Mitt Romney's London gaffes: 5 ways they hurt him

The first stop on Romney's foreign trip has been marred by a series of missteps and rookie mistakes. How damaging will they be?

Romney
(Image credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney hoped to kick off his trip overseas "on a high note," says Maeve Reston in the Los Angeles Times, with a friendly visit to America's British allies. Instead, a series of missteps have earned him derision in the British press. First, an anonymous Romney aide told the Telegraph that President Obama doesn't appreciate the shared "Anglo-Saxon heritage" of the U.S. and the U.K., a charge Romney quickly disavowed. Next, Romney questioned whether London was up to hosting the Olympics, triggering prickly pushback from Prime Minister David Cameron. Among other stumbles: Romney called Ed Miliband, head of the opposition Labor party, "Mr. Leader," suggesting that he had forgotten Miliband's name; he publicly acknowledged meeting with the head of Britain's super-secret MI6 intelligence service — a real no-no; and, for good measure, he talked of "looking out of the backside of 10 Downing Street" — prompting reporters to inform him that, "in Britain, 'backside' means 'ass.'" Did Romney's gaffes, large and small, hurt his campaign? Here, five reasons they might have:

1. Romney is giving Obama ammunition to highlight his lack of foreign experience

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