UPDATE #5: Politico once more:
The original Romney statement about the attacks was embargoed until after midnight on Wednesday morning – a seal that was apparently lifted when the Obama administration distanced itself from the Cairo embassy statement. But the timing, and tenor, of the statement had Bush administration Republicans versed in foreign policy shaking their heads – especially since Romney chose to get involved in the issue, but with a brief, almost strictly political statement about a crisis that was unfolding.
“It was a move I would have expected Michele Bachmann to do,” said one Republican operative. [Pols emphasis] “Jumped the gun, went aggressive politically at a time when the rally around the flag mentality sets in for most.”
—–
UPDATE #4: New York Times–this is getting really bad.
[B]y Wednesday morning, as the sequence of events and the scope of the tragedy in Benghazi became more clear, Mr. Romney’s initial statement and ensuing comments were coming under attack as clumsy at best. By later in the day, even some Republican allies were declining to follow his lead, and some acknowledged that he looked as if he was trying to score points in the middle of a crisis.
For a country looking to understand how Mr. Romney, a Republican candidate with no foreign policy experience, would respond to a major crisis, this was a first glimpse. And as an adviser to the campaign who worked in the George W. Bush administration said on Wednesday, Mr. Romney’s accusation that Mr. Obama had invited the attacks because he had weakened America looked like “he had forgotten the first rule in a crisis: don’t start talking before you understand what’s happening.”
The statement that seemed to backfire on Mr. Romney was a team effort, his aides said, written by a group of aides who focus on policy, another that focuses on political strategy and another on communications. Mr. Romney himself signed off on it, they said. In fact, the Cairo statement he was linking to the violence – issued by the embassy, where the ambassador, Anne Patterson, is a career Foreign Service officer who was a favorite of President Bush when she was ambassador to Pakistan – was issued around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Cairo, before any attacks had happened.
—–
UPDATE #3: FOX 31’s Eli Stokols has very interesting reaction to all of this from Republican Rep. Mike Coffman–who does not appear to be completely standing behind Mitt Romney’s shrill and ill-timed attacks on President Barack Obama.
Colorado GOP Congressman Mike Coffman, a former Marine who served in Iraq, told FOX31 Denver that Romney was walking a tightrope with his strident comments.
“I think Mitt Romney’s right in one respect, that the first reaction from our president and our government should be that of outrage over these attacks,” Coffman said.
“At the same time, I do have to admit that when we have troops on the ground in Afghanistan and in other Islamic countries, while I believe in the First Amendment, I do wish that more Americans would be concerned about our troops on the ground who will suffer retribution from some of the speech and statements that people in those host countries view as as inflammatory.
“I do think Americans ought to think twice about their actions.”
—–
UPDATE #2: Some amount of backpedal underway now, Politico:
Romney explained that his criticism of the Obama administration also was released before his campaign had information that the U.S. ambassador to Libya had been killed. “We responded last night to the events that happened in Egypt,” he said.
“These views were inappropriate,” Romney said. “They were the wrong course to take when our embassy has been breached by protestors. The first response should not be, ‘Yes, we stand by our comments that suggest there’s something wrong with the right of free speech.”
There is another statement from the American embassy in Egypt, issued before the Ambassador Chris Stevens’s death, that Romney claims to have been referring to, not the actual White House statement below. And he says his criticism of the Obama administration was released before his campaign knew the Ambassador had been killed. Unfortunately for Romney, all of these events got merged into the same overnight news cycle, and Americans woke up to Romney crassly politicizing the death of a high-ranking American diplomat.
—–
UPDATE: Um, like we said, it’s an election year:
In a statement Tuesday night, Mitt Romney accused the Obama administration of sympathizing with the Libyan protesters who attacked a consulate in Benghazi, killing the U.S. ambassador and three other American diplomats.
“I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi,” Romney said. “It’s disgraceful that the Obama Administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”
A head-scratcher in addition to highly controversial, since it refers to this White House statement:
I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America’s commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives.
