After being widely criticized this morning for his ugly and dishonest criticism of the Obama administration overnight, Mitt Romney appeared before the cameras this morning, delivering a statement and fielding some questions from reporters.
At a certain level, this should have been relatively easy. All Romney had to was come out, denounce the violence, honor the fallen, and extend his condolences to the families of the victims. In other words, Romney could have used this opportunity to undo some of the damage from his self-inflicted wound, and appear presidential.
Alas, Romney once again chose a different path.
Mark Halperin, a barometer of the political establishment's attitudes, called this the "most craven" and "ill-advised move" of the 2012 campaign.
It's just remarkable to see Romney unravel like this. Within hours of learning that a respected U.S. ambassador had been killed by a violent mob overseas, the Republican's first instinct was to launch a partisan campaign attack against the president. It came after a dishonest smear of the president last night -- on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, when Romney said he'd refrain from such attacks.
The nine-minute clip is well worth your time. Just two minutes in, Romney condemned messages from officials under attack in the U.S. embassy in Cairo, falsely accusing them "apologizing for our values."
Romney noted that the White House distanced itself from the same messages, which only made this morning's statement that much more misguided -- Romney was, simultaneously, saying the White House is wrong, the White House is right, and the White House is sending "mixed signals."
Romney must realize he was wrong overnight, but apparently feels as if backing down isn't a credible option -- so he's digging deeper, politicizing a tragedy, repeating falsehoods, and desperately trying to smear the president during an unfolding crisis.
It's a familiar pattern: Romney says something classless and untrue; he gets called out for his mendacity; then he repeats the falsehood under the cynical assumption that voters are easily fooled and there will be no consequences. This time, however, the GOP candidate is trying the strategy while trying to exploit deadly violence against Americans abroad.
Questions about whether Romney is fit for the nation's highest office will only get louder in light of this debacle.
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It occurs to me that Romney's campaign saying yesterday that foreign policy is a distraction and a "shiny object" followed by an embassy attack is approaching equivalency with McCain saying "the fundamentals of the economy are sound" followed by the economic collapse in 2008. That was pretty much the moment that put the nail in the McCain campaign's coffin... could the same be said for Romney?
One can only hope.
Exactly! And almost four years to the day.
Your lips to God's ears!
Once again the Romney opportunist put his foot in his mouth. Remind anyone of a certain Republican female who ran for VP in the last election?
Another reason Willard is not ready for prime time.
After the OKC bombing McVey took off from Oklahoma City to escape into Canada. If he had made it and managed to get to the embassy in Bristish Columbia and shot the ambassador there, should American face retailiation for that? If Romney was prime minister of British Columbia according to his remarks today he would have launched an attack in say New York City for retailiation for the crazy McVey. Or the American military man who shot and killed innocent women and children in the middle east, should we be attacked for that as well? So what would Romney say to that?
It's obscene the way Romney justifies his attack by saying that 'The White House' issued a statement so it's OK for him to also. What a tool! Believe it or not Mitt, 'The White House' is still an official branch of government and as such has every right to issue a statement on behalf of our government and people. Just because you're standing there with a couple of American flags over your shoulders pretending to act presidential doesn't give your misguided remarks any more gravitas. You'd better let the President and Secretary of State handle this one Mitt, because you're grossly unqualified!!
We can only hope.
I agree: this actually gives me hope that people might actually see Romney's true nature...
Romney is a putz.
Mitt's foreign policy experience consists of this and London. Don't bother moving to another country if he gets elected. Even if you survive the blasts, the nuclear winter will kill you, wherever you are.
Remember, in the primaries, when some supporters made cookies for him and he badmouthed the cookies? He's a danger to himself and others when his handlers lose control of him.
Racing to politicize an international crisis without knowing all of the facts, risking further inflaming of the situation while US citizens remain in harms way in those countries solely for his own political gain, engaging in an unprecedented undermining of the US administration on active matters of foreign policy rather than ending politics at the waters edge, and judging the efforts of those in the Cairo Embassy about to be attacked to calm the situation from the safety of a 7000 foot mansion with Secret Service protection should all be disqualifying: Romney lacks the temperment and judgment to be Commander in Chief, and clearly cannot be trusted to make the decisions about putting America's sons and daughters in harms way. He might do it just to help his poll numbers.
