The question came towards the end of last night's debate, and Republicans were no doubt thrilled. After an event featuring questions Democrats enjoyed -- equal pay for women, outsourcing, Bush comparisons -- an undecided voter finally brought up an issue the right has been desperate to talk about: the attack in Benghazi that left four Americans dead.
But after weeks of teeing this up as a devastating issue for President Obama, Mitt Romney blew it. It was, as Rachel noted last night, a "political disaster" for the Republican.
As the moment unfolded live, it was obvious Romney thought he'd finally found a brutal new criticism. The Republican began by accusing the president on Sept. 12 of flying "to Las Vegas for a political fundraiser" -- that wasn't true; there was no such fundraiser -- instead of addressing the attack. Obama responded, "The day after the attack, Governor, I stood in the Rose Garden, and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror."
Romney hadn't done his homework, and didn't realize that the president was telling the truth. He thought he'd tripped Obama up, but even moderator Candy Crowley felt compelled to fact-check Romney in real time: "He did call it an 'act of terror.'"
The president added, "Can you say that a little louder, Candy?" The moment that Romney expected to be triumphant had backfired -- and the crowd of undecided voters ended up applauding Obama.
"[T]he Romney camp laid the trap," Josh Marshall noted. "And tonight Mitt walked right into it."
The New York Times' Andrew Rosenthal compared it to another major foreign-policy debate failure.
When Gerald Ford denied in 1976 that there was any "Soviet domination" of Eastern Europe, he cemented the impression that he was out of touch with pretty much everything. Tonight, Mitt Romney may have had a similar moment, during a back-and-forth about the attack on the Benghazi Consulate. Mr. Romney clearly thought he had a big opening and he moved in for the kill when Mr. Obama said he had called the attack a terrorist act the very next day, in a Rose Garden speech. [...]
Whoever coached Mr. Romney on that question did the candidate no favors.... The exchange left voters in the uncomfortable position of assuming that Mr. Romney either believes his own propaganda or doesn't care whether what he says is true, which fits into the narrative that he's willing to twist the truth for political gain.
One other thought: last night featured plenty of emotional highs and lows, but Romney's criticism of Benghazi on political grounds seemed to offend the president on a personal level. Take a look at Obama's face during his response:
Romney tried to exploit the deaths of Americans for partisan gain the night of Sept. 11, and then he tried to do it again in last night's debate. The president, displaying more passion than we're accustomed to seeing, was determined to make the Republican pay a price for this, and he did. Romney ended up looking small, with even less credibility on foreign policy than he did before.
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Without a doubt, this was Obama's Etch a Sketch moment. In the Rise Garden he used the term "terror" he did NOT refer to this (Benghazi) as an "act of TERRORISTS or TERRORISM".
A week later his UN Secretary said on FIVE different programs that it was a result of a "Crude video". On the 25th SIX times Obama said the "Video" led to this attack.
Now, the Etch a Sketch shaken, Obama says he commented on his remark about "terror" as if that was intended to mean, "terrorism/terrorist actions" Semantics do not win a debate.
This is where Obama LOST the heart of the debate.
Nice spin but no substance to add to the mix.
One other thought: last night featured plenty of emotional highs and lows, but Romney's criticism of Benghazi on political grounds seemed to offend the president on a personal level. Take a look at Obama's face during his response:
YES exactly. He looks all the divider & cheif he has promoted himself to be throughout the campaign. Only proving he can mislead and LIE with a straight face.
No worry for Obama, after all, it was only a "bump in the road". But I guess Obama takes bumps in the road very seriously. That's the same face Obama used from the podium when speaking with Professor Skip Gates at his side condeming the "Cambridge Police who acted stupidly". Again, IN THE ROSE GARDEN!
Last night WAS Obama's FLIP FLOP Etch a Sketch Moment.
Without a doubt, IrishPud is a totally useless excuse for a human being.
Thank You. Coming from you sir, That is a supreme compliment.
THANK YOU!
IrishPud lives in Bizarro World.
Talk about lying with a straight face? That is the heart and soul of
Wroney's campaign. Jeez, wake up!
Oh yeah, don't forget about his cohort Lyen Ryan with his laughable performance at the soup kitchen! My God, what a hypocrite. He shows up when everyone is gone and everything is clean and there is no work to do.. Then, he puts on an apron ready to get down and dirty. Then the cameras come out, and BAMO, he is gone. How sickening was that? To use the poor for his own political gain. I bet that was his FIRST time ever volunteering in a soup kitchen.