I have directed my Administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe. While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants.
On a personal note, Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States…
We are reading it in the correct order, right? This will not go down as Mitt Romney’s finest hour.
—–
Tragedy in foreign policy once again intrudes on our news cycle, CNN:
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday strongly condemned the killing of the United States ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, in a rocket attack on the U.S. Consulate in the city of Benghazi on Tuesday.
He called the attack “outrageous,” and confirmed that four Americans, including Stevens, were killed.
“Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States,” Obama said.
The latest round of anti-U.S. violence in Libya and Egypt appears to stem from an online film called Innocence of Muslims, which contains a number of scenes highly offensive to Muslims. The film was apparently produced by an Israeli-American living in California (who has gone into hiding Salman Rushdie-style) and promoted by anti-Islamic Florida pastor Terry Jones.
It’s a situation even more complicated in Libya, where Americans now under attack were so recently engaged in assisting in the liberation of the country from its despotic former ruler.
Anyway, somebody is going to bring this up today, probably in a political context since that’s the context for everything the next six weeks. So you’d better be prepared to talk about it.
Our condolences to the family of Ambassador Stevens.
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– Mitt Romney. Was Romney referencing a misstep by Obama?
Now Obama is forced to use the bully pulpit …. he’s going live from Jay Carneys office. What’s he trying to cover up here, is he walking something back?
Are you reading the same article I just read? Obviously the answer in this case would be to condemn the root of the attack, which is anti-muslim extremism in America. This as well as try to come to a peaceful resolution. Lives were lost. People’s lives. This isn’t a game.
One thing you are right about … “this isn’t a game”
This situation is not about this article, the article is only cover for direction desired.
The facts are these. Tens of thousand of Americans are at risk …. this is a coordinated attack on two US facilities/personnel by Islamic terrorists.
Maybe you need to understand that what happened in 2001 only brought it to our doorsteps.
We are in a struggle to find world peace, to create economic value inwhich to raise all mankinds standard of living. This is about the human condition.
Yet a subculture of people who are moving in diaspora object to women driving or gays breathing. This is a 100 year war at best.
Obama’s absentee leadership needs to be corrected. Hecan step up or we can bring in a new President.
What should Obama do so that his reaction isn’t considered “weak”?
This is tragic. I am sure you know that the statement that you find so out of bounds did not come from President Obama.
Go ahead, ‘tad. Wipe the blood of American victims on yourself if it helps you attain your banal goals
And, dumbass Willard too . . .
I know, let’s attack Iran now and show ’em, huh? . . . It’s what Cheney would do.
here’s my one finger salute to Colorado Pols for comparing POS Sam Bacile in any way to Salman Rushdie . . .
What a cluster . . .
What’s got you so up in arms? Is the failure of our President to lead on so many fronts weakening your resolve?
Vent is anger is other ways, demand accountability from Obama and leaders of the Democrat party. They have pimped you for your cash for their TV ads and your feet for the miles you walk knocking on neighborhood doors …. you deserve better and you deserve answers.
The Romney statement could have at least waited until the dead bodies were fucking cold.
You’re piling on, being an asshole, and have absolutely no shame. Congratulations on being a truly awful person.
He can’t help it if Obama’s failures are repeated, he can only demand accountability and leadership.
Condem these attacks.
And he has.
Apparently neither you nor RomneyBot get the papers.
Romney’s reaction was to tell the extremists to go fuck themselves, cuz we can kick their asses. Yeah, that’s real fucking leadership.
Even if you’re the biggest baddest dude in the place (ie. Our military) you don’t threaten to kick everyone’s ass just because you can.
against his advisors advice. He had to jump the gun and answer actual needless violence with crass political baseless violent accusations.
For the love of Christ, you avowed “Christian”, what don’t you get about Matthew 26:52?
You are no Christian.
Romney is a dangerous man with no moral, spiritual or foreign policy coompass.