At times like these, it is operationally critical that we have one voice on foreign policy. And until Romney can actually win an election (and his prior record on that isn't particularly good) that voice is not his. The foreign policy establishment and families of those in harms way from both parties should call him out for how irresponsible and disgusting this really is.
This is by far the best response I've read. I hope you don't mind if I share it with my friends.
RIGHT ON !!!!
Well said, he is just a disgusting.
Absolutely. What people need to understand is that if elected, Romney is guaranteed to start AT LEAST two more needless wars. This guy has zero cognizance of the repercussions from making these types of statements.
I fully agree. For any person to judge and comment on the actions of the embassy in Cairo as the events were unfolding in real time undermines the safety of those in the embassy and only served to add fuel to the fire. The embassy was trying to ease an angry mob and prevent more violence. Not only do I condemn Romney for his irresponsible comments last night, but the White House for distancing themselves as well. The first obligation is and should always be the end of violence. Justice can be dispensed after everybody is safe.
Yes, historically presidential candidates do not inject themselves into sensitive foreign policy debates in presidential elections. This was beyond the pale.....
Excellently well said. Differences in political ideology and policies must stop at the borders of our country. Romney had a wonderful opportunity to show statesmanship in joining with all other US statesmen in condemning the evil that took place, but after a few mouthy platitudes which you could tell he needed to get out so that he could get to his real raison d'etre - trying to score against the president, he has shown himself to be a shallow small minded person who has not only tried to insult the president, but he has insulted the American people in thinking we would lap this up. Even republicans are turning away in disgust - well, some of them anyway.
Romney and his surrogates (Reince I'm looking at you) are absolutely despicable. First to politicize this tragedy and secondly to rush out a statement (a lie) before the State Department ever spoke.
Unfit to be POTUS.
Agreed.
All he has been shooting off is his mouth. I blanch at the possibility of Mitt getting his mitts on a 'gun'- aka the DOD!
A couple of movie lines come to mind:
"Shoot first, and ask questions later."
"Kill 'em all, and let the good Lord sort 'em out!"
Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius (Kill them all. For the Lord knows them that are His) was said by the Inquisitor Arnaud Amalric during the Albigensian crusade, when a crusader asked how to distinguish the Catholics from the 'heretic' Cathars. Very Christian of him!
Romney was, simultaneously, saying the White House is wrong, the White House is right, and the White House is sending "mixed signals."
Mitt- you need to STHU.
If anyone here ever visits the website Something Awful, you should know that one of the State Department officials killed, Sean Smith, was a moderator there, posting under the screen name Vilerat. Here's a thread with close to 900 posts offering their condolences and talking about what a great guy he was:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3506424&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1
And here's Mitt Romney dancing on his not even yet dug grave to score some cheap political points. I try to assume good faith and motives on the part of people I disagree with, but I freaking hate Mitt Romney. Go to hell, Mitt. And the same goes for Shooter or any trolls planning to post on this thread with your cheap political attacks: For once, show some dignity and leave us the hell alone.
Gee, Obama accusing Romney of killing some guys wife, didn't get this kind of pushback.
I'll say it again, On 9/11, while Obama stiff arms Israel, here we have an Ambassador pandering to barbarians, and an aftermath of four dead Americans. Carter redux. Too bad all this righteous anger isn't directed to the killers rather than Romney.
shooter242
June 11, 2012 at 6:54 am
I’d like to encourage more trollery on left wing sites. Specifically pushback on common memes such as identified by Jonah Goldberg as unchallenged cliches. It can actually work, and it can actually change the course of debate.
For instance, I always challenge “the rich take too much of the pie” meme. There is no pie, no one decides who gets what, and the “pie” is a measure of contributions to a total. Ergo the rich don’t take they contribute. It’s been gratifyingly effective.
Try it you’ll like it. Don’t curse and keep the personal insults to a bare minimum, don’t allow moving goal posts or distractions. Ignore trollish responders, and be four times more civil. They hate that.
http://moelane.com/2012/06/09/troll-hunting-101/
Have you no decency?
