The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was killed by gunmen in Benghazi Tuesday night, along with three other diplomats. Mitt Romney was quick to criticize the Obama administration, saying that their "first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."
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It took overnight, 10 hours of the next day, some quick polling to judge political impact of disavowing his US embassy's staff's initial statement which was an apology to the rioting mob for American principles of free speech and civil order before Obama made a similar muted condemnation of that erroneous statement made in Cairo. Then with the 2nd night of unrest in Egypt just beginning and tempers high in Kabul and Libya (scene of Islamists jihadists assassination of our Ambassador (and 3 other foreign affairs staffers) Obama left his post to board Air Force One for a trip to Las Vegas to do a little fund raising, campaigning, and press the flesh with attending Hollywood celebrities. What's wrong with that picture?
How did Romney know so much, so soon, about the Benghazi situation? I'm very suspicious about the early messages from the Cairo embassy and Romney's equally early knowledge before 10:00 pm last night. Could it be that some Adelson or Koch money could have been spent to create agitation in another country or countries?
Romney should keep his mouth shut except to say,"Not black! Not black!"
The words "utter disaster" r appropriate as it's apparent Romney milks every adversity. Campaigning b4 diplomacy? Shameless self promotion! 8o
Pardon? This was NOT an apology! It was an afirmation of AMERICAN principles, that being freedom of religion, and the differentiation between that and extremists who USE religion for their own political ends.
It was a condemnation of the use of extremism under ANY guise (whether Christian, Hebrew, or Muslim) to accomplish political ends, by whipping the uninformed into a violent frenzy.
Whatever you've been smoking, get me a bag, too.
@Lawrence: As Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo has pointed out, the Times has oddly "disappeared" the Sanger story. At the same url a very different feature appears by Baker/Parker: A Challenger’s Criticism Is Furiously Returned
We all want to know what Jill Abramson decided not soon after publication. Was the NYT threatened by the Romney campaign?
Got my laugh for tonight. Lawrence O'Donnell must be in love with Romney because he talks about him all the time.
The Obama admin. thinks that AQ may be involved in the killing of the US Ambassador and 3 others. The intelligence failed 100% because they had no clue this was in the works. Reports are that Obama didn't even attend one intelligence meeting all last week.
Yet, instead of O'Donnell discussing these very important issues he would rather talk about Romney.
You gullible sorts who swallow and regurgitate the Republican talking points really need to see a gastroenterologist...
Here's the situation on those "intelligence" briefings, silly...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-mitt-romneys-bucket-brigade/2012/09/12/1aa4fde0-fd2c-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html?hpid=z2
In reality, Obama didn’t “attend” these meetings, because there were no meetings to attend: The oral briefings had been mostly replaced by daily exchanges in which Obama reads the materials and poses written questions and comments to intelligence officials. This is how it was done in the Clinton administration, before Bush decided he would prefer to read less. Bush’s results — Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, and the failure to find Osama bin Laden — suggest this was not an obvious improvement.
Bush 43 not wanting to read so much? I believe that one... And the smears coming from Cheney and a former Bush speech writer? Looks about right to me...
So many liars, so few one-liners...
Next thing you know, Willard Romney will claim that he was 'brainwashed' into speaking before he actually KNEW what the facts of the situation were....
It's a George Romney rerun, folks- without the intellect or honesty.
Mike, I think u've smoked enough!
Robbi, the nominee of the opposing party gets national security briefings in case he wins the election, so he is up to date. Romney has lost that privilege for using it for political gain. It does show that he has no problem misusing his position for personal gain.
Do you REALLY think that he gets his briefing BEFORE the president?
The President has already said that the egyptian statement did NOT come from POTUS, or the Sec of State, but from the embassy staff in jeopardy, and that he would cut some slack to those whose skin was actually IN the game, as opposed to someone sitting in an office on the other side of the world getting a briefing about it.
I'm not the smartest feller in the world, but i think we MAY be on the same side in some strange way.
The news channels were abuz since Monday evening when Al Qaeda's #1 released his video calling for Islamists jihadists to attack Americans for the killing by drone strike of their #2 man, a Libyan. There had been attacks on US foreign affairs dignataries earlier this summer. Gvov. Romney can add one two to two and get to four, the assisination attack was planned, the crowds storming the embassy compound in Cairo ginned up by hardliners in the Islamic terrorist movement. Nothing more, nothing less.
Hey JoAnn- Have you ever heard of a PDB?
It stands for: Presidential DAILY Briefing. Note that it DOES say DAILY.
He was informed of the situation in Benghazi late last night, and was not informed of the ambassadorial staff's deaths until very early morning.
aside from intel staff and their sources, The Prez is the FIRST to know ALL the details. End of report.
