Mitt Romney put his Anglo-Saxon heritage to good use today, winning gold in the Olympic Gaffe-athon. Louie Gohmert took to the House floor to tell reporters to stop writing about his Muslim Brotherhood letters, prompting a fresh round of stories about Louie Gohmert's Muslim Brotherhood letters. And Rafalca -- man, that horse can dance. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Thursday, July 26th:
ROMNEY TELLS BRITISH THEIR COOKIES ARE FROM 7-11 - Criticizing America while abroad is out, so Mitt went to London and dissed his hosts instead. Luke Johnson: "Mitt Romney, in his first trip abroad as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, is trying to walk back comments he made questioning London's Olympics preparation -- comments that have drawn a sharp response from Prime Minister David Cameron. The dustup began Wednesday, as Romney, who ran the 2002 Salt Lake City games, said there were 'disconcerting' signs in the days before this year's games. 'The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials -- that obviously is not something which is encouraging,' he told NBC News. 'Do they come together and celebrate the Olympic moment? And that's something which we only find out once the games actually begin,' he said. Cameron soon rebuked Romney. 'We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course, it's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere,' he said." Buuurrrrrrnn. [HuffPost]
LONDON RESIDENTS FIRED UP - London Mayor Boris Johnson, on stage in front of a crowd of screaming people: "The people from around the world are coming and seeing the greatest city in the world there are some people coming who don't yet know about the preparations we have been doing for the last seven years. There is a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know if we are ready -- yes we are!" [BBC]
HARRY REID TO HUFFPOST HILL: "It's not good for us as a country -- it's not good for him -- but it's not good for us as a country to have somebody...to go over and insult everybody."
@jameschappers: Serious dismay in Whitehall at Romney debut. 'Worse than Sarah Palin.' 'Total car crash'. Two of the kinder verdicts #romneyshambles
UNION-LEADER: SHOW US THE MONEY - The New Hampshire Union-Leader is the latest conservative voice to join the chorus demanding Romney release s'more tax returns already. "Maintaining the secrecy creates the impression, justly or not, that there is something there to hide. No escaping that reality. The impression is there. And it will cost Romney votes he cannot afford to lose. Those voters might not cast their ballots for Obama, but not voting can be just as damaging. And yes, for using the tax dodges and loopholes legally available to him, he might lose votes as well. But there is no place for secrecy or, indeed, privacy in a Presidential campaign. If you want the job, you have to subject yourself to the scrutiny." [Union-Leader]
INVOKING AURORA FOR POLITICS IS OKAY SOMETIMES, APPARENTLY - Amanda Terkel and Jen Bendery: "[Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) took to the House floor on Thursday and -- in a tearful plea -- invoked the tragedy in Aurora while arguing for the need for bipartisanship. Life, she said, is too precious to waste, and the House should hurry up and pass the regulatory bill. ... "And I think in the spirit of comity, in the spirit that was established on this floor, this morning, we should move on, get to the work that the American people sent us here for, and understand as was quoted this morning by one of our colleagues -- our time is very precious. Don't waste it by playing gotcha games. Think about what we discussed earlier." [HuffPost]
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Republicans are just loving the Health and Human Services Department's recent announcement that states can apply for waivers from some federal welfare requirements. Here's an op-ed by Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of House Ways and Means Committee: "President Obama recently gutted the historic and bipartisan welfare reforms of 1996. His decision to allow states to ignore the work requirement in the welfare program is not only wrong, but illegal." What Camp and his crowd keep leaving out is that Republican states requested the waivers and that every single Republican governor, including Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, supported the same policy in 2005. [Washington Times]
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PARANOID SELF-LOATHING GOP LOBBYIST IS HOLLYWOOD'S GREATEST NEMESIS - Our favorite Paranoid Self-Loathing GOP Lobbyist is fuming that guns get more blame than violent movies for mass shootings. After all, aren't Hollywood celebrities naturally more powerful than politicians in a town known as Hollywood for Ugly People? "George Clooney raised $15 million in one day for Obama," PSLGOPL wrote, between drafts of his screenplay about a boy and his pet dinosaur. "Charlton Heston couldn't match that on his best day." Thanks, PSLGOPL!