Shooter did not learn his lesson from yesterday's posts that were so embarrassing. He's just a troll, and will go away if you ignore him......
Oh,shut up. Twit.
Rollo - I'm following your lead . no fuel
Not worthy of response . Cut and pasted to a notepad for easy access
I see you'll use these deaths to gain some political points (for a candidate who cares nothing for you... unless you are a billionaire) as well. Pitiful!
Just like you don't seem to understand the ad you are dissing in your 1st snarky line was not from Obama's campaign but an independent group. It didn't get any "push back" because people with a brain understood that. Besides... it was spectacularly effective. That's what really annoys you. Death of innocents? Not so much. It's just something for you to lie about to gain a few points. Just like Rmoney.
Shooter, I try not to post too many comments because so many others can say what I feel so much better than I can. But in this case, I'm going to make an exception to my rule. You think a story about a man who is accusing Mitt Romney's company, the one that Mitt was leader, of closing down his place of employment which caused him to lose his healthcare and that he feels was ultimately the reason his wife died, is comparable to a US diplomat being killed while doing his job? Obama didn't do his flip-flop, tap dance on the not-yet-cold body of the man's wife and blame Mitt Romney. Yet Mitt Romney, while knowing nothing of the full story, stood there and danced as fast as he could to make this diplomat's death a current part of his election campaign, and you think, with your pea-sized brain, that the stories are alike? What a piece of @!$%# you are, just like Mitt Romney. I don't believe as most do but boy, is karma going to have a field day with both of you.
This does it. Normally I'll engage Shooter, but this politicizing a diplomat's death leads me to call for new rules for dealing with him. From here on out, I will post bad song lyrics in every Shooter comment. Join me, or post a recipe, or anything to avoid responding to him while letting him know his inappropriate trolling isn't welcome.
Tsk.
here's a link to the tweets in question.... you'll note the lack of "pandering to barbarians"
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/us-embassy-in-cairo-deletes-tweets-after-protestors
VELVEETA FUDGE
3/4 lb. (12 oz.) VELVEETA® or VELVEETA Made With 2% Milk Reduced Fat Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
6 squares BAKER'S Unsweetened Chocolate
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 pkg. (16 oz. each) powdered sugar (about 8 cups)
1-1/2 cups chopped PLANTERS Pecans
1tsp. vanilla
PLACE VELVEETA, butter, chocolate and corn syrup in large microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 2 min.; stir. Microwave an additional minute; stir until well blended.
ADD chocolate mixture, in batches, to sugar in large bowl, beating with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended after each addition. Stir in pecans and vanilla.
POUR into greased 13x9-inch pan. Smooth top with spatula; cover. Refrigerate several hours or until firm before cutting into 1-inch squares to serve. (For longer storage, wrap tightly and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw in refrigerator overnight before serving.)
I'm just as happy to have folks like Shooter reveal their thought processes, such as they are. This situation couldn't show any more clearly the differences between the two sides. Let's compare the candidates and their responses:
Obama--> Thoughtful, considered, measured, long term
Romney--> Panicky, unduly emotional, ill-considered, ignorant
Could there be a better example of why there's only one serious candidate for president in this year's election?
Keep in mind, folks, that co-called "Shooter242" is just a bratty troll who doesn't even believe the bull@!$%# it's shoveling. Stop replying and ignore it.
....it didn't get pushback because this never happened
What does it mean to pander and how was he pandering? You do realize that one of the dead was said ambassador, yes? Great way of showing respect. You also do understand what the term barbarian means, yes? And why it's absolutely astonishingly stupid for you to use the term barbarian to refer to Libyans???
What does it mean to stiff arm and how has Obama stiff armed Israel? How does this have anything to do with 9/11 or the events in Libya?
The really sad part of this whole tragedy is that lives have been lost, and now you have two strong illustrations of crass vs. class. Mittens and his "out on a day pass" posse are so desperate to score Foreign Relations points they picked the wrong situation to prove it. All they proved was how inept they are. Looks to me like PANIC MODE is their SOP.
