Romney Calls The U.N. A "Failure"

GOP Candidate Says He Would Support "Coalition Of The Free Nations Of The World"

(AP)  Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney called the United Nations a failure on Thursday and said he would support a new coalition of the free nations of the world.

The former Massachusetts governor said the U.N. Human Rights Council has repeatedly condemned Israel while taking no action against nations with repressive regimes.

"The United Nations has been an extraordinary failure of late," Romney said in response to a question at a pancake house along the coast of early voting South Carolina. "We should withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council."

Actually, the United States doesn't have a seat on the human rights council, which it has been boycotting.

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom later clarified the remarks.

"The governor believes we ought to withdraw completely from the U.N. Human Rights Council, and that means ending our financial support in addition to not seeking a seat on the council," Fehrnstrom said. "We should not legitimize the council, either with financial or diplomatic support."

Romney also said he would support a new "coalition of the free nations of the world and bring those nations together so that we can act together."

"We should develop some of our own — if you will — forums and alliances or groups that have the ability to actually watch out for the world and do what's right," Romney said.

Romney was sharing the political attention in this state with GOP rival John McCain, who is on his second consecutive day of campaigning here.

McCain, in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, accused both Russia and China of causing gridlock in the U.N. Security Council and hindering the world body's ability to sanction Iran or address pressing matters in Darfur, Burma and other trouble spots.

If elected, McCain said he would form a league of democracies to circumvent the Security Council and enact tough sanction against Iran and other problem countries.

Romney, who has been criticized for his changing view on abortion, was also asked where he stood on the issue that is important to voters in this conservative state.

"I am pro life and I am proud to be pro life," Romney said.

The former governor also said he would oppose using federal dollars for abortions and would appoint Supreme Court justices opposed to abortions.

He said he opposes using cloning or practices that create human cells for stem cell research.

On Thursday, the Romney campaign also unveiled a Web ad featuring Romney's wife, Ann, praising Romney as a good father and husband against a video backdrop of family gatherings and horseplay. The ad, called "Our Home," comes just a day before Romney speaks in Washington to social conservatives at the Value Voters Summit. It also dovetails with Romney's recent pitch that the best way to guarantee the well-being of children is through two-parent families.

The Romneys have five sons and ten grandchildren. Of the leading Republicans in the presidential contest, Romney is the only one who has not been divorced.

"Mitt says his greatest success is being able to say 'I have been a good father, and a good husband,"' Ann Romney says in the ad. "Mitt says there's no work more important than what goes on within the four walls of the American home. And that's the way it was in our home."

[hwy71so]

Romney makes some good points. He might be worth considering.

[simonsez40]

Ask the dear people of Mass. what a failure and slackey he was......another YES man and definately a lame duck candidate!

[gkc99]

Sure, we can replace the U.N. with the Council of the Mormon Elders who will tell us all what to do, starting with tithing to the Mormon church, giving up coffee and alcohol, and kissing the a$$ of Brigham Young and the nutcase who "found" the "leaves of gold" buried in New York of places, when an "angel" secretly told him how to "translate" these texts, which then miraculously disappeared!

[dutchfarmer]

The UN stands for usual nonsense. A broken watch is right twice a day and Romney got something right, but he quickly became wrong again with his coalition of nations. Romney''s sacred shorts of the Mormon "holy" underwear caused a short in the blood supply. What a fake!

[bwessels]

Some seem to think the purpose of the U.N. is to do whatever the U.S. says. Have we ever been called on the carpet there? Admitted we were wrong?

That coalition he is talking about is called NATO. I guess they are not sufficient yes-men either.

[incog-nito]

This is just a lame attempt at trying to score political points, nothing more. Bush, Reagan, etc. all have said the same thing. Why didn''t they get out of the U.N. if they dislike it so much? I guess then there would be one less thing they can rail againts to rally the faithful.

