No Mitt Romney isn’t embroiled in some vast right wing conspiracy but to hear the people of Pittsburgh talk about “CookieGate” you would almost think his newest foot in mouth offense was on par with Nixon’s WaterGate scandal.
Romney on Tuesday was visiting just outside of the city for what was suppose to be a simple photo op when he decided to open up his mouth and insult the events baked goods. Romney turned to a woman next to him and said:
“I’m not sure about these cookies. They don’t look like you made them. Did you make those cookies? You didn’t did you? No. No. They came from the local 7-Eleven bakery or whatever.”
It turns out the cookies actually came from a beloved local establishment called the Bethel Bakery and after CBS 2 Pittsburgh aired the spot it sparked anger from local citizens who have promised to boycott the Romney campaign. Taking the comment in stride however the Bethel Baker is now offering a “CookieGate Special.”
Republican owner of the bakery John Walsh isn’t too hurt by the comments, however he did take a pretty funny jab at Romney, stating:
“Let him eat cake next time.”
In the meantime Mitt Romney’s handlers might want to have a serious sit down with their candidate as foot in mouth moments are never far apart from one another on the Romney campaign trail. The presumptive GOP presidential candidate has said how much he “loves to fire people”, has claimed poor people are in a good spot because of government handouts and has been attacked for saying his family dog use to love being tied to the top of the family car during road-trips.
It didn’t take the Democratic National Committee (DNC) too long to jump on this one:
Mitt Romney disses a beloved local bakery in Pittsburgh—and 7-Eleven. #cookiegate twitter.com/TheDemocrats/s…
— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) April 19, 2012
A general rule of thumb, if you are trying to win over people in a certain area you should probably know a little bit about their demographical information.