Romney: Sylvester Stallone is ‘right,’ the U.S. ‘does apologize too much’

Former Massachusetts Gov. and potential 2012 White House contender Mitt Romney (R) took a cue Wednesday from Sylvester Stallone when he tweeted: “Stallone is right. US does apologize too much.”

The quote referred to a comment the veteran film star made Aug. 19 to Bill O’Reilly while promoting his new film “The Expendables” in an appearance on Fox News.

{mosads}O’Reilly opened the segment by referring to a Los Angeles Times review arguing the film taps a vein of “apple-pie patriotism … [that is already] behind the success of a cable news network,” taken to mean Fox.  

Stallone denied the film, which he directed, has any intended subtext at all.

“Some people read [into it] that I was maybe putting the focal point on the American
intrusion into other countries. You know, ‘We tend to overstep our boundaries.’ I don’t believe that at all.”

“I think
America apologizes too much,” he added quickly, as O’Reilly began to reply.

When O’Reilly jokingly asked whether Stallone had a “secret agenda” in making the movie, Stallone laughed. 

“I wish I was that clever. It’s pretty simple — pretty straightforward.
‘You’re bad, you gotta go.’ “

He went on: “It’s like reading into some kind of metaphor, or some kind of symbolism,
or some kind of hidden message … no, there’s nothing jingoistic. It’s
just guys going in there, blowing things up and having a good old time.”

The remark that “America apologizes too much” has gained attention since last week, especially from the conservative media, where it went viral.

“Hope he [Stallone] doesn’t get in trouble with Hollywood friends,”
Romney added in his tweet.

“The Expendables” was No. 1 at the box office last weekend, grossing $16.5 million for a total of about $65 million in earnings so far.