Romney reminisces about vacations in France

(CBS News) ASTON, Pa. -- Mitt Romney, who spent two years in France as a Mormon missionary, instead talked about vacationing in France when a French television reporter asked him about his best memories of France.

"I have a lot of memories of France. I think the best memories were with my wife on vacations, from time to time in France," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said at a press conference here with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. "The last vacation we had there, walking around the city of Paris, not just in the Champs-Elysees, but also over to the Jardin of Luxembourg and around the city, as one of the most magnificent cities in the world and I look forward to occasional vacations again in such a beautiful place."

Romney just last week accused President Obama of "jetting around the world" and, asked by National Review about exorbitant spending by the General Services Administration that's now under investigation, said Obama's "elaborate vacations" set a bad example.

"I think the example starts at the top," Romney said. "People have to see that the president is not taking elaborate vacations and spending in a way that is inconsistent with the state of the overall economy and the state of the American family."

Throughout the campaign, Romney has repeatedly made remarks that underscore his wealth, from challenging Texas Gov. Rick Perry to a $10,000 bet during a debate, to dropping that his wife drives two Cadillacs, to mentioning in separate incidents that his friends own NASCAR and football teams.

His reminiscences of France produced a Twitter outpouring. "Sound of Republican heads hitting desks as Mitt riffs about his French vacations," Politico's Jonathan Martin said in a tweet that was retweeted dozens of times.

[liberalmike]

romney is filthy rich and probably even has someone wipe his arse for him after he takes a chit!

Poor romney is so gonna lose the election and the dems will gain control of the house!

[your-boss]

I'M SURE ALL OF US HAVE SPOKEN ABOUT A VACATION THAT WE HAD BEEN ON IN THE PAST SOMETIME OR ANOTHER. SO, WHAT IF HE REMINISCED ABOUT HIS WIFE AND HOW MUCH IT MEANT TO HIM, I'M SURE YOU OR I HAVE DONE THE SAME WITH SOMEONE. HE IS A HUMAN BEING. IT'S A SHAME IF EVERYONE FOCUSED ON THE ECONOMY THEN MAYBE WE COULD GET OUT OF THIS MESS WE'RE IN OR YET IN BETTER SHAPE. SURELY, WE COULD FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO TALK ABOUT. SURE HE WENT AND STUDIED IN FRANCE, HIS RELIGOUS BELIEFS WHILE OTHERS WERE AT WAR, BUT JUST LOOK AT HOW MANY US BOYS NOW, NOT MEN WHO WERE THRUSTED INTO THE DRAFT TO NOT RETURN HOME TO THEIR LOVED ONES. AND JUST LOOK AT WHAT WAS GOING ON AT THAT POINT IN TIME IN OUR AMERICA, OUR SOLIDERS CAME HOME EXPECTING TO BE PRAISED BY THE VERY ONES WHO TOLD THEM TO GO SERVE THEIR COUNTRY TO BE TOLD WHEN THE FEW DID ARRIVE HOME THAT WERE NOT IN BODY BAGS, HOW THEY WERE MURDERERS, SPIT ON, HOW CAN ANYONE JUSTIFY THROWING OFF ON MITT ROMNEY OR ANY OTHER PESON IN THAT TIME WHERE WE COULDN'T EVEN CONTROL OUR OWN AT HOME, MUCH LESS WORRY ABOUT SOMEONE SEEKING RELIGION OVER DRUGS AND ABUSE IF THEY DID GO.

[calif7]

What should be discussed is Romney getting 2 and half years of a draft deferment in the late 60's to be a 'minister of religion' in France while others his age were fighting and dying in Vietnam. He also received 3 years of academic deferment. Like Cheney (who received 8 deferments to stay out of Vietnam), Mitt is taking very hawkish positions.

