Mitt Romney, who led the 2002 Salt Lake
City Winter Olympics and was the 2012 GOP nominee for president, on
Sunday criticized Russia as the host nation for the upcoming Sochi
Games, but kept mum on the subject of Russia's controversial anti-gay
law.
Gay rights activists have called for a
boycott of the games in protest of the nation's “gay propaganda”
law, which prohibits public demonstrations of support for the LGBT
community.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday,
Romney said that Russia, in his view, undercuts the Olympic spirit.
“Governor, I want to ask you a bigger
question. The Olympic committee awarded these games to Russia back
2007 in part to try to reward and build up a, quote, new democracy,”
host Chris Wallace said. “But today, Russia has turned more
autocratic, Putin has signed a law against gays and Russia is
spending $51 billion, which is more than all previous Winter Olympic
games combined.”
“Governor, at some point does the
country hosting the Olympics, does that country's values, can it
undercut what the Olympics are supposed to be all about?” Wallace
asked.
“Well, there's no question about that
with regard to the Munich Olympics, for instance, and Hitler's
presence there,” Romney answered. “That certainly undercut the
Olympic message. And surely that could happen in our time,
theoretically or specifically.”
“In my view, Russia has not been a
particularly collaborative player on the world stage. Russia, after
all, has been pushing for the continuance of Assad in Syria. It has
been standing with Iran too often, in my view, against the tough
sanctions that I think were necessary, although they've come along to
a certain degree. The harboring of Eric Snowden, I think, is
designed to be a stick of the eye toward us.”
“Were it my choice, I would not vote
for Russia to hold the Winter Olympics or the Summer Olympics. But
it's not my choice. They are a player on the global stage. They have
a right to make their bid. But they do strain the view of people
like myself as to their leadership and their characterization of the
Olympic spirit.”