I rather thought his SOP was more of a clusterfaux then I remembered he ran away from the military so it's just a plain fauxup. We had 8 years of that and we need NO MORE!!!
Using the same foreign policy people as Dubya has really improved Willard's foreign policy intellect, hasn't it?
Since when is condemning bigotry and apologizing for harm done or assumed,not an American ideal? While some zealots/terrorists are looking for any excuse to cause unrest and justify violence, I can not see anything wrong with criticizing anyone who incites this tendency for violence either out of ignorance or hatred. I would expect to be criticized if I defamed, libeled, slandered or belittled another.
Cuz dammit we're 'mericans, and we don't pologize for nuttin!
It wasn't ignorance - the @!$%# (an Israeli filmmaker "based in" California, I guess because he doesn't have enough courage of his "convictions" to stay in the Middle East and pull this kind of crap) knew exactly what he was doing:
[Emphasis added by myself to the quoted passages]
I can't help but wonder if one of the "donors" was named Sheldon Adelson? And, for the record, as a (secular) Jew and supporter of Israel, this kind of thing makes me sick!
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
U P D A T E
The "plot" most definitely thickens! Early reports may have been deliberately misleading (at least in the sense that the reporters themselves may have been deliberately misled).
It now appears that "Sam Bacile" may not even be a real person
Israel publicly states for the record that they have no record of the existence, much less the citizenship, of "Sam Bacile"
However, at least one person claiming to be an associate of Bacile, and to have "helped" produced the film, is Steve Klein, a known radical-Christian-right extremist.
A couple more fascinating articles on the subject (and well worth the quick reads!):
The Atlantic
Daily Kos
Stay tuned!
The thought of this man being president scares me to death! I can see us being attacked on so many levels because of his lack of knowledge and overall stupidity!
What a fool. Does he not get that he's not just challenging an opponent? He's talking about the president of the United States.
Note to Willard; Numbnuts! You never, never, go on and speak in a foreign emergency ahead of the president. This was really a blatant political move, in a delicate situation, and it does not look good on his character..........
Character? Rmoney has shown over and over and over again that he does not care about character.
Romney doesn't care about character because he himself has none.
We might be watching the end of the Romney campaign in real time today. He may have finally gone too far for the beltway media that is driven to show this as a competitive horse race. Halperin, First Read, Tapper, even Joe Scarborough have all called this craven or a lie or a mistake. That's strong language from the Village media. A quick trip to Fox News might not be enough to salvage this (have they announced which Fox program he'll go on tonight for some softballs to get out of this yet?).
Alan, "What is your favorite color tie to wear with a charcoal gray suit" and "Of all the sports out there, who are your favorite team owners" are actually harder to answer than you think. He just MAKES it look easy. At least on Fox they don't ask "gotcha" questions like the mainstream liberal press--questions like "What do you read?"
Romney himself will ignore further questions about this, and try to steer the discussion back to the economy. Meanwhile, one or more of his surrogates - I'm guessing Sununu - will suggest that this was a conspiracy concocted by the Obama Administration, to create a crisis and bring foreign policy to the forefront of the discussion in order to distract us from the economy.
Please, stop saying things like "repeating falsehoods". They are lies. I would urge you to call them as such.
Aren't those the same thing? Or do you mean he's doing it deliberately, rather than by mistake?
I think Matt means, call a lie a LIE-not some glossed over euphemism. I agree. The media should call out the liars for what they are, LIARS, plain and simple.
I would not be surprised to find that ALL news media outlets have specific guidelines (a stylebook) about using inflammatory language. And LIE would be right at the start of the list. You could quote somebody saying that word, but not use it yourself.
Mitt Romney is morally unfit to be President. The man is not conservative. He is not moderate. He is not liberal. He is nothing. He is nothing more than an amoral douchebag who will do and say ANYTHING that he thinks aids HIM at any particular time. He is so used to getting his way that he just doesn't understand that other people can see through it. He thinks he is SUPPOSED to get his way.
He is a man without ethics, a man without morals, a man without principle.
You just summed up Mitt Romney so succinctly I just had to thank you. I appreciate what you said and how you said it very much. I am very afraid of what a person who has ALWAYS gotten EVERYTHING he wanted will do with so much power. I will always vote for the most enlightened candidate. This guy is no more enlightened than a spoiled 4 year old.
