Romney Defends Himself In London; Michelin Recalling 840,000 Tires; Romney "Roughed Up" In London
COSTELLO: It's 16 minutes past the hour. Time to check this hour's headlines. There's new fallout on a Chick-Fil-A stance against same sex marriage. A city councilman in Philadelphia is joining with the mayors of three cities in telling the fast food chain that it is no longer welcomed in their towns. But the company also has plenty of supporters. More than 250,000 people have said they will give their business to the company next Wednesday for a Chick-Fil-A appreciation day. New information about the former lab technician accused of infecting patients with Hepatitis C. An Arizona hospital fired David Kwiatkowski two years ago after he tested positive for cocaine and marijuana. He is now charged with infecting 30 patients at a New Hampshire hospital and possibly thousands more across eight states. The Michelin Company is voluntarily recalling about 841,000 of its B.F. Goodrich and Uniroyal tires. They say the belts in the tires could separate and cause a blowout. No deaths or injuries are reported, but the company says the condition could increase the risk of a crash. In money news, guys, everything you need for your man cave in one spot. A New York grocery store now has a man aisle stocked with things like beer and chips, steak, barbecue sauce, deodorant, soap, and more. The store hopes to open man aisles in other locations. Now to politics. This morning, Mitt Romney may be longing for home sweet home. The Republican presidential candidate is having to back pedal from several gaffes in a botched good will mission to London. For millions of Brits that famous stiff upper lip turned to a sneer after this photo op meeting with Britain's prime minister when Romney questioned London's readiness for the summer games. It wasn't just David Cameron firing back. "The Daily Mail" screams this question. "Who Invited Party-Pooper Romney?" "The Sun" was even more blunt and calls him "Mitt The Twit." And the "Telegraph" says Mitt Romney is perhaps the only politician who could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive. John Brabender is a Republican political consultant. He served as the senior strategist to former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum. He joins us now from Washington. Good morning.</s>JOHN BRABENDER, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Good morning. Thank you for having me.</s>COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. So you are a strategist. You know how campaigns work. How is the Romney campaign looking at this trip to London?</s>BRABENDER: Well, I'm sure this morning or whatever time it is over there five hours' difference, that they're a little disappointed. Certainly, this time of a campaign, a presidential campaign is a tough one to get the type of press you want. You pretty much have to wait until the convention. So they put this trip together to make Romney look very presidential, very international in stature. They're waking up to some very disappointing headlines. I'm not really sure I agree that it was Romney's fault. All he did was really reiterate a lot of the criticism that was -- the Brits were having about themselves, but there was a certain sensitivity. He got beat up for it and so right now I'm sure that a lot of the Romney camp are a little bit disappointed and hoping they can turn the trip around.</s>COSTELLO: Because, you know, visits overseas, you know, they're a rite of passage for presidential candidates. They're meant to burnish foreign policy credentials and it's only been one day. What do you think this trip has done for Mitt Romney? I mean, is it lasting damage or is it just a flash in the pan?</s>BRABENDER: I think this is extremely short term. To be honest with you I can't help but point out sort of an interesting contrast. You have Romney sort of getting beat up for being very honest on security issues regarding one of our allies. Just a few months ago, you have the president of the United States whispering into the ear privately to one of our adversaries about he is going to be more flexible on missile defense and you don't hear much of a flap at all. And so I do think that this is just something where it makes interesting newspaper copy, but I think the American people get it. And I think in some sense people think that Romney at least has the courage to stand up. And when he sees a securities concern he is not going to be afraid to talk about it.</s>COSTELLO: But when you say your opponent is lousy when it comes to foreign policy, don't you have to show up more than up for the job if you're Mitt Romney?</s>BRABENDER: Well, again, I think what -- there is a certain sensitivity. Look, there is no doubt that when you host the Olympics that it's a great thing for a country. There's an incredible amount of pride. And probably there should have been more sensitivity to understanding that. You know, I do not think that in any way Mitt Romney's intent was to insult. I think it was purely to point out that what he had read has caused him some concerns. I think that it grew into something much bigger than really it was.</s>COSTELLO: John Brabender, thanks so much for joining us this morning.</s>BRABENDER: Thank you. I appreciate you having me.</s>COSTELLO: One week later after prayers and sorrow we're asking where was God in Aurora? It's our talk back question today.