, typically with China alongside. And so in terms of a geopolitical foe, a nation that's on the Security Council that has the heft of the Security Council, and is of course is a massive nuclear power,
Russia is the geopolitical foe."
In his next interview with Blitzer -
Romney; "
There's no question but that in terms of geopolitics -- I’m talking about votes at the United Nations and actions of a geopolitical nature -- Russia is the No. 1 adversary in that regard. That doesn't make them an enemy. It doesn’t make them a combatant. They don't represent the No. 1 national security threat. The No. 1 national security threat, of course, to our nation is a nuclear Iran. Time continues to pass. They continue to move towards nuclearization. This is more and more disconcerting and dangerous to the world. But Russia -- particularly look at a place like Syria. Russia has supported the Assad regime even as it has been attacking its own people. Russia likewise has been slow to move to the kinds of sanctions that have been called for in Iran.
Russia is a geopolitical adversary, but it's not an enemy with, you know, missiles being fired at one another or things of that nature."
Following Obama’s charge about Russia -
Romney; "I'll respond to a couple of things that you mentioned. First of all,
Russia I indicated is a geopolitical foe. Not ... Excuse me. It's a geopolitical foe, and I said in the same -- in the same paragraph I said, and Iran is the greatest national security threat we face. Russia does continue to battle us in the U.N. time and time again. I have clear eyes on this.
Correction: At PolitiFact, we say words matter. So when we get the words wrong, it stings. At Monday’s presidential deba
www.politifact.com
“Clear eyes”, maybe. Definitely not a clear position.
