Romney Becoming A Pariah Over Libya Attack Screw-Up

[Skeptic Ginger]

Romney this morning at a campaign rally was such a jerk. He said something about this all being because we have a weak military and he'd restore it (sour grapes John McCain is also out there spewing this trash). The crowd started shouting USA, USA. Then Romney said, [paraphrasing as best I can recall]: "I was going to ask for a minute of silence for the lives lost, but someone out there doesn't want to be silent." Then he went on with his tripe.

It came across so insensitive and rude I was flabbergasted.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

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

Romney is not interested in facts or truth, he's interested in repeating mind numbing talking points.

Obama is a socialist who is responsible for the slow recovery.

All of the unrest in the MidEast can be boiled down to Obama's fault for weakening the military.

And Obama has been apologizing for America on the world stage since he was elected.

All three of those narratives are completely false. Sadly, the slogan-lies appeal to large numbers of people, including a few in this forum, who buy them hook line and sinker.

But on a more positive note, Romney's just not pulling it off, thank FSM.

 

[zeggman]

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.

I caught a few minutes of the Hugh Hewitt show yesterday, and he too was promoting the line that the President who had killed Osama Bin Laden and a few dozen other Al Quada leaders, and waged war in Afghanistan and Iraq, was a laughingstock in the Middle East who made the U.S. look weak by his incompetence and inaction. He all but accused the President of handing the keys to the embassies over to the mobs. I'm sure with the additional demonstrations today, that line of rhetorical dishonesty will only increase.

 

[zeggman]

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.

I think she's probably been up since she was awakened by a "2 A.M. phone call", and is covering a yawn.

I wouldn't be surprised to see her succeed Obama in 2016.

 

[CORed]

...
Mission Not Understood banner.
...

Excellent.

 

[Nosi]

Strange that the screwup everyone is talking about is what someone said after the attack, and not the inadequate security that led to the attack being fatal in the first place. I don't know who is responsible for that screwup so I won't point fingers, but it seems to me like it's the far more important one. But I guess that doesn't play to the partisan interests of the posters here. Rather ironic, actually.

I think absent security is being handled very quietly behind the shouting. There are two ships on their way to the place in question now to so inquire...

 

[Nosi]

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.

If I told this forum what I thought of Romney, the outocensor would have a coronary and I'd risk a ban so I hold my piece.

 

[Tricky]

Ah, another Republican has jumped on the "Stupid" bandwagon, and this time it's our own Rick Perry.

Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans are now dead in the chaos of a destabilized Middle East. President Obama said he “rejects” these brutal acts, and condemns them in “the strongest terms” – yet still acknowledges our attackers’ supposed justification. This kind of language broadcasts an impotent foreign policy that fostered this crisis in the first place.

Not one of these people on that bandwagon give any suggestions as to what they would have done differently. Perry suggests that the US shouldn't have tried to "lead from behind", which suggests to me that he thinks the US should have taken control and managed the government transition. After all, that worked so well in Iraq. Not one of them acknowledges that that the alternative to this "apology" of criticizing the hateful video, is to actually support that video. Sure MittRickSarah. That would calm them down over there, ya think?

But it is kind of telling about the direction of Mitt's campaign when your biggest (and practically only) supporters for your ill-conceived statements are two of the most imbecilic politicians ever to hold office.

 

[NoahFence]

Romney this morning at a campaign rally was such a jerk. He said something about this all being because we have a weak military and he'd restore it

What planet does this guy live on?? A weak military?!?!?

 

[Cain]

I'm rather surprised by the harpy attack on what seemed like a non-controversial observation. I'm not saying that a single gesture makes her less competent than Romney, but the "optics" of these things matters to voters. Somebody find me a polaroid of Lincoln covering his mouth and nose with his hands. Betcha a million dollars you won't find one.

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

Yeah, she could have her hands over her face for any number of reasons, such as...

