Mitt Romney: enabling the PRC’s foreign adventurism?

There’s a lot to talk about with regard to last night’s debate, but I want to drill down on this unforced error made by Team Romney.  It’s… subtle, but it’s going to hurt Mitt in unexpected ways.  Via the CNN debate transcript (via Ben Domenech’s Transom) comes this fascinating discussion of alternative methods of funding humanitarian aid:

COOPER: Governor Romney, should foreign aid be eliminated?

ROMNEY: Foreign aid has several elements. One of those elements is defense, is to make sure that we are able to have the defense resources we want in certain places of the world. That probably ought to fall under the Department of Defense budget rather than a foreign aid budget.

Part of it is humanitarian aid around the world. I happen to think it doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to borrow money from the Chinese to go give to another country for humanitarian aid. We ought to get the Chinese to take care of the people that are — and think of that borrowed money on today (ph).

Quick response: Mitt Romney wants the ChiComs to do no-strings-attached humanitarian aid?  Anybody who could convince them to do that wouldn’t currently be at 25% in primary polling. Continue reading Mitt Romney: enabling the PRC’s foreign adventurism?