Romney Becoming A Pariah Over Libya Attack Screw-Up

[angrysoba]

From that link:



Wow. Just...just wow.

My word! Did Romney seriously criticize the Egyptian embassy staff while they were under attack?

ugh. Romney.

Has anyone yet pointed out that he's done this before? Or are memories too short?

Wasn't that long ago Romney was carping at Obama and Hillary Clinton about their "failure" to handle Chen Guangcheng's apparent defection right when it started and was at its most confusing, and wound up shooting his mouth off while State was doing its best to negotiate the safe passage of Chen's family. Totally reckless.

Romney's been running for President for over four years. There's no excuse for this kind of behavior. He either doesn't care to learn, or he's an opportunist of the worst kind.

In any event, RIP Ambassador Stevens, and the members of his staff and security detail who were killed. They aren't the first martyrs for our republic and they won't be the last, but I thank them and their families for their service.

Yeah, I can't get over how nakedly Romney tries to exploit situations like this. From Sarah Palin I expect it and she isn't taken seriously by anyone serious anymore anyway. I can't help thinking that Romney leapt on this to paint Obama several shades of Jimmy Carter and doesn't give a fig for the people who were actually killed.

 

[jj]

You know, when 'W' pushed for the Iraq war, those of us who cried foul were tarred as "traitors", "appeasers", "not loyal to the commander in chief" and so on.

Why aren't these same people saying the same of Romney?

How about it? If you don't (and you know if I mean you), you're forever shown to be full of something I can't mention here.

 

[Checkmite]

My word! Did Romney seriously criticize the Egyptian embassy staff while they were under attack?

That's the fact Jack; and I'm having a difficult time locating too many statements from Romney expressing grief and sympathy for the actual humans - even the specific Americans - killed in the attacks. All it seems to be is faux "outrage" over the "violation of our embassies". The human toll doesn't even register.

And that's not just a Romney thing. I checked out some of the replies to the Cairo embassy's twitter account in the wake of the news that the American flag there was stolen and ripped up. Not a single embassy staffer was killed or harmed in the intrusion even before the Egyptian police finally arrived; the security staff of the American embassy deserve to be praised as heroes frankly. But on Twitter? Condemnation for "doing nothing" to stop the mob from "desecrating our FLAG!!!"

 

[R.Mackey]

That's the fact Jack; and I'm having a difficult time locating too many statements from Romney expressing grief and sympathy for the actual humans - even the specific Americans - killed in the attacks. All it seems to be is faux "outrage" over the "violation of our embassies". The human toll doesn't even register.

It is startling. We tend to forget sometimes that the diplomatic service is made of real people, often people hanging waaaay out on a limb, for us. In a place like Libya they're essentially soldiers without any actual weapons, whose only armor is a thin screen of Marines and supposedly sacrosanct diplomatic cover.

I'm also appalled that Romney is still treating this like a battle of free speech vs. barbarian hordes. It's becoming clearer that this was in fact a deliberate act of terrorism, conducted under cover of popular unrest -- hence, what the diplomatic missions said to the crowds really isn't a factor. Yet Romney seems to be accusing these brave folks of not being sufficiently eloquent while they were in literal danger of losing their lives. Must be nice to be able to do that from a comfy chair in Southern California, surrounded by sycophants and huge piles of money.

I actually think this incident has convinced me not to vote for Gary Johnson after all. Sorry Gary, you and I would get along famously, it's not your fault. Please try again in 2016.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I think I confused some of Maddow's piece on Powell. He criticized Romney last May on Joe Scarborough. Powell still said he thought Romney's foreign affairs advisors were radical right wing and Romney's comments on Russia incompetent. But apparently the comments weren't about today's events.

 

[Corsair 115]

Not realMuslims! Real Muslims kill and celebrate terrorism!

They're clearly MINOs (muslims in name only).

 

[aviolet4u]

was this posted yet? Titled "Compare and Contrast" after Libya talk

 

[Cain]

Hillary Clinton will never be elected President with those shocked, hands over mouth girl-expressions. Say whatever you want, Romney's smirk is more presidential.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Hillary Clinton will never be elected President with those shocked, hands over mouth girl-expressions. Say whatever you want, Romney's smirk is more presidential.

