France

From the speech in which Mitt Romney dropped out:

I’m convinced that unless America changes course, we could become the France of the 21st century.

Did nobody proofread that? France still exists in the 21st century. It’s like saying “we could become the Canada of North America”. Ok, but even ignoring that, isn’t America’s “course” right now that of a Republican president and a complicit congress? It’s a bit weirder in context, because he spends much of the speech criticizing democrats.

Another notable quote:

The best ally peace has ever known and will ever know is a strong America.

We have a lot of work to do before that becomes true, unfortunately. We can’t start a war on false information and then claim to be a beacon of peace. Perhaps he was insinuating that America wasn’t strong… very sneaky!

And, of course, the punchline:

Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

The vast majority of the speech is negative, talking about what we have to fear from Islamic fundamentalism or a welfare state or taxes. It’s really quite saddening to read, especially since this apparently excites people.