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Will Romney be able to overcome his huge embassy debacle? What he said wasn't true, he had the facts wrong, he had the timelines wrong. The longer he waits before retracting and apologizing the worse it looks for him, IMO.
The fact that this came from the Republican candidate for President is just mind boggling, IMO.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57511707/how-badly-did-romney-botch-response-to-libya-attack/
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/13/opinion/avlon-romney-libya-attack/index.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...642160a-fdd8-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_blog.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/u...sion-to-criticize-obama-on-libya.html?_r=3&hp
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-12/romney-criticized-for-handling-of-libya-protests-death
The fact that this came from the Republican candidate for President is just mind boggling, IMO.
How badly did Romney botch response to Libya attack?
The conventional wisdom emerged in Washington almost immediately on Wednesday: Mitt Romney's handling of the violence in Egypt and Libya was a disaster.
"The comments were a big mistake, and the decision to double down on them was an even bigger mistake," Steve Schmidt, senior campaign strategist to Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, told CBS News. "There are legitimate criticisms to be made but you foreclose on your ability to make them when you try to score easy political points. And the American people, when the country is attacked, whether they're a Republican or Democrat or independent, want to see leaders who have measured responses, not leaders whose first instinct is to try to score political points."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57511707/how-badly-did-romney-botch-response-to-libya-attack/
Romney foreign policy attack was disgraceful
But in the hours after the death of the first U.S. ambassador killed in decades, Mitt Romney -- panicked as his poll numbers have slipped -- punched hard against the president, unleashing an unwise, inaccurate and unpresidential attack on the Obama administration.
<snip>
This is not just politics as usual but something far lower. By point of comparison, when Ronald Reagan was confronted with the downed-helicopter rescue mission ordered by President Jimmy Carter to save the American hostages in the U.S. Embassy in Iran, he did not see it as opportunity to score political points. Instead, Reagan said, "This is the time for us as a nation and a people to stand united." Likewise, George H.W. Bush, then also running for president, said "I unequivocally support the president of the United States -- no ifs, ands or buts -- and it certainly is not a time to try to go one-up politically. He made a difficult, courageous decision." (Hat-tip to The Atlantic for unearthing these statements.)
No wonder a wide array of Republican foreign policy experts rose to condemn Romney's comments, including the longtime speechwriter and senior aide to Sen. John McCain, Mark Salter, who wrote: "to condemn (Obama) for policies they claim helped precipitate the attacks is as tortured in its reasoning as it is unseemly in its timing."
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/13/opinion/avlon-romney-libya-attack/index.html
Who knows how much Romney asked his aides about the source or timing of the original statement that prompted his remarks. It’s unclear whose idea the hastily arranged news conference was. And if it was Romney who pushed to make the statement and approved its content, it’s hard to tell whether anyone advised him otherwise.
In either case, political opportunity, rather than presidential protocol, appears to have driven the decision. As Chris Cillizza quoted Republican strategist John Weaver saying: “they allow tactics to dictate strategy, instead of vice versa.” When it comes to leadership, however, neither tactics nor strategy should ever come before judgment—of a candidate or his advisers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...642160a-fdd8-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_blog.html
While President Obama dealt with the killings of an ambassador and three other Americans and deflected questions about his handling of the Arab world, Mitt Romney, the Republican seeking his job, wasted little time going on the attack, accusing the president of apologizing for American values and appeasing Islamic extremists.
But Mr. Romney came under withering criticism for distorting the chain of events overseas and appearing to seek political advantage from an attack that claimed American lives. A statement he personally approved
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/u...sion-to-criticize-obama-on-libya.html?_r=3&hp
Romney’s Libya Response Fuels Foreign Policy Doubts
It was supposed to be a clear-eyed rebuke of the sitting president’s approach to a foreign-policy crisis.
Instead, Mitt Romney’s criticism of President Barack Obama’s handling of the attacks in Egypt and Libya that led to the death of a U.S. ambassador yesterday fueled questions -- even among his allies -- about the Republican presidential nominee’s inexperience on national security as his campaign is pushing to gain traction by refocusing on jobs and the economy.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-12/romney-criticized-for-handling-of-libya-protests-death
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