So in your view it is impermissible to ever acknowledge that your enemy has done something well?
In my view it is impermissable to do to placate an enemy at home and abroad, which is what I suspect Romney did. I don't read as much "goodness" into it as you do. I read "patronizing" into it.
Placating the enemy for political gain or because it's the easiest (short-term) way out of a difficult situation happened back in the late 1930s, Europe. You may have read about it in history books?