Middle East: Romney's incendiary remarks

Al Jazeera

Obama rebukes Romney over remarks

US President chides Mitt Romney over gaffe caught on secretly recorded video, as his Republican rival defends comments.   "The idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up to get the Palestinians to act is the worst idea in the world,'' Romney said, according to the magazine. Mother Jones did not provide video of that comment. The comments drew anger from Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erakat, who called them "absolutely unacceptable," and provided the White House with fresh ammunition to paint the Republican challenger as unpresidential. Romney also criticised Obama's foreign policy approach. "The president's foreign policy, in my opinion, is formed in part by a perception he has that his magnetism, and his charm, and his persuasiveness is so compelling that he can sit down with people like [Vladimir] Putin and [Hugo] Chávez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and that they'll find that we're such wonderful people that they'll go on with us, and they'll stop doing bad things," Romney says. "And it's an extraordinarily naive perception." Read it at Al Jazeera: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/09/201291812354473418.html