[jsilver2th]

It''s always nice to look on and see what Mitt''s positions are this week...

Why won''t he release his income tax returns?

And why won''t he play President with his friend Larry Craig any more?

[bxazy8]

lol, Ron Paul has called it a failure from day 1 it''s funny to see other politicans ride his coat tail. They FEAR RON PAUL!!!

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We have Domestic Terrorists It Is Called The Bush & Clinton Administrations And All Of their "Secretive Signed Statements"

[briannorwood]

I''ve tuned Romney out already. He''s nothing but a flip-flopping panderer.

Oh, and by the way, Mormonism is a stupid religion.

[gunownerdan]

When you consider the fact that some of the UN''s most powerful member nations are brutal totalitarian dictatorships, it''s hard to say that the UN is a good organization especially since they so strongly support civilian disarmament which makes genocide possible.

[homespunlady]

Takes one to Know one.

[jsilver2th]

Now that Colbert is in the race these other guys can go back to Utah

[signof4]

''Romney Calls The U.N. A "Failure"''

No shiit, Sherlock! If you promise to relocate the UN to Haiti, I''ll vote for YOU!

[macusweil]

The UN was instrumental in preserving the peace, averting all out nuclear war between the US and USSR and ending the cold war. Our fathers and grandfathers devised the UN as a way to help ensure peaceful and cooperative interaction between the nation of the world. Bush and the neo.cons have made the UN into a laughing stock. They think they know better than the generation who sacrificed so much to bring peace after WWII. They are the true failure. Just look around at what the world has become in the past 6 years. The UN can work if its funded and treated with proper level of respect.

[notblue]

today''s UN is an impotent body who cannot stop genocide where it is presently carried out in Sudan and Darfur. It gives the despots and dictators of the world like Chavez and Ahmadenejad a platform to spew there venom. It has proven to be the most corrupt body in the world today via countless recent scandals. It''s sanctions bare no teeth and are not inforced. I couldn''t agree with Romney more.

[mitywhity]

The UN is a failure from an American point of view and it is a herald of good news from a european point of view. The UN is the flux line that the global community seeks to spread through and eliminate the USA for good. It gives weak and insignificant countries a fist to shake in our face. So yes, the UN is a decrepit organization that we should not be a part of.

[xzavierbrown]

Posted by MityWhity at 04:09 PM : Oct 18, 2007
+ report abuse
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africa, burma and the americas will disagree with you..the only one that does not the dictatorships that run those countries..without the UN, these dictatorships would not be able to shield themselves from an onslaught of world demands to step down..

oh by the way, i think the "americans" had given up on the UN a long time ago..

[incog-nito]

Those on the right seem to think that the U.S. needs to get out of the U.N. This begs the question: Why didn''t Reagan, Bush Sr., or Bush Jr. do it already since they''re always so critical of it? They''re supposed to work for you, don''t they?

[bill1fj]

Romney is correct
The UN is a BIG failure.
The US should have gotten out long ago.

[truthheals]

Gaza Darkness
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/757768.html

Israel Defense Forces has been rampaging through Gaza killing and demolishing, bombing and shelling, indiscriminately.

In large parts of Gaza there is no electricity. Israel bombed the only power station in Gaza, and more than half the electricity supply will be cut off for at least another year. Since there is no electricity, supplying homes with water is nearly impossible.

In the last two months, Israel killed 224 Palestinians, 62 of them children and 25 of them women. It bombed and assassinated, destroyed and shelled, and no one stopped it.

Israel drops innumerable missiles, shells and bombs on houses and kills entire families on its way to another assassination. Hospitals are collapsing with more than 900 people undergoing treatment. At Shifa Hospital, the only such facility in Gaza that might be worthy of being called a hospital, I saw heartrending scenes last week. Children who lost limbs, on respirators, paralyzed, crippled for the rest of their lives.