[calif7]

You miss the point bias. Obama is not bellicose as Romney wants to be in military affairs (yet the President is good at killing terrorists). Be it Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, Romney wants to extend our stay or get further involved militarily while increasing Pentagon spending at the expense of the middle class and poor. I'm always amazed at these "chicken hawks' like Cheney and Romney who did not serve yet want to carelessly send our men and women into harms way. I'll take an Obama, Colin Powell or Wesley Clark any day. "Minister of Religion"? I wish I could have come up with that in 1969.

[your-boss]

If your waiting to throw Mitt Romney under the bus and grind the wheels, let's first throw our american citizens who slapped our soldiers hard in the face as they arrived back home to shouts of rage, insults and were told they were murders by our very own people. Let us not forget our wonderful peace movement that scarred many of our soldiers and the young kids of america. That my friend was some heavy times. So I commend Mitt Romney for making a choice to a god, over drugs and ridicule.

[Robby33383]

How about Barrack Husseins 17 day Hawaiian vacation that cost all of us around $25 million. Obama has more people living in poverty and food stamps and he has the b-lls to spend that kind of money. Romney spent every penny of his own money. Come on CBS News report these issues fair and balanced!!!

[jimbom121]

25m was debunked many times.

[Fox_Rush_Zombie]

Nonpartisan Group Finds Press Isn't Hard On Romney -- It's Bashing Obama

In sharp contrast to the perception on the right that the press corps is in the tank for Democrats and Barack Obama, there has not been a single week this year when the president received more positive coverage than negative, according to a media study released Monday.

The nonpartisan report from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that it was Mitt Romney's primary win in his home state of Michigan on Feb. 28 that convinced journalists he was certain to be the Republican standard-bearer. From then on, coverage of his candidacy grew considerably more positive.

But the most interesting nugget in the report, which is based on "analysis of the tone and volume of candidate coverage during the 2012 primary season from January 2-April 15 using human coding of 52 key news outlets and computer-assisted coding of more than 11,000 news outlets," is that Barack Obama has been subjected to sustained negative coverage as Republicans have fought to challenge him.

[fedup12]

What are you all going to do when Romney gets in and takes as many vacations as Obama. Some would say going to Hawaii is going home. Kind of like a president from California may go there to unwind.

All presidents do it. I wish Bush would have taken more vacations... and he set records for days on vacation.

[ElanLeBlanc]

As of August last year, President Obama had taken 61 vacation days after 31 months in office. At the same point in their presidencies, George W. Bush had spent 180 days at his ranch. And Ronald Reagan had taken 112 vacation days at his ranch.

[jimbom121]

biasliberalcbs4

Actually it cost more because he was there so often that hook the entire Crawfoprd ranch up to be a second white house.

[ElanLeBlanc]

This is not about money or vacations. It is about how Romney relates to people. Having a president that can empathize and relate to different people is terribly important when being relationships with other countries. This would not have been a story in the U.S. press if Romney had gone down the path of: "As a young man, having an opportunity to live in France and get to know the wonderful people..."

[stephand]

Looking at the posts here, I can see why the people voting Democrat fare substantially worse than Republicans on several questions in surveys about political knowledge.

http://www.people-press.org/2012/04/11/what-the-public-knows-about-the-political-parties/?src=iq-quiz

[RepubsSuck]

Mitt doesn't have a clue, how could he???

[wfw3536]

At least Mitt has been a successful business man, and Obama didn't run a candy store before elected in 2008, and boy does it show as he spends 5 plus trillion of borrowed money. If this were not our government, and it was a business it would already be bankrupt as a business cannot just print some more money.

[longtree-2009]

romney has made his money legally, most likely inherited legally at some point, and there are no criminal charges against him for any illegality. he was mormon missionary, so? he has vacationed well as a private citizen because he can afford it, so? don't understand the haters unless it is just green envy that they aren't as wealthy. there is always someone poorer than you are right this minute so would you give them half of your earnings, your assets? just don't understand the haters of romney but then i don't understand the haters of obama.

[jacktar7]

Yes, he most likely inherited his money legally at some point, but he took the less likely route and GAVE HIS INHERITANCE, ALL OF IT, AWAY.