Oh, and by the way, first thing he would do would be to slash that soup kitchen from the budget, cuz the compassionate republicans believe that people need to take responsibility. And it isn't compassionate to help someone who is starving I guess, make em find their own food.
gurlie...,
As long as RobMe tells them the lies they want to hear they will sing hosannas of praise to him.
I know they will, but it is so scary to me that people are falling for these lies when he is continually being caught by FACTS lying over and over. And to think people are falling for the "I'll fix the economy gag" My god people, look what he did to Massachussets! He had the WORST jobs record AND left them millions in debt. Those are the facts. Well to be honest, he didn't have the worst record, to be factually correct, he was 3rd to the last, to be exact.
The Romney Ryan team and republicans racist politicians .are lying saying and leading people to think that Obama is not American that he is a Muslim leader that he is deliberately weaken security for our diplomat's,our military,and they are using that same game plan and did use that in the Fast and Furious.they are saying under OBAMA /ERIC holder they gave a bunch assault weapons to drug runners to kill our border agents .they are saying Under Obama he purposely made sure that there wasn't enough security at the embassy.ROMNEY thought he had Obama last night when he brought Libya up .In the next debate Romney is going to go all out because he is desperate and he will accuse because he has nothing he is a looser and a bad one at that and a liar,and so is Ryan he suggested the same theory in his debate vs Joe Biden.Romney /Ryan campaign along with Norquist ,Rove ,teabags that got in during laimeduck 2010 is a conspiracy against Obama for 1 reason because he is a black man. They are racist, no doubt about it.
Actually IrishPat 4:20 into the Rose Garden Speech, the President says and I quote "No acts of Terror will shake the resolve of this great nation." The President didn't flip flop or etch a sketch, Mitt just jumped the gun without knowing what was really said, and got nailed on it. You can try to rewrite that. But it's hard to dispute what was said, when we have it on tape.
Obama NEVER ansered the original question: "Who was responsible for denying the adde security"?
OBAMA was!
Excuse me, I should have said that IrishPud is a totally worthless excuse for a human being.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You need a whip, so you can flagellate yourself like the good little hyper-religious sado-masochist you are.
Wrongney is the absolute master of NEVER answering the question, and mindless double talk
Irish Pat insists on shooting webs of stupid at us
Do those requests go to the president? No? So, who is responsible for denying the requests?
It's a question that needs answering. He did side step it.
But then Romney got smacked down and schooled by the President.
Irish Patsy - cut the crap.
Repugnicans blocked a bill that would have provided additional security for those serving at the embassy in Benghazi. Even the State Department has since said that "no reasonably security presence" could have stemmed-off the attack in Libya.
When Chaffetz (Republican representative for Utah's third district) was reminded on CNN that he had joined fellow House Republicans in voting to cut the budget for embassy security in 2011 and 2012, he answered, "Absolutely. Look, we have to make choices in this country."
Yes, Obama did take responsibility.
"...And when it comes to this issue, when I say that we are going to find out exactly what happened, everybody will be held accountable. And I am ultimately responsible for what's taking place there because these are my folks, and I'm the one who has to greet those coffins when they come home. You know that I mean what I say."
*emphasis added
Ask the UN/ and the Sec. of State/ Obama is not God he is a president and no President takes care of all the details.
How badly can one person shoot themselves in the foot in two hours? Well Mitt did it at least 3 times.
1. He will make the economy so strong that employers will be so anxious to hire workers they will hire women.
2. The top 5 % will still pay 60 % of income taxes. But if you reduce all rates by 20% that is still a huge break for them. They will be paying the same percentage of a smaller pot.
3. No taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains. These are tax breaks that have much more impact to the wealthy who live off dividends, capital gains and interest instead of earned income. A blatant tax cut for himself as well. Just look at his tax return.
4. Romney was so sure he had caught President Obama in a lie over his Rose Garden speech description the day after the Benghazi incident. You could see it in his face he thought he had him. Until Ms. Crowley shut him down confirming the President's remarks and referring Mr. Romney to the transcripts.
5. At the worst possible time Mr. Romney brought up how he cared for 100% of Americans. The first time a percentage came up in that context. He set up President Obama perfectly to open that line of attach and at the best time for the President. His closing remarks. The last thing the viewers heard. 47%!