Christian Fanatics, Islamic Fanatics, Jewish Fanatics, Republican Fanatics. They love violence and hatred because it gives them an excuse to whip up support for radical causes.
Libertad: “My Party is more important than my country. In wartime, I’m going to use attacks on my country to tear down US institutions.”
With attacks in Middle East, campaign turns to foreign policy – CNN
I have to admit I just assumed his position on this incident because, like everything else, he never says what he would do. He just says “Obama did it wrong!” and Republicans cheer.
Romney lies when he says “first response”. The condemnation of attempts to whip up religious hatred came BEFORE the attack on the embassy in Egypt.
and given that we’re talking about the party that nominated George W. Bush, that’s saying something. Between the London Olympics and Putin resolving to redouble his efforts to oppose the NATO missile shield (look for a forthcoming diary from me about that), he’s setting back foreign relations by decades and he’s not even president (nor will he be, the way his campaign keeps floundering).
It’s fitting that the biggest idiot in Pols history is behind Romney.
They’ll use anything for political opportunity.
Romney sees an attack on the US Embassy to be an opportunity for political gain. Just as Dick Cheney saw the attack on 9/11 to be a political opportunity.
Notice that that Democrats didn’t attack the President on 9/11. They did criticize using 9/11 as an excuse to attach Iraq, and they did criticize the Bush administration for failing to take action despite frantic, repeated reports from the CIA that extremists were planning to attack.
Libertad, Romney and the Republican Party hate America, and hates the President.
Isn’t it treason to attack our country in moments of conflict?
I don’t care what side they’re on. They don’t hate this country. Do some Republicans hate Obama? Absolutely, but not the country.
This is one of my biggest peeves.
I don’t think any politician, no matter how craven, actually hates America.
Do some of them hate their political opponent? Yes. Enough to override their stewardship of this country? Yes. Do some of them have personal goals that would override their stewardship of this country? Yes.
And a lot of that has been proven lately, to the detriment of our country.
Criticizing the president at the same moment our embassy was under attack.
It isn’t just Libertad & Romney. The chair of the RNC, Reince Preibus, said:
When do you cross the line from hating the president to hating the US?
The idea of that man being our representative to the world scares the hell outta me.
Preibus is stupidly promoting the idea that Obama hates America. It’s the right-wing’s strategy of answering all hate and anger (perceived and real) with hate and anger.
If someone hates President Obama and truly beleives he’s a facist communist from Kenya who was put here by Muslim extremists terrorists to be the Anti-Christ, it’s still possible for them to love the US. They think everyone in the country is stupid, but they still love their country.
but I personally believe that many Republicans hate many Americans. The poor in particular, but I think they resent the middle classes, too. How else to explain the knee-jerk antipathy to beneficial social programs, the over-the-top rhetoric (“socialism,” “wealth redistribution,” and “class warfare” were common until the Occupy movement showed that a lot of people stood on the opposite side), the vows to get rid of Obama as the highest priority?
There’s no reason for them to hate Obama. A centrist Democrat who has always held out his hand to the GOP, invited them to work with Dems on legislation (yes, including the HCA). He’s no FDR, Truman, JFK or LBJ. Their hatred only makes sense when you consider that he still is firmly on the side of the middle and working classes.
I like that.
Obama is a barrier breaker like JFK and the final chapter of his career hasn’t be written.
Now he is wiping blood all over his jammies to proclaim how important it is to defeat the evil Muslims. Seems like Willard has no clue what threats are important for our country to deal with.
And then you apologize for the American extremists for putting out this kind of KKK bigotry. No accountability for the whack jobs who promote hatred here in our own country but then you would have to take responsibility for your own vile bile.
Maybe Willard show starting saying 9/11 again. That will boost his cred.
Romney mixed up who gave the statement he doesn’t like. So who ended up walking back what? Oh, right.
