Romney Aide's Anglo-Saxon Quote a FRAUD

According to Jon Swaine of the British newspaper The Telegraph an anonymous Romney adviser told him:

 that he [Romney] would abandon Mr Obama’s “Left-wing” coolness towards London.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”

This Swaine suggested that the comment would prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.

There is one problem with the quote, it is a fraud!

Andrea Saul, Romney's press secretary, disputed the comments and emphasized that they did not reflect the beliefs of the former Massachusetts governor.

It's not true. If anyone said that, they weren't reflecting the views of Governor Romney or anyone inside the campaign," she told CBSNews.com in an email 

I emailed my contact within the campaign who backed up Ms Saul's response.

The fact that Romney denied that anyone in his campaign made that comment doesn't matter to the US press, neither does the fact that Mr Swaine hasn't backed up his charge with proof.

According to Jennifer Rubin, this is a standard practice of the press and this administration.

On its face, the story isn’t credible. The Romney campaign doesn’t make a practice of talking to foreign press. I’ve never heard Mitt Romney, his policy adviser, his foreign policy adviser or any foreign policy briefer or staffer use the term “Anglo-Saxon heritage.”

But that doesn’t matter. The pack journalists begin tweeting it out. The cable news people begin to chatter about it. The Romney team puts out a statement: “It’s not true. If anyone said that, they weren’t reflecting the views of Governor Romney or anyone inside the campaign.”

Some mainstream reporters confess to the Romney campaign that their editors tell them they have to write on it. (Have to? What if it’s not true?) Well, if one of them writes on it, others will follow.

And how did the Telegraph quote magically get to so many reporters? The Obama team sent it to them. Nothing wrong with that, if the press would be honest about the origin of the story.

David Axelrod top-aid to CREEP called the faux statement "stunningly offensive" and Vice President Joe Biden releasing a statement that slammed the Romney campaign for "playing politics with international diplomacy, attempting to create daylight between the United States and the United Kingdom where none exists."

It's nice to know that the mainstream media operates with less stringent guidelines on verifying facts than the greenest bloggers.