6. Mr. Romney suddenly has a path to citizenship for children of undocumented aliens? I bet that won't make the far right very happy.
That works if there actually ARE any undecided voters out there (what have they been doing??), but far-right extremist firewalls prevent such moments from having any effect on Rombot supporters. Looking ahead, over here we're starting to wonder about the Repugs propensity to steal elections. Are progressives preparing for such an event? Where will you be if another Brooks Brothers "Riot" takes place? Just sayin' !
People in other countries need to be aware that a US controlled by the American right, with its psychopatically arrogant messianic nationalism, will be the most dangerous country in the world.
Indeed, Romney made a very bad play on that one last night. And I was rather pleased to see the President rebuke him for exploiting the attacks for political gain.
If in fact, Obama DID recognize this as a deliberate "Act of Terror", THIS act in Beghazi, not acts in general which are ascribed as "terror" actions or terrible acts, Why did he send people after the producer of the You Tube video instead of hunting down the TERRORIST responsible for the act? All attentions were spent identifying and hunting down the producer of the video! While those truly responsible for the MURDERS ran away FREE!
Why???? If Obama knew this was an act of terror commited by "terrorists" and instead he/they hunted down the producer of the so called wide spread You Tube video it's because OBAMA IS STUPID! Obama is inept.
Either way, Obama LOSES!
More fact-free verbal vomit from IrishPud.
Touche!
You are assuming that no one anywhere was looking for the @!$%#s that did this. Really? Do you really think the only people in our government are those that you see talking on TV?
What exactly do you believe Obama should have done on Sept 11, 2012? What information do you have that you can show to prove that he did or did not do exactly what you think he should have?
"What exactly do you believe Obama should have done on Sept 11, 2012?"
No matter what he did, those on the right would hyperventilate about how bad it was.
Well, that's true enough. Just like last week when Biden asked Ryan what they would do differently about Iran and Syria. "uhhhhhhhhhhhh".
Should we have bombed something in Benghazi? Should we just send some drones and level the whole damn place?
Or maybe should we have tried to find out what the @!$%# was going on? I'm partial to ask first, hit later. Others, like Romney, like to try to kick ass first then ask questions. That tends to piss people off.
The President arrived last night. He showed the public how small of a man Romney really is. I flipped to Fox in time to watch Hannity lie about the Libya comment. Greta of all people actually said Hannity was wrong, imagine that. Why are these people not taken to task for lying to the public ?? The scariest part was the focus group from Ohio..those women really have no grasp of women's rights in the workplace or anywhere else. That was disappointing. Defunding Planned Parenthood,equal pay, forced invasive health care procedures, those 4 women understood none of that, WOW...speaks volume.
I can't figure out why many women want to vote for Romney or have changed from Obama to Romney?
We are all scratching our heads on that one for sure. Maybe it is only the blond ones that are likely to vote for him?
Irish Pat, better lock up your uterus. Wrongney is gonna take control of it lol
He/she/it probably pretends that he/she/it doesn't have "nasty" things like genitalia.
A long time coming. To see a man schooled, through public schooling k-12, take on a priviledge schooler in a National debate and give him everything but detention. Sweetness. Children that is how a MAN fights. No Scissors in the play grounds please.
You can only lie and get away with it for so long, Governor Romney. One thing, I'm wondering of the prez's campaign meant for him to be an underdog going into this. The turnaround is mind-blowing. I'm waiting for Romney's women binder to go on eBay.
I think he lost earlier in the debate. If he gets off script, he loses it. One question he got off the subject and he rambled on many different subject. Like a robot breaking down, its a wonder his head didn't start rotating on his body. I think did start foaming at the mouth but I need to look at it again.
"Please proceed Governor..." Romney's "You're no Jack Kennedy" moment (Benghazi) last nite. (www.love-poems.me.uk/howitt_the_spider_and_the_fly_funny.htm)
Romney show up like an alpha male marking territory.......but Crowley is not Lenher.....wooops
Yep, I think Wrongey peed on the podium
Am I the only one who finds it to be HIGH comedy that the very same people that tried to push that pile of hot garbage known as the "you didn't build that" line - and defended it by saying "well gee, did the President not say those words in that order?" when anyone with two working brain cells knew he was talking about infrastructure - now those very same people are trying to argue "well sure the President said the words 'Acts of terror', but that's not what he MEANT"??
I love it when a bully gets backed down...
Rachel,
I know you get many comments each day...but I hope you get this.
