Whether it intended to or not, when TIME Magazine designed its latest cover, it affirmed a statement then-GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney made almost two years ago — and for which he was ridiculed by President Obama.
TIME’s cover, which was announced Thursday, depicts Vladimir Putin casting a shadow of a commercial airliner beneath the words, “Cold War II: The West is losing Putin’s Dangerous game.”
Here’s how the magazine describes its cover story:
Vladimir Putin backs the rebels suspected of shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Why each new crisis makes him stronger.
Twitter lit up when TIME released it’s cover. Here are a few examples, collected by the Twitchy team.
The 80s called… RT @charlescwcooke: Zing your way out of this, Barack. pic.twitter.com/8UqJjZlrQw
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) July 24, 2014
Meme, updated. @lachlan @charlescwcooke pic.twitter.com/5hQ5t2HJdy
— Americandor (@Americandor) July 24, 2014
Time couldn’t bring themselves to headline, “Romney was Right? RT @charlescwcooke Zing your way out of this, Barack. pic.twitter.com/7CcH2HHiWE
— Sandy (@RightGlockMom) July 24, 2014
Now for the backstory. During the third presidential debate, which covered foreign policy, Romney claimed that although Iran was our “greatest national security threat,” Russia remained a serious “geopolitical foe.”
He said this in response to an Obama lecture: “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War has been over for 20 years.”
Romney continued:
Russia does continue to battle us in the U.N. time and time again. I have clear eyes on this. I’m not going to wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to Russia or Mr. Putin.
Here’s their exchange, as presented on Fox News Special Report earlier this year:
Check out more tweets at Twitchy.
