Flashback: Romney calling Russia 'our number one geopolitical foe' prompted media onslaught in 2012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was roasted in the media in 2012 for saying Russia was the nation's top geopolitical foe.

Pressed by Blitzer, Romney then said the "greatest threat" America faced was a nuclear-armed Iran. But the perceived damage was done.

While the Russia comment was ripped by Democrats and the media as a gaffe underscoring Romney's foreign policy inexperience at the time, it's viewed now as prescient. It's also seen by critics as a stark example of the mainstream press echoing Democratic talking points, particularly in light of subsequent years of fervent Russiagate media coverage and bellicose actions by autocratic Russian leader Vladimir Putin, like this week's invasion of Ukraine.