Meanwhile, I specifically signed on to complain about Romney being a giant asshole and am pleasantly surprised to see it’s been done.
God speed to Ambassador Stevens and our three other countrymen. This is truly a tragedy and great loss to the diplomatic community.
That was a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Egypt, issued BEFORE the attacks!
I thought so. I actually spent some time looking for anything backing up his initial claim. Naturally, I didn’t find it.
THIS is why I say that it’s up to each poster to issue links on demand.
And what a surprise to see the first post by the Tadpole being his typical self.
Congratulations, that comment outshines even your general loathsomeness.
The muslim extremists don’t understand that our government doesn’t control the media. They don’t understand that a film from America doesn’t reflect the views of Americans.
Anti-muslim extremists don’t understand that the dumbasses in Libya and Egypt do not represent Islam.
As long as these two groups continue to bang their heads against the opposite sides of the same wall we will have these kind of incidents.
The State Department and Obama did the right thing by saying “We think that film is a buncha crap, too.” before condemning the attacks.
Perfect summation of the problem. And sadly, the probability of getting either side to sit down and listen to reason is slim to none.
“I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today. As we work to secure our personnel and facilities, we have confirmed that one of our State Department officers was killed. We are heartbroken by this terrible loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and those who have suffered in this attack.
This evening, I called Libyan President Magariaf to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya. President Magariaf expressed his condemnation and condolences and pledged his government’s full cooperation.
Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet. The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.
In light of the events of today, the United States government is working with partner countries around the world to protect our personnel, our missions, and American citizens worldwide.”
The first comments from the US Embassy came BEFORE the attacks. How can you respond to something that hadn’t happened yet?
CNN, FOX and Wolf Blitzer also lied about the sequence of the comments.
Not that it’s much better, but I saw where the statement actually came from about an hour ago on television CNN, about two minutes after it came out of live Romney’s mouth. Which, yes, does mean that Romney had significant time between the statement and press conference to realize his error and doubled down instead.
how the pinkos pulled off the October Surprise in ’80, cutting a deal with the Ayatollah to hold Americans through the election.
Same people, same red playbook. Scumney’s foriegn policy team’s the neocon crowd that worked for Shooter and they’ve been no doubt planning this for a while.
Scumnation’s divided,unmotivated,and dispirited.
52 million Palin voters won’t win it for Mittens. A treasonous act like this, if they pull it off, coupled with 12 million suppresed votes, gives them a better than 50/50 shot.
Today’s republican doesn’t care about fair elections, American lives, or the U.S. Constitution. Like our diapered troll “libertad”, they just want the black guy out.
Treason’s as good a way as any for these parasites.
When you learn they’re not ready
Or diapertad?
Jesus, these idiots compounded the scew up of attempting to gain advantage from a national tragedy by screwing up the screwup, not being even close to factual, and exposing their numb nutted misconceptions.
They really are incompetent.
now is for ArapaGOP to make his appearance, and then today’s cacophony of dipshittery will be complete . . .
I don’t think I’ll distress myself further by reading it. We know what he’ll say anyway.
… let’s talk about those 12 million jobs Romney’s going to create and cut the deficit by lowering taxes, and boosting defense spending so we can rattle our sabres at Russia, Iran, and anyone else my neocon advisers need to shake down for profitable business opportunities?
I look forward to the official Team Romney spin. When they’re off kilter, they come up with some real doozies.
technical dificulties with the spin machine. What with prominent Rs carefully avoiding backing Mittens up and Obama doing his Commander in Chief thing in his usual decisive way, the trolls must be on hold until someone can figure out how to make Mittens look a little less non-presidential, not to mention isolated from the rest of his party.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com…
Not sure but other reports from sources with which I am less familiar sound like the drones are already on the way or there. Sounds like while Mittens was shooting his ignorant mouth off, the Obama administration was quietly taking care of business.
Romney will show us.
Did they have to send out for parts for the spin machine?
