Romney trying to cover up his gaffe?

[Dr Ron]

From Liberal Values--see original post for links. The interesting part is in the update after I checked out the claims of a conservative who posted claiming my facts were wrong. It turns out that the facts were right, but this led to the appearance that Romney is trying to cover up what he said:

http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=1251

Romney Bungles Speech–And Tries To Cover It Up

Presidential campaigns are to an unfortunate degree about who can avoid making serious gaffes. In 1967 Mitt Romney’s father was the front runner for the ‘68 GOP nomination until he said he was brainwashed into supporting the Vietnam war. With such a family history people might be looking more closely at Mitt Romney to see if there are any major gaffes on his part. I doubt this will be as serious a blow to his campaign as his father’s statement had been, but if the Republican nomination comes down to Florida, Mitt could be in trouble:

People chuckled when presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon raised in Michigan and elected in Massachusetts, bungled the names of Cuban-American politicians during a recent speech in Miami.

But when he mistakenly associated Fidel Castro’s trademark speech-ending slogan — Patria o muerte, venceremos! — with a free Cuba, listeners didn’t laugh. They winced.

Castro has closed his speeches with the phrase — in English, ‘’Fatherland or death, we shall overcome'’ — for decades.

‘’Clearly, that’s something he was ill-advised on or didn’t do his homework on,'’ said Hialeah City Council President Esteban Bovo. “When you get cute with slogans, you get yourself into a trap.'’

Romney’s fumble demonstrates the potential snags for state and national politicians trying to navigate the Cuban-American community of South Florida.

Ever since Ronald Reagan enthralled exiles by crying, ‘’Cuba sí, Castro no,'’ in a landmark 1983 visit to Little Havana, politicians have clamored, with mixed success, for the Spanish-speaking vote.

Update: It appears Romney is attempting to cover up his gaffe. Foreign Policy reports, “The text of the speech has been changed in the version now available online.” There’s also buzz around the blogosphere, including comments on conservative blogs, claiming that the video was taken down from Romney’s site as well as the sites of some pro-Romney blogs.

It was too late as even many conservative bloggers had already criticized Romney for his gaffe. Some of these are quoted in the comments in response to a Romney supporter who tries to pass off the “revised” version as Romney’s actual text. Besides, we all know that the cover up can hurt worse than the crime.

[Erika]

1. LMAO

How nice for DU to target the GOP rather than their own.

Nice change tonight. I hope the mods are following.

[Colobo]

2. What an asshole...

If he's going to pander, he needs to do it right...

[napi21]

3. I admire anyone who can speakmultiple languages, but I'm

convinced,if you don't speak a language, don't try to pretend to do so! All it can do is get you into trouble!!!!

[MADem]

4. He is SUCH an ass, ya just gotta LOVE it. nt

[skipos]

5. I hope Mitt or Newt are the Repub nominee.

They will be the easiest to beat.

[chelsea0011]

6. As someone from Mass., I thought Mitt would get clobbered

in the Governor's race. It didn't happen. Of course, he lied to Massachusetts voters about his policy stances that he has since flip flopped on so a national election might be a harder road.

[skipos]

7. And that is another reason I support Miit for the Repub nomination

He would not win his homestate. Since elections often can be determined by one or two states, that is a good advantage for us.

Though Dame Rudy might not win NY if he is the nominee, he might put nearby NJ and PA in play. There was a recent poll showing him beating Hillary and Obama in those two states. That is a scary thought, and I hope he isn't the Repub nominee.