Gotcha Morning | Israeli vs. Palestinian Culture

Yesterday, we looked at Mitt Romney's deferential public support of Israel, but that was nothing compared to what he said within the confines of his closed-door fundraiser in Jerusalem Sunday night. Romney insulted not only Palestinians (which may have been his goal), but also his own intelligence by stating that Israel's GDP per capita is twice that of Palestine's (or "areas managed by the Palestinian Authority") because of Israel's superior culture.

There are at least two major problems here. One, according to the UN, the difference in GDP is closer to twenty times more in Israel than Palestine. If Romney really wanted to flatter the Israelis, I'm not sure why he didn't use the real numbers and tell them their culture was twenty times better than the Palestinians.

But, of course the larger problem is that Romney's argument about the "culture" of the two areas demonstrates a deep lack of understanding about the region. Israel's occupation of Palestine, aided heavily by the U.S., is what makes them twenty times richer. As Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks points out in the clip below, by Mitt Romney's logic, several Arab states must have superior cultures to Israel.

For Mitt Romney, culture will always be tied to wealth. Whether he's looking at a country like Israel or one of the many companies he consulted for at Bain Capital, if Romney can impose his ruthlessly capitalist culture onto them, then logically they must succeed financially. These latest insensitive statements are just one more example of how Romney's limited business point of view can often miss the bigger picture with disastrous consequences.