Something else occurs to me, Doesn’t it seem as though the media is jumping on lies and incorrect statements and non-factual “facts” and sustaining attention on them in a way we haven’t seem much of in the past couple of decades?
I think the right may have taken the Rovian theory that they can make their own reality and won’t be put off their message by facts a shade too far. Somehow they managed to cross a line with Ryan’s famously fact free convention address and Romney’s refusal to divulge a single detail of any plan. The media now seems to be looking for and pouncing on everything they can find to fit the new lyin’ or wrong narrative. They love it.
So when Romney makes a ridiculous and fact free statement in the wake of a tragedy like this, the media keeps it front and center. They seem to be doing this now every chance they get. Very different from the recent past when it was hard to get them to treat anything, regardless of facts, like anything other than a difference of “opinion”.
They’ve discovered you don’t have to get all bogged down explaining complicated things. That’s hard. Just plug it into the lyin’ or wrong narrative. It’s easy.
If Obama wins and Dems in general perform better than what was expected just a couple of months ago, the fact that the media loves this new narrative, which really makes a dent in the effectiveness of the Rove fact free and proud of it method, will have played an important role.
have me completely humbled by your, and many others, (Phoenix, Ari, Duke, spx, MADCO, Nancy, etc.) astute analysis of politics generally. That’s just one of the reasons I come here, is to be schooled-)
Thank You,
mostly MADCO.
Given the benefit of having time to reassess the timing of various statements, Romney digs in rather than admitting that he fucked up.
He’s had many moments on the campaign trail where he behaves like a spoiled brat. Things don’t go his way, so he has a temper tantrum. (Remember his terse “don’t you want to ask about the issues” response to the reporter asking about medical marijuana?) People who expect things to go their way and don’t handle it well when they don’t, are usually people who absolutely refuse to apologize for anything.
All in all, he’s just a big asshole.
such lousy presidents. There must be some developing world dictatorship whose oligarchy would appreciate his services. Until the next coup, anyway.
Album of photos taken by a Libyan in Benghazi
Protest slogans today included “Chris Stevens was a friend to all Libyans” and “Sorry, America this is not the behavior of Islam or our profit(sic)”
The Muslims all hate us and it’s weak to even think about there being a single good reason to treat any of them or their their beliefs with respect. Besides, how could what you describe possibly be true? Bet you buy Obama’s birth certificate too, poor deluded lib! You need to have Mittens straighten you out.
According to Half Glass Full’s recommended diary today:
Did Coffman originally say the killings were an act of war? Now, he says “Americans ought to think twice about their actions” — including himself??
Coffman’s knee-jerk response was typical Tea Party war mongering. He should be branded as such. Are you listening Joe Miklosi??
Are the takers of life in this instance any different than the theater shooter? It is still terrorism with guns.
Notice too how the reaction by our local Republican adherents is so different. The theater shooting (American killing Americans) was so unimportant to them that none of them logged for first 24 hours. After that it was justification for more guns being on the streets to combat more guns.
In this tragedy, they couldn’t wait to log on and declare it a failure for President Obama and denounce him as a bad person who sides with the terrorists. Studiously avoided is any condemnation of the bigots who created the KKK propaganda that set off the riots that gave the killers cover to attack. None.
Promoting peace at home and abroad is the last thing they want to see happen.
The cast and crew of the film that sparked the protest in Egypt and perhaps also in Libya were misled during their casting interviews and through the filming process, and are looking to pursue legal action to get the film pulled or get some kind of compensation for the potential danger they may find themselves in as a result of the producer’s actions.
The word Mohammed was dubbed in to the dialog after the movie was shot, along with the profanity and other bits of the movie that are offensive.
The film’s producer and director never gave out their real names; the producer is listed as “Sam Bacile” (think ‘imbicile’). The only person to claim to know “Sam” so far is a fundagelical Christian who claims to be training his church to fight in the upcoming war with the U.S. Muslim insurgency.
