Redwing

There are many Americans who do not seem to know the difference between England and Great Britain.

Zen10

Very true. But if you were trawl round your average British council estate and ask them to name the American states they wouldn't be able to list more than 10, I should think. Let along point them out on a map.

Beaverstate

Embarassed to say most americans probably couldn't name half.

JSL8610

Almost certainly not, but that's not really the same thing. That would be like expecting the average American to name and point out all the counties. Knowing the difference between England and Great Britain is more like knowing there's a difference between Kentucky and the USA.

kimilseung

but they are not campaigning to be the equivalent of Queen are they.

Zen10

It's a governance issue - England used to be separate and still there are governance differences, and this confuses them. It is unforgivable in a presidential candidate, yes, but we can forgive the great unwashed because they're largely ignorant wherever you are in the world, not only of other countries but also of their own. How many Americans could adequately explain the electoral college? How many British people can describe the passage of a bill through Parliament?

MarylandNed

Only beginning? Where have you been?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud3mMj0AZZk

If this guy gets elected, I'm outta here. Bush was bad enough but I suspect Romney has the potential to be much worse.

Zen10

And the national polls are close.

MarylandNed

Can you blame them? There are many Brits who don't know the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom.

For example, why is the Olympic team named "Great Britain" when it is actually a United Kingdom team? Many athletes from Northern Ireland have competed for Great Britain even though Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain.

The official answer is that the full team name is "Great Britain and Northern Ireland" which is abbreviated to "Great Britain" or "GBR" or "GB". This just adds to the confusion. Why not just name the team "United Kingdom" (abbreviated to "UK") since that is the name of the country it represents?

HarryTheSpider

Ignorance of one's own country's structure is not uniquely American or British... So ignorance of other countries is equally widespread.

For somebody campaigning to be the head of state, it is inexcusable. For this same person headed out on an official trip to one or more countries, not taking the time to get some basics right is even more inexcusable. It shows an attitude and level of understanding of such matters that borders on arrogance, though I suspect to be fair, it is simply due to being born in the environment he was...

Either way, what a fvck up... And using the excuse that he has said nothing that the UK national press has said simply underlines this even more. The UK press gets to say such things. The US press too. But a person campaigning to be head of state does not, not in this way. He is badly advised, and is not even aware of it. This is dangerous.

Obama was bad enough, and I think he may at least have learned... Something Romney shows little aptitude or desire for in such matters...

So, as I said, "knob".

kimilseung

The England an island thing is from his book not from the trip (unless I missed another gaff)

Zen10

Romney is hardly setting a precedent when he displays this level of ignorance, and they know the majority of Americans aren't going to notice it anyway.

HarryTheSpider

And he didn't write his book with running for POTUS in mind?

I don't buy it - a fvck up from start to, hopefully a rapidly approaching, finish.

Zen10

Current polling would suggest your dreams will come true - but only just. Several states are looking very weak for Obama at the moment - most worrying OH and Romney is dominating all the usual places.

Englishmum

'Mitt Romney embarrassed the US with Olympics gaffe' says top Barack Obama adviser:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...a-adviser.html

and a top columnist at the New York Times has this to say about Romney:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/op...ml?ref=opinion


God help us if Romney becomes President...