Rush Limbaugh, Peter Ferrera, Poor Richard, Ann Coulter and Mitt Romney (just to name a few loud mouthed self indulgent Country Club Republicans) are so vested in Corporate America that they have no choice but to minimize common sense and maximize fabrication and ignorance. Imagine them drunk at a party and how many noise complaints they would mustar. Which ones do u think wouldn't end up in jail from boasting bs at the cops whose jobs they don't support. those charges wouldn't stick in most jurisdictions though as they are 90+% Republican. My point, elect democrat or independent judges as those elections are just as important to ensuring our rights from "equal access" to "fair and impartial"... I can remember when Governor Taft told Ohio there were no funds for new text books while he was personally pawning and selling coins and such that belonged to the state. he lost office so next term when Ted Strickland and J. Bruner were elected, they used those courts that refused to prosecute Taft to indict those to on fabricated and still unfounded charges.
Pardon my grammatical errors... comes with the passion and frustration.
Nobody said Romney got his briefing before Obama Mike! Obama was not interested in shamelessly self promotion on the backs of the victims. he was bizzy being PRESIDENT! PUT DOWN THE BONG. UR PARANOIA AND PANTIES R SHOWING. Nobody wants to see either!
What in the world are you TALKING about????
I'm SAYING that the POTUS is busy being POTUS, responsible for our national security, our national interests, and OUR general welfare, while WILLARD is responsible for what????
A: NOTHING! (that is, other than saying whatever he thinks will get him elected.)
So, WHAT exactly is your POINT?
And quickly leaving the mess for Hillary to clean up so he could get off to Las Vegas and fund raising, campaigning, and putting the hard work of his job behind him as usual, qtwbrain!
The GOP and DNC are playing chess.The GOP's game is the front row are the unemployed, disabled and elderly, the pawns. The back row is the middle class. The GOP will put us all in harms way at any cost internationally or across the U.S. They use the pieces to win the game but never allow the pieces to be the players. The DNC is looking to keep pawns around and the middle class too, so they can learn old and new methods of an old game and allow all pieces a chance to be a player. Romney isn't even allowed to play yet, nor does he have the need to know of the national security of the game. So he really needs explain his plans before he thinks he can have the job. WE, ARE THE PEOPLE THAT VOTE. Actors and PP's ( profitable politicians) take notice. We can hire you and we can fire you. I like that I can do that too.
If anybody should be disenfranchised, it should be drunk, stoned, loudmouths who don't pay attention. Jo Ann didn't ask anything about DAILY BRIEFINGS! It was Robbi!
Did she not say that he didn't attend one itel briefing?
HE doesn't HAVE to, he gets ALL the intel FIRST THING!
Daily briefings are not the same as National Security Council regular meetings. This President has been too busy fund raising and campaigning to really pay attention to the nitty gritty details of his job description since Labor Day of 2011. And besides the National Security Councils regular meetings, there have only been two meetings called of his vaunted Jobs Councel, and no meeting with Congressional leaders of both parties. Add in the moratorium on Press Conferences since last Spring when Obama gaffed the economic and unemployment situation questions with his bizarre statement" "The private sector id doing fine, its the public sector that needs support!" Is it possible that the only part of this job that Obama likes at all is living in the White House and the parties, and the political campaigning, the functions he is somewhat profficient at?
Jo Ann, by your standards- Romney is in love with Obama. Lawrence is staying on today's subject of Romney attacking Obama. You have been taking in Romney lies of Obama. Right? Good thing Obama loves us!
Okay Mike, I will concede to ur point. See ya on the Ed show>>>
Thanks qtwb, I am willing to take a lot of **** from someone I suspect is on my side of the argument.
Oh, and lest we forget... let us all take a moment of silent reflection and prayer for those Americans who've laid down their lives for their country.
May God bless them, may God bless and keep the families of those lost to our
American family, and give them comfort.
May God bless us all, and guide us toward the best of humanity in all things.
amen.
Thank heaven's for Hillary Clinton. Although she began her statement deploring the violence against our embassy compounds continuing in Cairo, Egypt and now spreading to Yemen by pandering over the false and ginned up motivation for these assaults by hard-line Islamists struggling for control over fragile new governments after the Arab Spring by again apologizing for a sacrilegious film produced and disseminated as early as July which had received little notice in the Muslim world until it was used as an excuse for these actions we are faced with now. This new wave of trouble in the Middle East is the direct result of Obama's reticence to get out front of the issues there, with Syria, with Iran, and with the inability of the Egyptian government especially to control its populace in the vacuum caused by the ousting of their strong man form of government and military ascendancy in that most populous country in the Muslim world. And today, we await Obama to continue with his campaign and fund raising swing thought the Rocky Mountain States he began yesterday afternoon, while Hillary is left to try to clean up the mess his reticence to lead has left us.
Why has no one asked Gov Romney whether he condemns the anti-muslim movie in question ? His response will tell us whether he too should be classified as a weak apologist he claims Pres Obama is, (then hypocritically as well), or that he is just a religious xenophobe.
Why has President Obama not scheduled a press conference to answer the many questions about these issues ongoing in the Middle East? Romney has been forthcoming, he held his news conference, but the President is off campaigning and fund raising, and can't be bothered to show up before the media and the American people! Leadership? I know it when I see it, and I sure don't see it in Obama.