And speaking of fake, there is now some question as to whether the consulate in Libya was ever the target of a protest, or if the whole thing was an opportunistic plot by al-Qaeda sympathizers.
The AP has apparently traced the producer to a California Coptic Christian, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who has previously been convicted of financial crimes.
He has a number of aliases, some that come close to the ‘Basile’ last name used for the film credit.
Statement from Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams on the Death of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens
It is the sad part of murder to have to remember the moral decency of the dearly departed. How good they were and how much they gave to their generation. Breaks your hear.
badly on InTrade.
Team Willard is truly a case study…an example…a template, if you will, on how to fit as many errors as possible into one presidential campaign.
I think it will be studied for years to come.
He was getting the silent treatment by the GOP Congressional leadership on Tuesday:
Maybe BC is right — the press has picked up on the narrative that Romney/Ryan are lyin’, hidin’ and bumblin’ fools all the time.
Heaven knows, Romney isn’t doing anything to correct that impression. The press probably is getting the greenlight from GOP insiders (including Rupert Murdoch, et al)
Gutless as most “reporters” and “media” are, I found this amazing. (I only watch TV when I’m Mommy Sitting.)
They must have spent fifteen minutes looking at the time line of events and announcements. They reached, and preached, the only logical conclusion: Mitt Rmoney was totally wrong.
http://politicalticker.blogs.c…
It was worse for Romney on air, but I can’t link to that. Anyway, there’s CNN calling Romney “wrong.”
The news organizations are liberally biased (okay, that part’s not so new), and they coordinated their “attack” on Romney this morning.
The latter part is at least partially true. At Romney’s morning presser, at least CBS and NPR and probably others wanted one question answered, and they “conspired” to get it answered: “do you regret your statement from last night, given what we know now?” Sure enough, that was the question that was asked first in the presser.
Of course, it’s not some liberal conspiracy. It’s that all of the reporters wanted at least that one question answered – it was on all of their minds already, because Romney’s statement looked childish in the light of day.
But it does bring up something else… has the Romney campaign accumulated so many gaffes and truthiness issues that reporters feel they have the cover to actually report on them now?
but Romney this morning actually did. I don’t know why this time more than any other, but I was shocked. And irritated. Frankly, a bit pissed off. That was before I knew he was fucking lying, too. (The first clue was his mouth moving, but I digress.)
Because I can’t imagine I’m the only one who feels something about anything, I doubt it’s accumulation, just over some random line.
We’ll all probably be back to full cynicism later this week. How much can I be lacking if I’m assuming the worst about reporters? See? Almost all better.
It’s the media’s go to narrative at this point.
(but perhaps good news for John McCain.)
If the media is willing to say “Romney lied” or “look at this new Romney gaffe” – worse, if they’re looking to continue yesterday’s story line for yet another day by using those words – then Romney might as well pack it up and go home, and Republicans should start eyeing up their choice of minority offices in the House office complex just in case. Because it won’t take much to “contaminate” statements by other Republicans with this new-found ability to report on actual facts vs. lies.
trying to avoid the contamination and I definitely see this continuing.
Including Sean Smith. He was a moderator of a forum I frequented. Like most of you, I didn’t know his real name, but I knew that he provided great information and cogent arguments. I’m not seeking condolences, I just don’t want a person who I never met, but respected, to have his service go unnoticed.
and it’s getting plenty, the more obvious it is that one of the candidates is qualified to handle international affairs and crises and the other just isn’t, not even close. Romney is quickly putting himself in the same category, in terms of “Can I imagine this person as leader of the free world?”, as Sarah Palin, not coincidentally a huge supporter of his disgraceful, disloyal display of reckless international affairs idiocy.
He loves to say none of his gaffes on the international stage matter because all people care about is the economy. Leaving aside that he has no plans for middle class economic recovery that he is willing to divulge, he might be unpleasantly surprised to learn that, in the age of international terrorism, people also care about having a leader with a clue.