Romney's Compassion Fail!! LOLtastic

[mominatrix]

Romney confuses ‘Sikh’ with ‘sheik’


By Philip Rucker,

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Mitt Romney mistakenly confused the words “Sikh” and “sheik” at a fundraiser here Tuesday night when he offered his condolences to the victims of last weekend’s shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee correctly spoke of the Sikh religion earlier in the day when he observed a moment of silence at a campaign event in Illinois. But at the Iowa fundraiser, he instead talked about the “sheik temple” and the “sheik people.” Sheik is an Arabic honorific, whereas Sikh is a religion with roots in South Asia.



Referencing his earlier event in the Chicago area, Romney said: “We had a moment of silence in honor of the people who lost their lives at that sheik temple. I noted that it was a tragedy for many, many reasons. Among them are the fact that people, the sheik people, are among the most peaceable and loving individuals you can imagine, as is their faith. And of course, the person who carried out this heinous act was a person motivated by racial hatred and religious intolerance.”

Romney spokesman Rick Gorka said the candidate “mispronounced similar sounding words,” noting that he was clearly referring to the Wisconsin shooting and not trying to offend people of Sikh faith.

Gorka also pointed out that the comment came at the end of a long day of campaigning. Romney left his New Hampshire home at 7 a.m. and traveled between three states, holding three events and taping an interview before he took to the microphone at the evening finance reception in West Des Moines.

The event raised between $1.8 million to $2 million. Romney’s Iowa campaign co-chairman, David Oman, said it was “the largest and most successful presidential fundraiser we have ever had in the history of the state of Iowa.”

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-confuses-sikh-with-sheik/2012/08/07/10beaba6-e0fc-11e1-a19c-fcfa365396c8_story.html

[ttt]

It's not his fault if he had never heard the word Sikh before this week!

[ChillyMcFreeze]

Rick Gorka then told reporters, "Kiss my ass, the Sikh are a holy people. Show some fucking respect."

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2012 10:19:29 GMT -5 ttt said:

It's not his fault if he had never heard the word Sikh before this week!

i call BS he's never heard Sikh before this week. I went to middle school in buttfuck western mass and there were kids in my class who were seek and their father's wore turbans.

[mominatrix]

Aug 8, 2012 10:20:41 GMT -5 ChillyMcFreeze said:

Rick Gorka then told reporters, "Kiss my ass, the Sikh are a holy people. Show some fucking respect."

:Y:

[Velvetshady]

Aug 8, 2012 10:19:29 GMT -5 ttt said:

It's not his fault if he had never heard the word Sikh before this week!

Yeah, why should someone that wants to be the US President have heard of the fifth largest religion in the world?

[crazytalk]

I know someone who could school him!

I wonder if he knows the stats on turban-wearing men in the U.S.?

[pixy0stix]

He just needed to be educated.

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2012 10:30:07 GMT -5 crazytalk said:

I know someone who could school him!

I wonder if he knows the stats on turban-wearing men in the U.S.?

I'm going assume he sought medical treatment at some point during his 30+ years of living in Massachusetts.

I saw at least 1 Sikh everytime I went to the hospital in Boston.

[msmerymac]

Aug 8, 2012 10:22:03 GMT -5 @septimus said:

Aug 8, 2012 10:19:29 GMT -5 ttt said:

It's not his fault if he had never heard the word Sikh before this week!

i call BS he's never heard Sikh before this week. I went to middle school in buttfuck western mass and there were kids in my class who were seek and their father's wore turbans.

I'd say about 50% of the radio and television reporters I've heard talking about this story have pronounced it like "sick" rather than "seek." So... I'm honestly not sure how familiar people are with sikhs.

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2012 10:48:32 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Aug 8, 2012 10:22:03 GMT -5 @septimus said:

i call BS he's never heard Sikh before this week. I went to middle school in buttfuck western mass and there were kids in my class who were seek and their father's wore turbans.

I'd say about 50% of the radio and television reporters I've heard talking about this story have pronounced it like "sick" rather than "seek." So... I'm honestly not sure how familiar people are with sikhs.

If Mitt was coming from Arkansas I would probably give a pass.. but he's from Boston. A large cosmopolitan city.

[teflep]

Eh, he misspoke. Bad misspeak, but no worse than others, imo.

[teflep]

Aug 8, 2012 11:28:35 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Aug 8, 2012 11:03:23 GMT -5 teflep said:

Eh, he misspoke. Bad misspeak, but no worse than others, imo.

this is worse because of the Muslim confusion.

You're assuming he doesn't know the difference. I think he misspoke with a similar sounding word.

[ttt]

Aug 8, 2012 11:03:23 GMT -5 teflep said:

Eh, he misspoke. Bad misspeak, but no worse than others, imo.