Hasenpfeffer. (You said, "say what you want".)

And we did so well with our last Smirky Boy GOP President. Maybe Mitt could don a flight suit or a Marine Honor Guard uniform and pose under a Mission Not Understood banner.

I'd far prefer a President (even Hillary) that seems to have some humanity and is shocked or even grieved by the death of a pretty decent guy to an opportunist who can't even pick the right opportunities.

I'm beyond questioning just his policies. I question his judgment. If there was ever evidence of his disconnect with reality, this is it. And the smirk is just the punctuation mark at the end of the paragraph.

 

[Piscivore]

Hillary Clinton will never be elected President with those shocked, hands over mouth girl-expressions. Say whatever you want, Romney's smirk is more presidential.

President of OCP, maybe.

 

[SezMe]

was this posted yet? Titled "Compare and Contrast" after Libya talk

Blatantly unfair to both Obama and Romney. Instantaneous pics without context mean nothing.

Hillary Clinton will never be elected President with those shocked, hands over mouth girl-expressions.

Blatantly unfair to Clinton. Instantaneous pics without context mean nothing. You have absolutely no idea why her hands are in that position.

Say whatever you want, Romney's smirk is more presidential.

I will, thank you. Smirking is not presidential, especially when dealing with violent death.

 

[Puppycow]

Timeline of events:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/cairo-libya-attacks-timeline/

Besides Romney, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus doesn't come off looking very well either. He waited till 12:01 am to issue the following tweet:

Obama sympathizes with attackers in Egypt. Sad and pathetic.

A straight-up lie.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

I thought that Mitt had gone about as low as a politician can go, but it turns out I was wrong. Sarah Palin used the opportunity to make a penis joke.

Republicans, are you proud of your party?

Reading through the comments I found this gem.

I wonder if these folks have a boilerplate checklist, or if they hear this sort of crap so consistently on a daily basis that they can recite/post it rote.

 

[ponderingturtle]

To those Republicans who still believe that Ronald Reagan is the epitome of Republicanism, let us have a look at what he had to say about a comparable event. It was when Jimmy Carter authorized a raid to rescue the US diplomats being held hosting by Iran. Eight servicemen died in the failed raid. Here's what Reagan said:

"This is a difficult day for all of us Americans. . . . It is time for us . . . to stand united. It is a day for quiet reflection . . . when words should be few and confined essentially to our prayers."

Even more unifying than Reagan was George H. W. Bush:

"I unequivocally support the president — no ifs, ands or buts. . . . He made a difficult, courageous decision."

Compare and contrast to the reaction of Mitt Romney to a crisis in which US patriots died. Republicans, how can you look in the mirror and say you support this man?

Because they know RINOs like them have no roll in the modern republican party.

 

[Tricky]

I've been looking over all the major news sources to find any one of them who would agree that Romney did the right thing.

Sure enough, Fox News will never let you down. One opinion writer accused the "liberal media" of picking on poor Mitt, and, unlike any other major source, agreed that Obama actually apologized for America.

So maybe if Mitt can get America to put on the blinders and look at one and only one news source, he can survive his horrible choice to politicize the attacks on our embassy, with at least a fighting chance to win the election. But it doesn't look good for him.

ETA: Correction. This editorial came from the New York Post. Okay, that's two.

 

[grunion]

Sure enough, Fox News will never let you down.

I saw some of this coverage yesterday. My first inclination was to say "this is unbelievable" but unfortunately I need to accept it as entirely believable. The extent of the hypocrisy, lying, and anti-Americanism of the neocon punditry should no longer come as a surprise to me. Krautheimer, whom I always thought is smart enough to know better, said that he thought the Egypt embassy should have told the protestors to "go to hell" and anything short of that was an appeasement. Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity essentially had sex on the air, rolling around in the blood of innocents while decrying the liberal media's treatment of the story. I could say "disgusting," "sickening," "revolting" et al but all of those words imply that I would expect something different. I have come to expect this sort of treason from them.

Romney needs to distance himself from this pack immediately - to build a campaign (and possibly a presidency) on these sentiments is the lowest of the low. But of course he won't.