*LOUD SUSTAINED APPLAUSE*
Mitt is a card carrying psychopath... Willing to say or do anything to get his way
Unbelievable, crass, ignorant, opportunistic, and those are his good points.
You mean his "less bad" points.
If Romney wins this November the unfortunate truth will likely be as result of clueless, uninformed, apathetic voters flipping a coin after ramping up their political knowledge that Mitt Romney was responsible for the death of Bin Laden. The ramifications will be of historic proportions dating all the way back to George W. Bush.
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln
I think we've seen enough demonstrations of Rmoney's character to know that we should not give him power.
This guy will do anything to try to get elected, even say things that could endanger the US officials overseas even more. If he thinks people would trust him with foreign policy, he is sadly mistaken. The people do not trust him on anything, including taxes, since he flips on every issue daily or even hourly.
On Facebook I called out someone who repeated the Romney lie about Obama's response to this terrible tragedy. They acknowledged it was wrong & then minutes later posted about how great Romney's press conference was and how terrific that Romney's press conference was before Obama's. Ultimately the far right who finds a reason to hate Obama and Democrats for everything, will always find a way to justify Romney's gaffs just because he is a Republican.
Nobody should undermine the POTUS in the middle of a foreign incident. Romney was just fanning the flames for purely selfish political reasons - to make himself seem relevant. The embassy was right to try to defuse the situation last night, and state that the filmmaker's views are not the views of the United States or the majority of the American people. The idiotic filmmaker may have free speech protection to make bigoted films, but that doesn't mean a presidential candidate should stand up and support him just because he is an American. Stupid & bigoted actions/words should always be condemmed even they have the right to say them. There is no law saying you have to agree with or support stupid. The whole situation was made worse because of an irresponsible cleric who also spread lies about the youtube film (i.e. it's going to be a Hollywood film).
I worry about what kind of stupid wars or situations Romney would get us into if he ever became the President. So far all of his foreign policy statements have been giant gaffs. The world is a better place when we have a strong but diplomatic president like Obama instead of a bully (like Bush Jr or Romney).
Those on the right screamed to the heavens how wrong it was that the Dixie Chicks said they were "ashamed" of George Bush. How horrible it was that they "attacked" the president in a time of war and from a foreign country. And yet...I didn't see the same reaction when Sarah Palin (someone that was actually involved in politics) did the same hatchet job to Obama from Singapore. The double standard is the only standard they seem to follow.
I never even paid attention to the Dixie Chicks or who they were, but first thing I did after the teapubs went after the Dixie Chicks was to buy their albums. I actually enjoyed them, too. You notice that the people waving their little American flags and that condemned the Dixie Chicks didn't support Bush by enlisting and going to fight in his personal wars.
This is stooping very low, even for Romney.
Hey Mitt, if you're in a hole, STOP DIGGIN'!
Romney is not only in a hole, he is an ahole.
He is a disgusting human being.
Mitt and his gaggle of fools want a war. They want to be able to blame the war on President Obama and they want to make ungodly amounts of money on that war. Classless is too kind, soulless, heartless and ruthless are more appropriate for the attitudes shown. If there is redeeming value in this group, it does not appear frequently enough to be believable.
Remarkable is an understatement. I suggest astounding, incomprehensible, unfathomable, meshuggah, are you out of your freakin' mind??
Look at the optics. That little smirk he has after each answer. Smiling to himself that he nailed it. Can't even keep his serious face on. People will see that.
That really got me. I thought maybe I was imagining it, but you're the second person I've seen point that out. What is wrong with this man? He can't even lie well.
And he's had SOOOO much practice.
I agree with your observation on the body language. We say a lot more with our faces and bodies than we do with our mouths. This guy is not ready for primetime. I really think it comes down to a simple matter of having gotten everything you ever wanted either handed to you or just taking it out of a feeling of genuine entitlement. He has never had to make a human connection because he owns everyone with whom he has dealings.
Yes, and Rape-Public-CONs will ignore it (or wear smirks of their own).
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)