Patterico's Pontifications

9/12/2012

L.A. Times: Romney Unpresidential for Immediately Criticizing Apologetic Statement That the Obama Administration Also Immediately Criticized

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:54 pm



Like pretty much the rest of the cattle in the media, the L.A. Times adopts the herd mentality and jumps on Mitt Romney for defending free speech and opposing a foreign policy of apologetics:

Romney’s quick criticism on Libya draws rebuke

President Obama and even some Republicans criticize Mitt Romney for assailing the initial administration response on the day of the attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt.

The deeply partisan nature of this year’s campaign intruded abruptly into a foreign policy crisis as Republican nominee Mitt Romney sharply criticized the Obama administration for issuing an “apology for America’s values” and the president retorted that his challenger was politicizing a tragedy.

Romney’s speed in assailing — his campaign issued its first statement Tuesday night — appeared to some to violate traditions of at least momentary unity in the face of a foreign threat. In this case, it was the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the latter of which took the lives of the American ambassador and three other Americans.

You know who else issued a statement Tuesday night? The Obama administration:

The White House is disavowing a statement from their own Cairo embassy that apologized for anti-Muslim activity in the United States.

“The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government,” a senior administration official told POLITICO…

“Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet. The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a Tuesday statement.

So apparently the President agrees with Romney that the issue is not our speech but their violence. Somehow, that doesn’t make it into the L.A. Times story! Odd!!

And indeed, Romney is right. Let’s look at what he actually said, which comes further down in the story:

Romney’s accusation centered on a statement that U.S. diplomats in Cairo had issued shortly after noon local time Tuesday — about 6 a.m. in Washington — as crowds began to gather near the embassy. The statement, commenting on anti-Islamic video posted on YouTube, said the embassy opposed “continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.”

In a brief news conference in Jacksonville, Fla., Romney said that it was “a terrible course to — for America to stand in apology for our values.”

“When our grounds are being attacked and being breached, that the first response of the United States must be outrage at the breach of the sovereignty of our nation. And apology for America’s values is never the right course.”

To hell with waiting and to hell with apologies. Waiting would have just let Obama off the hook. Romney did right. The press’s effort to claim otherwise is a joke.

America Gets Brutal Reminders: Obama Is a Terrible Foreign Policy President Too

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:23 pm



So our ambassador is killed in Libya and the Marines aren’t there although they should have been.

Meanwhile the Cairo embassy apologizes for free speech as our flag is torn down by extremists in Egypt on 9/11.

Meanwhile Obama is snubbing Netanyahu and relations with Israel are the worst anyone can remember.

Hey, at least everything’s going great here at home!

Video: Words Matter

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 12:01 am



This is just brilliant.

It doesn’t do any good for all of us to see it. Go post it on Facebook. Link it on Twitter. Show it to your friends who are on the fence.

It sums up many, many failures of (and lies told by) the Obama administration in less than 14 minutes.

Watch it, link it, embed it, and spread the message.

This president has been a stunning failure.

Via Hot Air.


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