Clinton famously did the one-hand mouth cover during the Bin Laden raid, and got some flak for it. I'll say again, not a strong, presidential gesture. Maybe someone could scrounge up a picture of Teddy Roosevelt resting the backs of his wrists on his hips. The smirk is fine. Better than fine. It's goto!

 

[CORed]

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.

Romney has evidently decided that appealing to "the base" is more important than winning over swing voters. I have heard the idea proposed (mostly from wingnuts) that the middle is disgusted and apathetic, the Democrat's base is disillusioned with Obama, so Romney can win simply by appealing to the Republican base (batcrap crazy wingnuts) and win, because a lot of the Democratic base and swing voters will stay home. Personally, I think this is exactly the strategy that Obama's campaign would want Romney to follow. At this point, it seems that Romney is trying to put forward the notion that his foreign policy will be Bush II, or maybe Bush light. Sure, that worked so well.

 

[Unabogie]

I'm rather surprised by the harpy attack on what seemed like a non-controversial observation. I'm not saying that a single gesture makes her less competent than Romney, but the "optics" of these things matters to voters. Somebody find me a polaroid of Lincoln covering his mouth and nose with his hands. Betcha a million dollars you won't find one.

Yeah, but you won't find any video of Lincoln smirking, either. And I know, because I've checked YouTube.

 

[ponderingturtle]

What planet does this guy live on?? A weak military?!?!?

Of course our military is at half strength when ever a democrat is in office, thought everyone knew that.

 

[Unabogie]

Of course our military is at half strength when ever a democrat is in office, thought everyone knew that.

I think the technical term is "hollowed out and gutted".

 

[Tricky]

What planet does this guy live on??!?

One on the far right side of the galaxy.

 

[grunion]

Hillary had just learned that a direct report of hers, as well as a friend, with whom she helped engineer one of the biggest foreign policy victories of the decade - the elimination of Qaddafi - had been brutally murdered. I think a hand over mouth is a rather restrained reaction, and candidly, quite human. Mitty's lambasting Obama and smirking over the subject is inhumanly bizarre and far less Presidential.

 

[grunion]

Romney has evidently decided that appealing to "the base" is more important than winning over swing voters. I have heard the idea proposed (mostly from wingnuts) that the middle is disgusted and apathetic, the Democrat's base is disillusioned with Obama, so Romney can win simply by appealing to the Republican base (batcrap crazy wingnuts) and win, because a lot of the Democratic base and swing voters will stay home. Personally, I think this is exactly the strategy that Obama's campaign would want Romney to follow. At this point, it seems that Romney is trying to put forward the notion that his foreign policy will be Bush II, or maybe Bush light. Sure, that worked so well.

Romney and his advisors may well be idiots when it comes to politics - though I doubt it - but surely Rupert Murdoch is shrewder than this. Are they already looking past the election, preparing themselves to blame the loss on Romney's mamby-pamby moderateness? Surely they know this strategy isn't helping him win.

 

[NotJesus]

Romney has evidently decided that appealing to "the base" is more important than winning over swing voters. I have heard the idea proposed (mostly from wingnuts) that the middle is disgusted and apathetic, the Democrat's base is disillusioned with Obama, so Romney can win simply by appealing to the Republican base (batcrap crazy wingnuts) and win, because a lot of the Democratic base and swing voters will stay home. Personally, I think this is exactly the strategy that Obama's campaign would want Romney to follow. At this point, it seems that Romney is trying to put forward the notion that his foreign policy will be Bush II, or maybe Bush light. Sure, that worked so well.

Most of Romney's foreign policy advisors are from the same neocon crew that Bush the Lesser relied on.

 

[Alferd_Packer]

Yeah, but you won't find any video of Lincoln smirking, either. And I know, because I've checked YouTube.

No, but there is a video of Lincoln dumping a bucket of pennies on Chuck Norris's head.

 

[Unabogie]

No, but there is a video of Lincoln dumping a bucket of pennies on Chuck Norris's head.

This is no laughing matter.