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Jon Stewart took his turn piling on Mitt Romney for his disastrous start to his overseas tour, where he managed to insult everyone and their grandmother from the Olympic committee to politicians on both sides of the aisle in the UK.

I'm guessing he's saving going after Mittens debut in Israel for Tuesday's show.

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A senior adviser to President Barack Obama's reelection campaign on Sunday lamented that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had "embarrassed" the U.S. by insulting Britain as they kicked off the Olympic games last week.

Robert Gibbs told ABC's Matthew Dowd that Romney had disgraced himself "in front of our strongest ally in the world."

"Look, Mitt Romney wondered aloud whether London was ready for the Olympics, and I think it's clear that voters in this country wonder aloud whether Mitt Romney is ready for the world," Gibbs quipped. "And I think the world is not yet ready for Mitt Romney."

"Literally to go overseas, stand in the county of our strongest ally -- in the Olympics that they had been preparing years for -- and question whether or not they're ready does make you wonder whether or not he ready to be commander in chief."

"I thought it was embarrassing for our country," Gibbs added.

In an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams last week, Romney had offended Brits when he suggested that London wasn’t ready for the games.

“It’s hard to know just how well it will turn out,” the candidate said. “There are a few things that were disconcerting. 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.”

During a torch lighting ceremony, London Mayor Boris Johnson made a point of calling out Romney by name in front of tens of thousands of people.

“There are some people coming from around the world who don’t yet know about all the preparations we’ve done to get London ready in the last seven years,” Johnson told the massive crowd in Hyde Park. “There’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we’re ready.”

“Are we ready? Are we ready? Yes, we are!”

Even conservative Prime Minister David Cameron took a jab at Romney's 2002 games in Salt Lake City, saying, "Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere."

The next day, the British press panned the GOP hopeful as “devoid of charm, offensive and a wazzock.”

“Good old Mitt,” The Guardian‘s Paul Harris tweeted. “His charm offensive in the UK failed to be charming, but he really pulled off the offensive bit.”

(h/t: Politico)

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A Republican strategist who managed former Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign says that GOP hopeful Mitt Romney's recent gaffes during a trip to London reinforced the appearance that he is "aloof and not always understanding the situation."

Chip Saltsman on Sunday told Fox News host Chris Wallace that Romney had made an "unforced error" in London by suggesting that the British were not prepared for the Olympics.

"And unforced errors usually lose the match," Saltsman explained. "At the end of the day, this should have been a lay-up trip. When you go to London you'd think since he's got the Olympic experience, the guy writing the memo would say, be positive. I mean, this is an exciting time for London."

"But I think what you saw there was kind of CEO Mitt Romney come out -- which is kind of his default position -- and say, you know, 'Looks pretty good but there's problems -- could be problems. We need to work on this.' And people were like going, 'Huh?'"

Saltsman added: "And this, unfortunately, reinforces the kind of Mitt Romney image of kind of aloof and not always understanding the situation."

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Mitt Romney's very bad week in London just got worse, as he was called out by name by London's Mayor Boris Johnson in front of 100,000 in Hyde Park, and millions more watching on the 'telly'.

Boris Johnson: "I hear there's a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know if we are ready. Are we ready? Are we ready? Yes, we are!"

Burn.

When the Mayor ended by asking the crowd if London will put on the greatest Olympics that have ever been held they shouted in unison "Yes We Can!" And with that Mitt Romney's humiliation was complete.

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Anne Romney, the wife of GOP hopeful Mitt Romney, on Thursday insisted that she and her husband would not be giving voters any more information about their tax returns because they had "given all you people need to know."

"You know, you should really look at where Mitt has led his life, and where he’s been financially," Ann Romney told ABC's Robin Roberts. "He’s a very generous person. We give 10 percent of our income to our church every year. Do you think that is the kind of person who is trying to hide things, or do things? No. He is so good about it. Then, when he was governor of Massachusetts, didn’t take a salary for four years."

"We’ve given all you people need to know and understand about our financial situation and how we live our life," the candidate's wife added.

Regarding the Obama campaign's attacks on Mitt Romney's connection to jobs that were sent overseas by his former company, Bain Capital, Ann Romney said that "it was beneath the dignity of the office of the president to do something as egregious as that."

The Democratic National Committee on Wednesday apologized for a web video that featured a dancing horse to mock the former Massachusetts governor for not releasing his tax returns. The dressage horse, which is owned by the Romneys, will perform ballet at the Summer Olympic Games in London.

“It makes me laugh, it’s like, ‘Really?’” Ann Romney explained on Thursday. "There’s so many people out of work right now. And there’s this guy right here who has the answers for fixing the economy and all these attacks, they’re gonna try everything."

“Basically, my philosophy is they’re gonna fire the coach,” she predicted. “I already sort of know the answer. At the end of the day, they’re going to fire the coach because things aren’t going well.”