ETA: Just a bit of Realpolitik - Isn't it the case that this election is all about attracting the Independent voters in the battleground states? In what way is sucking up to the Sarah Palins going to help him there? Locking in his base will get him 30%, and he is ceding the middle.

 

[ponderingturtle]

I've been looking over all the major news sources to find any one of them who would agree that Romney did the right thing.

Sure enough, Fox News will never let you down. One opinion writer accused the "liberal media" of picking on poor Mitt, and, unlike any other major source, agreed that Obama actually apologized for America.

So maybe if Mitt can get America to put on the blinders and look at one and only one news source, he can survive his horrible choice to politicize the attacks on our embassy, with at least a fighting chance to win the election. But it doesn't look good for him.

ETA: Correction. This editorial came from the New York Post. Okay, that's two.

Not really. All newscorp.

 

[MG1962]

That's the fact Jack; and I'm having a difficult time locating too many statements from Romney expressing grief and sympathy for the actual humans - even the specific Americans - killed in the attacks. All it seems to be is faux "outrage" over the "violation of our embassies". The human toll doesn't even register.

And that's not just a Romney thing. I checked out some of the replies to the Cairo embassy's twitter account in the wake of the news that the American flag there was stolen and ripped up. Not a single embassy staffer was killed or harmed in the intrusion even before the Egyptian police finally arrived; the security staff of the American embassy deserve to be praised as heroes frankly. But on Twitter? Condemnation for "doing nothing" to stop the mob from "desecrating our FLAG!!!"

Whenever I see these situations I am reminded of a line from a Nina Hagen song "Everyones a super hero everyones a Captain Kirk" There is this growing segment of the population who calmly sit behind their computers drinking their coffee pontificating what should have happened. The reality is, those people at the Embassy were thinking in terms of "will I survive the next 5 minutes or the 5 minutes after that"

You can replace a flag, well sculptured gardens, paint over graffiti on a wall. Replacing humans has so far proved beyond our current technology

 

[Unabogie]

I saw some of this coverage yesterday. My first inclination was to say "this is unbelievable" but unfortunately I need to accept it as entirely believable. The extent of the hypocrisy, lying, and anti-Americanism of the neocon punditry should no longer come as a surprise to me. Krautheimer, whom I always thought is smart enough to know better, said that he thought the Egypt embassy should have told the protestors to "go to hell" and anything short of that was an appeasement. Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity essentially had sex on the air, rolling around in the blood of innocents while decrying the liberal media's treatment of the story. I could say "disgusting," "sickening," "revolting" et al but all of those words imply that I would expect something different. I have come to expect this sort of treason from them.

Romney needs to distance himself from this pack immediately - to build a campaign (and possibly a presidency) on these sentiments is the lowest of the low. But of course he won't.

ETA: Just a bit of Realpolitik - Isn't it the case that this election is all about attracting the Independent voters in the battleground states? In what way is sucking up to the Sarah Palins going to help him there? Locking in his base will get him 30%, and he is ceding the middle.

What you're witnessing is Mitt Romney attempting to gain 61% of the white vote using whatever smears he can think of.

The welfare lie. The "America for Americans" tagline. The "apology tour", ad nauseum.

Basically, you're seeing a man debase himself on a national stage.

 

[Biscuit]

Well, Fox is not just covering up Romney's mis-speak, but are actively selling his back-pedal that this was a US embassy and they're under the State Department and the State Department is part of the Executive Branch and thus the tweet was a policy statement by the government. Hannity and Mad Dog Malkin were having a frothing-at-the-mouth contest at one point and their entire point is that this is Obama's policy because it happened under his watch.

Not only is religious tolerance a policy of this administration it is enshrined in our constitution. Once again this is the statement issued by the Cairo embassy before the attacks,

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.

There is no apology or anything wrong with that statement. In fact it mirrors previous embassy statements such as,

Islamabad — The U.S. Embassy condemns plans by a Florida church to burn hundreds of copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11.
“We condemn acts that are disrespectful, intolerant and divisive," said Charge d'Affaires Stephen C. Engelken. "We are deeply concerned about all deliberate attempts to offend members of any religious or ethnic group.”
“We believe firmly in freedom of religion and freedom of expression; they are universal rights, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We reaffirm our position that the deliberate destruction of any holy book is an abhorrent act,” said Engelken.

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