Was I the only undecided voter last night who saw a rude, disgusted, arrogant, and stiff candidate who calls himself Mitt Romney last night?
I thought Obama won on every point last night - and I am an independent OHIO voter. I felt Obama had a little trouble with the gas price issue last night, but he came back by reminding voters that the policies of the past is what caused the tailspin of economic terror in our country.
We talk about fighting the war on terror, but no one on the Republican side seems to have a plan to fight the terrible tailspin of our economy that happened from 2000 to 2008.
Please don't forget that the price of gas isn't (and can't possibly be) controlled by the POTUS. When gas prices rise and fall, it's due to market economics and speculation - not any president. Ever.
Oil (and refined products like gasoline) are traded on a world market. If China decides they want to buy more or OPEC decides they want to sell less, the price goes up and there's funk-all any POTUS can do about it. As the Prez pointed out last night, higher gas prices are good signs that the economy is recovering.
I don't know if anyone at the show ever reads these things, but here's a scoop that the media are missing. Back in 2007, Bain Capital bought out Clear Channel Communications, during consolidation. Thousands were fired, and their Clear Channel 401k entered a 60-day blackout period where you couldn't touch it, or even SEE it online!
And on the other side of the blackout if you had CCU as part or all of your portfolio, it was magically converted to CCC, which was a worthless "blended stock" of Clear Channel and a bag of s**t. WE didn't build that. MITT ROMNEY built that! When Bain bought them out. And he took this money out of the 401k's so he and his Boys of Bain could become super rich..off of our money, hard work and sweat. While former talented, experienced air talent professionals retreated to their basements to make air checks. As Willard continues to falsely claim that he cares about small business and their employees, I think this would be a great story to look into.
I just loved how the Fox News people had complained about how rude Joe Biden was during his debate. Do you think they'll mention how Romney completely bullied the moderator and talked over the president. Romney was completely disrespectful of the people asking the questions. He gave his pandering..."thank you for that question" and then completely ignored them. That would have been EXCELLENT, if they turned off Romney's microphone when it wasn't his turn. However, he just would have found another way to be obnoxious.
The more I read about Romney's religion the more I see why Romney is such a liar and belives in his lies. Mormons see black people in having no soul so God allows you to lie about them and to believe in your lies. Also Mormons are allowed to lie as long as those lies help their church are to allow you to make more money which means you can give more to your church. Just google "Mormons are allowed to lie". It is an intresting look into Romney any why he does what he does.
Last Night's Debate was a "ROCK'M..SOCK'M..CLOBER'N Time" for the President.We Need Four More Years Of Your Help.
Everyone has basically said it all - I don't have much to add. I've been saying for weeks that I'd hoped the Prez would show up prepped and ready to debate Romney as though he were going up against an insane con man, and that he did. Romney's brat schtick from the first debate was already surprisingly old in this one --"no, he got the first word and so now I get the last word, heh, heh" -- no, you don't -- that's cheating, Governor -- I was so glad Crowley shut him down on that. How the the Prez handled himself and fought for us last night was awesome. Thanks, Prez.
Perhaps this illustrates the real problem with romney. He speaks without thinking. He has done this in foreign countries, notably england as well as here. We cannot undergo another foot in the mouth president like bush and we certainly don't need a liar in our white house as romney has PROVEN to be.
The thought of ryan backing him only takes the yeast out of the unfrosted republican cake.
How come nobody has Susan Rice's back on the Libya issue. I watched those 9-12 (Or the Sunday thereafter) interviews, in the first place she was very reluctant to say what had happened, she said repeatedly that they needed more information. When pushed by the journalists to give and answer she place caveats before and after saying that based on the information they had in hand, it "appeared" to be a spontaneous demonstration... Chuck Todd, Chris Mathews and almost all of the MSNBC hosts are letting the Romney crew get away with saying that she "spoke with authority to mislead the American people..." That is hogwash! You all criticized Obama for not showing up for the first debate, now would you guys please show up for your jobs and play the tapes of what Ambassador Rice actually said.
Romney was exposed for being out of his league. Now, we all know Cheney was the real president in the Bush era. We know Ryan won't fill that bill. So, who is it? John Bolton? That is the un-asked question.
My bet is it would be a co-presidency between Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Bros.
That's a darn good answer, June. Thanks.
One thing the Romney people said that is indeed true - they won't let the campaign be dictated by fact-checkers. Sometimes it backfires, I guess!!!