Except it was multiple times in the same speech. I can see misspeaking and mispronouncing it once, but over and over seems strange to me.

[teflep]

I still see it as a misspeak, but carry on with the conversation that he thinks Sikhs are Muslim, since sheik is also a religion.

[ringstrue]

Yes I'm sure correctly pronouncing terms of a people you don't know much about doens't come up much at all when you are president.

[decemberwedding07]

Aug 8, 2012 10:48:32 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Aug 8, 2012 10:22:03 GMT -5 @septimus said:

i call BS he's never heard Sikh before this week. I went to middle school in buttfuck western mass and there were kids in my class who were seek and their father's wore turbans.

I think ttt was being TIC?

[ttt]

I don't find it offensive, just an indicator of Romney's unfamiliarity with cultures and religions that aren't his own.

[ttt]

Aug 8, 2012 11:35:02 GMT -5 decemberwedding07 said:

Aug 8, 2012 10:48:32 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Aug 8, 2012 10:22:03 GMT -5 @septimus said:

i call BS he's never heard Sikh before this week. I went to middle school in buttfuck western mass and there were kids in my class who were seek and their father's wore turbans.

I think ttt was being TIC?

I was, thanks

I don't actually think he had never heard "Sikh" before this week, but I do think that he probably knows little to nothing about them.

[Velvetshady]

I'm sure Romney won't be offended when President Mukherjee refers to him as a Moron instead of a Mormon. I mean, they sound similar.

[soontobeka]

Aug 8, 2012 11:31:23 GMT -5 teflep said:

I still see it as a misspeak, but carry on with the conversation that he thinks Sikhs are Muslim, since sheik is also a religion.

Forgive my ignorance but I thought "Sheik" was a title, not a religion. Is it also a religion?

[ChillyMcFreeze]

Aug 8, 2012 11:31:23 GMT -5 teflep said:

I still see it as a misspeak, but carry on with the conversation that he thinks Sikhs are Muslim, since sheik is also a religion.

Sheikh isn't a religion, it means "elder."

[teflep]

Aug 8, 2012 11:46:29 GMT -5 ChillyMcFreeze said:

Aug 8, 2012 11:31:23 GMT -5 teflep said:

I still see it as a misspeak, but carry on with the conversation that he thinks Sikhs are Muslim, since sheik is also a religion.

Sheikh isn't a religion, it means "elder."

Yeah, I know, hence my test of "but carry on the he thinks. Sikhs are Muslim" as it is a stretch since sheik really is not (*eta) a religion.

[heyjude]

Aug 8, 2012 11:45:50 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

I don't think his knowledge matters. He conflated Sikhs with Muslims by mispronouncing, which is one of the miserable hearts of the shooting and of racist shittiness. I am not calling him a racist, please note. I mean the shittiness of peole who think all Asians are Chinese, all brown people are Muslim, etc.

All brown people are Mexican. HTH.

[mominatrix]

I'm sure Romney won't be offended when President Mukherjee refers to him as a Moron instead of a Mormon. I mean, they sound similar.

Why does this remind me of the Barney Fag dust-up?

...via mobile.

[KateAggie]

He pronounced it correctly earlier in the day. Then mispronounced it twice later in the day.

This is really loltastic? Really?

[teflep]

Yes, Katie. But, in seriousness, it was a fail. I just don't get why it is an indictment of him or his knowledge? I get it's slow here and it is comment worthy.

[mominatrix]

Aug 8, 2012 11:51:16 GMT -5 KateAggie said:

He pronounced it correctly earlier in the day. Then mispronounced it twice later in the day.

This is really loltastic? Really?

Only LOLtastic because of the ” compassion fail” kerfuffle. without that, I wouldn't have even posted this.

...via mobile.

[KateAggie]

Aug 8, 2012 12:03:50 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

Aug 8, 2012 11:51:16 GMT -5 KateAggie said:

He pronounced it correctly earlier in the day. Then mispronounced it twice later in the day.

This is really loltastic? Really?

Only LOLtastic because of the ” compassion fail” kerfuffle. without that, I wouldn't have even posted this.

...via mobile.

I need far, far more coffee than I've had today. Carry on.

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2012 11:51:16 GMT -5 KateAggie said:

He pronounced it correctly earlier in the day. Then mispronounced it twice later in the day.

This is really loltastic? Really?

I was wondering about this re: him saying it at other times.

I assume he was just tired and misspoke.

Can I think it's both LOLtastic and NBD? Because I think it's hilarious when politicians misspeak, but I think we make way too big a deal of things like this.

IMO, this is like Obama's "57 states" comment. It's funny. But it can probably be attributed to the exhaustion that comes with campaigning.

Of course, if Romney drank coffee, maybe this wouldn't happen. I'm not sure I could trust a president who doesn't drink coffee.