Trying to come down off the caffeine and sugar political high of last night’s debate, I was perusing Twitter before heading to bed. I came across a retweeted tweet stating that during last night’s foreign policy debate, Mitt Romney never mentioned our nation’s veterans. I wish I could remember who tweeted it and retweeted it to give them a hat tip, but I simply cannot. At any rate, such an omission by Romney seemed odd to me, particularly after he was criticized for failing to mention the war in Afghanistan in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in late August.
Trying to find an answer, I turned to the Google for a search, but nothing had been written about Romney’s supposed omission. So I did the next logical thing. I found the debate transcript and searched for the word “veteran” (which would clearly also locate any use of the word “veterans” as well).
My search found that “veteran(s)” got seven mentions during the debate. And every single one of them came from President Obama. Mitt Romney never said the word, not even once, during a debate about foreign policy that included several heated exchanges about the role of our nation’s military.
President Obama’s team must have also picked up on this, because Tuesday on the campaign trail the President hit his opponent hard on that point. Obama told supporters at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, “Governor Romney did not even mention our veterans last night. Not a word! Not a word!”
Of his seven mentions of our nation’s veterans during last night’s debate, President Obama saved one of them for his closing remarks. Here’s the relevant passage: As commander in chief, I will maintain the strongest military in the world, keep faith with our troops and go after those who would do us harm. But after a decade of war, I think we all recognize we got to do some nation building here at home, rebuilding our roads, our bridges and especially caring for our veterans who’ve sacrificed so much for our freedom. There’s been no response to the President’s charge from Team Romney.
Nick Ramsey
Nick Ramsey is a senior producer with MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.” Recommended