(h/t: Politico)

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Ann Romney's horse has qualified for the U.S. Equestrian team which competes next month in London at the Olympic games. This should only benefit the presidential run of Mitt Romney because as we all know nothing quite appeals to the blue-collar 'common man' as much as the rich person's sport of 'Horse Ballet'.

The clip above is from earlier last week on The Colbert Report.

via The NY Daily News

While Mitt Romney is running for President — his wife is going for the gold.

Olympic gold.

Ann Romney is part owner of an expensive mare called Rafalca, whose performances at the recent Olympic trials appear to have earned the horse a spot on the U.S. equestrian team heading to the Summer Olympics in London.

Rafalca was ridden by co-owner Jan Ebeling, a Romney family friend.

They are competing in dressage — a highly-stylized and esoteric sport in which riders guide horses through a series of complex, dance-like maneuvers.

While the Romneys are expected to attend the opening of the Olympic games, which begin July 27, they have not yet indicated whether they would stick around for the dressage competitions.
...
The wealthy Romneys are frequently lampooned for being out of touch with average Americans and Ann Romney’s thing for horses has become grist for comedians like Stephen Colbert, who recently declared dressage the Official Sport of Summer.

Ann Romney tweeted:

It's great to be part of the Olympics again. We are so proud of Jan and Team USA. Now let's bring home the gold! twitter.com/AnnDRomney/sta…

— Ann Romney (@AnnDRomney) June 16, 2012

Edit: For their part, the Romney's took a tax deduction for this horse larger than the average American makes in a year.

But as Mr. Colbert’s satire suggested, the scrutiny may not be entirely a blessing for Mr. Romney’s image as a man in touch with the concerns of average Americans. As millions tune into the Olympics in prime time this summer, just before Mr. Romney will be reintroducing himself to the nation at the Republican convention, viewers are likely to see “up close and personal” segments on NBC about the Romneys and dressage, a sport of six-figure horses and $1,000 saddles. The Romneys declared a loss of $77,000 on their 2010 tax returns for the share in the care and feeding of Rafalca, which Mrs. Romney owns with Mr. Ebeling’s wife, Amy, and a family friend, Beth Meyers.

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Not sure if the BBC news anchor here was auditioning for Fox News, or she's just really thick. Regardless, Darcus Howe was having none of it after he was asked if he condoned or participated in the riots himself. "Show some respect!" he replied caustically.

For whatever reasons, the idea that the older generation of blacks in Britain can be just as disgusted by the vandalism and the looting while understanding completely the frustration of the youth just doesn't get through to those in the media.

Jorge Rivas at Colorlines has the details.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to flood the streets of London with 10,000 extra police officers as rioting and looting spread across London. Images of fires, looting and altercations between protesters and police have taken over BBC News shows.

But 68-year-old Darcus Howe, a broadcaster and columnist, who lives in South London where riots have been taking place offered some context this morning for BBC News viewers. Darcus told a BBC News anchor that political leaders had no idea what was coming but if they had taken a moment to ‘look at young blacks and young whites with a discerning eye and careful hearing” they would of heard messages of what to do prevent this.

The Trinidad and Tobago native who says he’s been in London for more than 50 years goes on to tell viewers about his young grandson who can’t count how many times he’s been stopped and searched by London police.

And when the news anchors asks if he condones the riots he gives her a piece of his mind. “‎Have some respect for an old West Indian negro and stop accusing me of rioting. Have some respect, I have grandchildren. You sound like an idiot.”

Howe is a notable British writer and is the former editor of the magazine Race Today.

Another video making the rounds online is an elderly woman walking around in Hackney on one of the first nights of looting. “Get real black people, get real. If we’re fighting for a cause, let’s fight for a f*cking cause” she tells people in her neighborhood that are looting.

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Rachel gives a rundown of one of the effects of new austerity measures in Britain. Perhaps a sign of things to come in the United States, as someone will be expected to pay for these Tax Cuts for millionaires. From the BBC:

Five tonnes of debris has been cleared from central London following violent protests against tuition fee rise.

Cleaners and graffiti removal teams worked overnight in Westminster and the West End, Westminster Council said.

The Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square - an annual gift from Norway, was also targeted by protesters.

A spokeswoman for London Mayor Boris Johnson said there was no excuse for the damage, adding "It is an insult to democracy".

The protests over MPs voting to increase university tuition fees in England to up to £9,000 a year turned violent as demonstrators started fires and sprayed graffiti on statues in Parliament Square and smashed windows of the Treasury building on Thursday night.

Demonstrators also attacked a car carrying the the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall and targeted some shops in Regent Street as they gathered in Oxford Circus in central London.

Raw video of the attack on Prince Charles. The Brits take the royals very seriously, even Charles who would be the future King. Shouting "Off with their heads!" probably shocked many there.