Brian Fallon, a former spokesman for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign, took to Twitter on Wednesday to admit that Democrats “erred” in 2012 when they mocked then-Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for calling Russia the United States' "number one geopolitical foe."
During his presidential campaign, Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, said during a March 2012 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer that Russia “is without question our number one geopolitical foe.”
Russia "always stands up for the world's worst actors," Romney said, citing the country’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who “is murdering his own people.”
Romney also blasted former President Barack Obama for his comment to then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he'd have more "flexibility" after the election.
"Russia is not a friendly character on the world stage and for this president to be looking for greater flexibility where he doesn't have to answer to the American people in his relations with Russia is very, very troubling, very alarming," Romney said. "I am very, very concerned.”
Democrats, including Obama, dismissed Romney’s characterization of Russia as an adversary throughout the 2012 election cycle.
During an October 2012 debate, Obama mocked Romney, arguing that “the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War's been over for 20 years."
“I know you haven’t been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you’ve offered an opinion, you’ve been wrong,” Obama said.
A mere four years later, in the aftermath of Clinton’s loss to President Donald Trump and the finding of the American intelligence community that Russia sought to influence the 2016 election, many Democrats began to come around to Romney’s point of view. Fallon, who is now a CNN commentator, appears to be one of them.
In a tweet referencing a recent debate between Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and Max Boot, a former Romney adviser, about Russian President Vladimir Putin, Fallon praised Boot for “calling out Putin lovers in Trump's GOP.”
“We Dems erred in '12 by mocking Boot/Romney Russia worry,” he added.
Trump has denied allegations that his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.