Families have been killed in their sleep, while riding on donkeys or working in fields. Frightened children, traumatized by what they have seen, huddle in their homes with a horror in their eyes that is difficult to describe in words. A journalist from Spain who spent time in Gaza recently, a veteran of war and disaster zones around the world, said he had never been exposed to scenes as horrific as the ones he saw and documented over the last two months.

[boatdocster]

McCain, in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, accused both Russia and China of causing gridlock in the U.N. Security Council and hindering the world body''s ability to sanction Iran or address pressing matters in Darfur, Burma and other trouble spots.

Translation - UN is worthless unless it bends over to the U.S. every single day. But for some reason it''s OK for the US to veto any bill it does not agree with, even if everyone else is for it.

Another US example of Democracy - do as I say, not as I do.

[grazinggoat]

The UN is a failure from an American point of view and it is a herald of good news from a european point of view. The UN is the flux line that the global community seeks to spread through and eliminate the USA for good. It gives weak and insignificant countries a fist to shake in our face. So yes, the UN is a decrepit organization that we should not be a part of.
Posted by MityWhity at 04:09 PM : Oct 18, 2007

-If it''s a failure, it''a mainly due to our GOP attitude of protecting Israel''s defiant stance against all resolutions adopted by UN security counsel. Add to that the boycott our administration has adopted as a strategy to put pressure on the UN decision makers. The USA has, many times trailed the pack into UN budget shares attributed to our country, as a major contributor.
Still wondering why?

[neoconrcrazy]

In the last two months, Israel killed 224 Palestinians, 62 of them children and 25 of them women. It bombed and assassinated, destroyed and shelled, and no one stopped it. truthheals

israel''s zionist politics is the root reason for terrorism world-wide. When the UK government finally came to the table with goodwill and concessions towards the catholic minority in Northen Ireland, the violence stopped, the terrorism stopped.

israel must return to her 1967 borders, pay repariations for the death and destruction she has reeked for 40 years on the Palestinians people, recognize the unwarranted attack on the USS Liberty and apologize for the deaths of over 40 US servicemen.

[theusa1st]

today''''s UN is an impotent body who cannot stop genocide where it is presently carried out in Sudan and Darfur.
Posted by notblue at 04:08 PM : Oct 18, 2007

And don''t forget Rawanda a few years ago...and they finally made it to the Balkans after mass slaughter.

[grazinggoat]

CBS News: ''The former Massachusetts governor said the U.N. Human Rights Council has repeatedly condemned Israel while taking no action against nations with repressive regimes''

-Mitten Romney, a genuine dictator in the making. I have never voted for this neo-con in my native state. Shame on you Mitt!

[SamThornton]

Mitt firmly establishes his Neocon credentials with this statement. This is a page directly out of one seminal Neocon document (see link below) which calls for replacing ALL international organizations and treaties with a so-called "Concert of Democracies," a sort of US buddy club. First on the "Concert''s" agenda: decide which countries to wage war on. Crazy as it sounds, this really is the agenda. Read this document (PDF) and weep for America: http://tinyurl.com/whysz

[xzavierbrown]

CBS News: ''''The former Massachusetts governor said the U.N. Human Rights Council has repeatedly condemned Israel while taking no action against nations with repressive regimes''''

-Mitten Romney, a genuine dictator in the making. I have never voted for this neo-con in my native state. Shame on you Mitt!


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Posted by grazinggoat at 09:30 AM : Oct 19, 2007
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are you not voting for this guy because he is a republican or because he thinks that there are OTHER OPRESSIVE REGIMES OTHER THAN ISRAEL ..humm maybe palestine of some other middle eastern states?

[xzavierbrown]

I am sure several left winged liberals will still try to argue that the UN is a fully functioning and competent organization. An organization that actually contribute OTHER THAN actually complicating issues for the benefit of the few ELITE member nations...FOR ONE REASON AND ONE REASON ALONE..it is anti-Bush and a republican said so.

Liberalism is dead