Posted on 12/16/2011 11:45:48 AM PST by tsowellfan
Mitt Romney has been trying to relate to voters by letting them know he’s more than a rich businessman who makes $10,000 bets. Over the past week, Romney has been discussing his time as a missionary for the Church of Latter-day Saints in France in the late 1960s. He describes living an austere life on a limited budget, rooming in a series of apartments without proper toilets or luxury items like refrigerators. “I lived in a way that people of lower middle income in France lived,” Romney said. But Romney may have stretched the truth a bit.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph decided to check into Romney’s account of his time and France. They found that, for about 8 months out of his 30-month stay in France, Romney lived in a mansion in Paris, living a comfortable, upper-class lifestyle. The building, someone familiar with it said, could be described as a “palace”:
It featured stained glass windows, chandeliers, and an extensive art collection. It was staffed by two servants - a Spanish chef and a houseboy…The building, on Rue de Lota, was bought by the Mormons in 1952, having been seized by the Nazis during the Second World War. The Church sold it again in the 1970s, and it was until recently the embassy of the United Arab Emirates. It is currently worth as much as $12 million.
Romney wasn’t thinking about his housing in Paris when he told supporters, “I don’t recall any of them having a refrigerator. We shopped before every meal.” The head of the mission at the time, Duane Anderson, told the Telegraph that the house not only had refrigeration, but a chef who cooked for Romney and the other missionaries five days a week. Romney also made comments that most of the places he lived didn’t have a bathtub or shower, but the Telegraph discovered that this was at least unlikely. If that were the case, it would be an outlier, one Mormon who met Romney in Bordeaux told the paper.
From food to plumbing, the way Romney described living to supporters this week doesn’t square with the Telegraph’s account of how he spent 8 months in Paris. Mr. Anderson claimed some campaign aides had asked him not to talk to the press about Romney’s time there.
After he made a $10000 bet on a whim a few weeks ago, and realized that he had distanced himself from poor working voters, he claimed he knew abotu being poor because he lived in poverty on his mission. Turns out he was in a paris mansion with servants.
“He (Romney) was pronounced dead by a French cop after an auto accident.”
So he’s one of the `undead,’ a Zombie. I suspected as much/
Just for the record...Romney’s $10K betting comment is a common southeast Michigan comment. Everyone always says “I bet you 10,000 bucks” whenever they want to project that they know what they are talking about. I thought it was cute and I say it all the time and have done so since I was a kid. Ask any Michigander. So, let’s quit trying to make it into something it isn’t.
His bet was never an issue wth me, it was just more of the same mormon-style lying he used to cover it up.
I agree. I’m not big on Romney but I don’t think the guy is a liar. I think he’s a pretty decent guy who just is not the one for this time in history.
I hate to come to the defense of Mitt Romney, but...
It looks like the Mormon church had purchased the building and turned it into a boarding house for missionaries in the area.
If you have multiple missionaries living in the building, it seems logical you would hire a cook and a maid (to do things like wash clothing and clean) to free up the missionaries to spend more time on the reason they were there to begin with—go and proseletize.
There are plenty of reasons (and then some) to vote against Mitt Romney. I’m just not seeing this as one of them.
Really? Makes sense. However, the usual statement around here is “I will bet you a million bucks.” 10,000, or $1,000 is too much like a “real” bet.
Somehow this reminds me of a funny Mad Magazine cartoon, where two KGB agents are chatting. “He’s a spy, alright,” says the one. “He claims he got the infection from a toilet seat in Tashkent. Little does he know ... they haven’t got toilet seats in Tashkent!”
OMG, isn’t one of the descriptions of the anti-Christ is he’ll seem dead then come back to life? Was it a head injury? It think that’s what it was supposed to be.
OMG, could Mitt really be the anti-Christ?
I think the Bible describes the anti-Christ as one of the most charismatic men ever.
OMG, could Mitt...never mind. Scratch Mitt off the list due to the charsimatic qualifaction.
I agree with you; such things are really petty. It's like knocking a guy's military service because he was able to get into the artillery.
Ditto his third cousin, Jon Huntsman. Except Hunstman is just a dweeb.
only to the extent that we followed him spreading the truth.....be very careful of condemning someone elses faith commitment unless your own equals or surpasses his. I am a Catholic and I have never gone on a mission to another country to extol the virtues of Catholicism. I have nowhere the zeal that it takes to do so.
he didn't, don't you listen??? he stated that he would not go against the stated policy of Mass. when he became governor. However, when he was faced with making a pro-abortion decision as governor, HE CHANGED HIS MIND, and found out within himself, that he could only decide in a pro-life manner. That means he came our way.....get it now???
Face palm! I should have realized it. Of all folks I should be able to recognize such. After all the grave dancing star of Return of the Living Dead is my HS classmate (true!)
It’s not his commitment I condemn, it’s his faith. Misplaced zeal is worse than no zeal at all.
Saul, before he became the Apostle Paul, had plenty of zeal for killing Christians in the name of the Lord. But it was wrong headed.
It’s not his commitment I condemn, it’s his faith. Misplaced zeal is worse than no zeal at all.
Saul, before he became the Apostle Paul, had plenty of zeal for killing Christians in the name of the Lord. But it was wrong headed.
you are, of course, a Roman Catholic.....if not, how do you justify following men like Luther, Calvin, Wesley, etc, instead of Christ???...you follow them, he follows Smith...wrong is wrong, you can't be a little bit wrong.
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