Robert Parry: Why Romney Insulted the Palestinians.

Some pundits are excusing Mitt Romney's comment about why Palestinians are so much poorer than Israelis as a slip of the tongue caused by a shortage of staff on his overseas trip, but the Republican presidential candidate makes the same point in his book, No Apology, which he claims to have written himself: While discussing his thoughts about world travel, he wrote, "I wondered how such vast differences could exist between countries that were literally next door to each other. How could Americans be so rich and Mexicans so poor? How could Israelis have created a highly developed, technology based economy while their Palestinian neighbors had not yet even begun to move to an industrial economy?"In his book, Romney praised the writings of Harvard professor David Landes, who in Wealth and Poverty of Nations said "culture makes all the difference."Romney added that "What people believe, value, strive for, and sacrifice profoundly shape the nature of their society and affect its prosperity and security. So while America's abundant natural resources certainly facilitated its ascent, it is America's culture that enabled the nation to become and remain the most powerful and beneficent country in the history of humankind." Then, Romney cited some cultural aspects possessed by countries that prosper, contrasted with those that don't, including a strong work ethic, creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, cooperation, commitment to education, faith in God, devotion to family, patriotism, honor, trust in law, and respect for life. "There are cultures where life is cheap, but thankfully, ours is not one of them," Romney wrote.