SAM STEIN: "THIS ALL COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED. In the early days of his administration, President Barack Obama faced a staffing crisis. The person he had tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), had been forced to withdraw his nomination because of tax problems. And as speculation turned to who Obama would choose instead as his so-called 'health care czar,' one name kept being provocatively floated: Mitt Romney." [HuffPost]
ROMNEY TO NEGLECT WIFE'S HORSE - Seamus the dog and Rafalca the horse should form a support group. Steve Holland: "Romney expressed ignorance about when a horse owned by his wife, Ann Romney, would be participating in the Olympic sport called dressage. Democrats have used the Romneys' involvement in the sport to call attention to their vast wealth. Ann Romney rides horses to relieve stress and ease symptoms of multiple sclerosis. 'I have to tell you. This is Ann's sport. I'm not even sure which day the sport goes on. She will get the chance to see it, I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well,' he said." [Reuters]
EVERYONE TO BACHMANN: STOP IT - Amanda Terkel: "Forty-two religious and secular organizations united on Thursday in condemning conservative lawmakers' allegations that Muslim-American individuals connected to the U.S. government may be trying to spread the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. ... 'These letters question the loyalty of faithful Americans based on nothing more than their religious affiliations and what is at best tenuous evidence of their associations. As such, your actions have serious implications for religious freedom and the health of our democracy,' [the 42 organizations wrote in a letter to the lawmakers on Thursday.]" [HuffPost]
LOUIE GOHMERT OPENS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM - Elise Foley: "[H]e said journalists should just stop asking other people for their opinions on his Muslim Brotherhood claims. 'I hope that people in the mainstream media will get past the enjoyment of vilifying and trying to destroy the messenger and look at the message,' Gohmert said on the House floor. 'That they'll get beyond the lazy tactics of calling someone, getting with someone and saying, 'what's your opinion about these allegations' and getting a response, 'well, gee, I don't think there's anything to them' instead of digging the facts out and presenting them as the once proud journalist's tradition was here in America.'" [HuffPost]
DEMS GO AFTER JEWISH VOTE - Summary: Please don't leave us. Greg Sargent: "A group of wealthy and influential Democrats is quietly putting together their own effort to raise several million dollars to counter Adelson's efforts in key swing states, by aggressively pushing back on criticism of Obama's record on Israel and to remind Jewish voters that he agrees with them on domestic issues they care about, I'm told. ... Many Dems believe the key to preventing Jewish defections is that Jews are not one-issue voters on Israel, and on domestic issues are much more in sync with Democrats. So the pushback will also emphasize choice, health care, education, social justice and marriage equality." [WaPo]
OLYMPIC COMMITTEE RUINS ATTACK AD FUN - Jake Tapper: "A Democratic Super-PAC that launched an attack ad against Mitt Romney using footage from the 2002 Olympics has been told to take the web ad down and to not air a TV version. ... [Priorities USA Action's Bill] Burton told ABC News that he was contacted by an official from the U.S. Olympic Committee Wednesday afternoon. The web ad was taken down from the group's website this morning. A planned TV version of the ad will not air. 'Once we were assured that Mitt Romney and his allies would be held to the same standard, we were glad to take the ad down from our website,' Burton said in a statement. 'Go Team USA!'" [ABC]
@jaketapper ....AND the Romney campaign "Leader" ad -- with olympics footage -- is now down from youtube. http://abcn.ws/MLZAWJ
BLOOMBERG: ELIZABETH WARREN IS A 20oz SODA - David W. Chen: "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, stepping into one of the most closely watched races of the year, is throwing his support behind Senator Scott Brown, a Massachusetts Republican who is facing an energetic challenge from the Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren. ... Mr. Bloomberg's spokesman, Stu Loeser, said the mayor had chosen to support Mr. Brown because of the senator's 'tough stand' on gun control. He praised Mr. Brown for opposing a 'national concealed-carry reciprocity amendment,' which would have required states to honor concealed-weapons permits issued by other states. ... He added, 'If you take a tough stand and buck party orthodoxy that helps the city of New York, the mayor would like to support you.'" [NYT]
BUSINESS OWNERS AND FORESTERS UNITE IN DISLIKE OF OBAMA - Elise Foley: "Only 35 percent of business owners said Obama is handling the presidency in the right way, Gallup reported, making them one of the occupational groups with the most negative opinion of the president. The group was the only one in Gallup's survey whose opinion of Obama dropped significantly since the last survey, falling from 41 percent approval in the first quarter of 2012. ... In the Gallup poll, farming, fishing and forestry workers are the least impressed by Obama's job performance, with only 34 percent approving of it. Professional workers were the most impressed, with a slight majority, 52 percent, saying they approve." [HuffPost]
WHAT A WASTE, PART I: - text href="http://www.huffpostdc.com" target="_hplink">HuffPost DC: "A truck spilled 77,000 pounds of Budweiser beer on I-270 in Maryland early this morning." [HuffPost]
WHAT A WASTE, PART II: - text href="http://www.huffpostdc.com" target="_hplink">HuffPost DC: "Former Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas' McMansion in Great Falls, Va., is for sale for $3.5 million and comes with a shark tank, pool, grotto, fire pit, seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms." [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Opossum enjoys a strawberry and having ridiculous ears.
COMFORT FOOD
By @bradjshannon!
- Celebrities read mean tweets about themselves. [http://bit.ly/PNQPy8]
- Why, yes, our cat is extremely fickle. [http://bit.ly/QfcJqI]
- 8 year old writes a silly story, adults act it out for our amusement. [http://bit.ly/QfkgWx]
- Sneak peek at the glamorous life of a writer. [http://bit.ly/QfmJAl]
- Oh come on, if you rescue the bears they'll never learn. And you miss the opportunity to film your camping buddies when they try to throw out the trash. [http://bit.ly/Qfnr0s]
- Annika, age 3, teaches the internet how to pick up a chicken. [http://chzb.gr/Qflxgh]
- If Michael Bay had a Kickstarter project. [http://bit.ly/PNYCfr]
TWITTERAMA
@daveweigel: Somebody please move the rakes out of Mitt Romney's way so he doesn't accidentally step on them.
@luke_johnson: Cue 2016 speculation RT @politicalwire: The best thing about Boris Johnson is that he's American by birth and could run for president...
@LOLGOP: "The Beatles were quite competent imitators of our The Monkees, even if they never had their own TV show." #romneyshambles
ON TAP is taking the week off.
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