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Originally posted by AURAPTOR:
Egypt & Libya , embassies stormed, overrun.

Meanwhile...

Obama ignores Israeli PM request to meet, says Letterman more important and appears on radio show with " the Pimp with a Limp.". Pimps are 'women friendly' , right?

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

No, that's not worth remembering , in the least. Because it's politicizing an attack on a free country, by Muslim extremists, and... innocent people lost their lives on this day.

I'd like to think some are better than to use a cheap, tacky ploy like this to mark the significance of this day.

Seems not.

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Don’t look to Republican leaders to defend Mitt Romney’s attack on President Obama over protests in the Middle East, even as the candidate repeated his attack this morning. At a hastily arranged press conference, Romney stood by the statement his campaign issued last night, which has come under criticism from liberal pundits and mainstream journalists alike. The generally agnostic political team at NBC news led by Chuck Todd called it “one of the most over-the-top and (it turns out) incorrect attacks of the general-election campaign.”

“I also believe the administration was wrong to put out a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt, instead of condemning their actions,” Romney said this morning. “It’s never too early for the United States government to condemn attacks on Americans.” Actually, there is one time when it’s too early — when the attacks have not yet occurred. Romney today repeated three times that the embassy issued the statement “after their grounds had been breached,” but that’s simply not true. The statement came before protesters had breached the embassy walls, so there was no attack to be condemned. Even Erick Erickson acknowledged as much. As Marc Ambinder noted, the statement was an attempt by those trapped inside the embassy to save their own lives by calming the protests, a point apparently lost on Romney.

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Originally posted by Storymark:
More proof that religion is a pox on this world.

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And Rappy really, really, reeeeeeaaaaaaly hates Obama. But we knew that.

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"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims... "

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

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Originally posted by Storymark:
More proof that religion is a pox on this world.

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Not just " religion", but radical Islam.

How many Christians went out and killed anyone over Maplethorpe's " art work " ?

How many riots were sparked by the release of a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, The Last Temptation of Christ ?

Zero.

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And Rappy really, really, reeeeeeaaaaaaly hates Obama. But we knew that.

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Because, to you , that's all it comes down to. No matter what this amateur does, how many times he jerks around our allies, you look past his incompetence, hell, even look past the fact that 2 US embassies were over run and Americans were killed, and you just write it all off to " hating Obama ", as if that's the ONLY thing that matters from all this.

Unfrakingbelievable.

And Mitt was right, 100%. Who the hell APOLOGIZES for something the US govt had no control over, and for which we ARE NOT SORRY for, in the least ?

The wording of the initial apology by the US govt is not only bizarre, it's down right sad and cowardly.

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"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims... "

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Doesn't matter if this came before, during or after the attack in Libya. It's still ridiculous, beyond reason, to apologize - PERIOD.

We SEE how well this punk ass statement worked, don't we ?

Libya, after we ( foolishly ) supplied them w/ the air power and support needed for them to even WIN their gorram war in the first place, THIS is how they repay our efforts ?

And oh yeah, how's that Arab Spring workin' out for us over in Egypt ?

This is '79, all over again. Hopefully, we can boot out 1 incompetent one termer just like we did then , too.

And Kwickie, I think that, once again, you're barking up the wrong tree.

On Tuesday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer called a U.S. response to rioters storming the American embassy in Cairo “disgraceful,” saying that the rioters should “go to hell.”

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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The obvious responsible thing to do when American citizens and public officials are under physical threat abroad and when the details are unknown, and events spiraling, is to stay silent. If the event happens on the day of September 11 and you are a candidate for president and have observed a political truce, all the more reason to wait to allow the facts to emerge. After all, country before party, right? American lives are at stake, yes? An easy call, no?

But that's not what the Romney camp did. What they did was seize on a tweet issued by someone in the US Embassy before the attacks in order to indict the president for "sympathizing" with those who murdered a US ambassador after the attacks. Unfuckingbelievable. Here's the embassy statement from earlier in the day that set off the neocons:

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.

The statement came from someone in the embassy, and was not formally issued by the State Department or the White House, both of which have subsequently disavowed the tweet for not also defending absolute freedom of speech. The facts were still murky last night. But the Romney campaign immediately tried to shoe-horn yesterday's fog of mob violence into the "apology" rubric Romney loves so much. The Priebus tweet is disgusting. The first Romney statement is no better:

“I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”

That's untrue. The Obama administration did not issue the tweet, which was, in any case, tweeted before the attacks, not after. Today, Romney doubled down on these two obvious misstatements:

“We join together in the condemnation of attacks on the American embassies and the loss of American life and join in sympathy for these people. It’s also important for me — just as it was for the White House, last night by the way — to say that the statements were inappropriate, and in my view a disgraceful statement on the part of our administration to apologize for American values...

A brief moment of digression: the White House disowned a statement it itself did not release - but is then equally responsible for the tweet itself? The mind boggles. Then this, apparently, is an apology for American values:

Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.

I'm a free speech absolutist - but I'm not an anti-religion absolutist. I think a little respect for religions we don't share is something most Americans would think is precisely an American value. I can see why there should have been a defense of the free speech of Terry Jones in that tweet in principle - and there is: "the universal right of free speech." Does Romney think the administration should have defended the film itself? Does Romney?

Of course, sitting in my blogging chair on the Cape, I can demand as radical a defense of blasphemy and hate speech as Romney can. But I was not inside an embassy in a foreign country as mob violence was building outside and as the US government was being conflated entirely with a bigoted anti-Muslim fanatic. And practically speaking, the embassy was trying to calm a situation, not inflame it. And diplomacy in the real world, where American lives are at stake, can necessitate such frustrating but necessary nuances. But such nuances are lost on Romney, as is, it seems, the basic notion of agency and responsibility:

The president takes responsibility not just for the words that come from his mouth but also for the words that come from his ambassadors from his administration, from his embassies, from the State Department. They clearly sent mixed messages to the world, and the statement that came from the administration, and the embassy is the administration. The statement that came from the administration was a statement which is akin to apology and I think was a severe miscalculation.

So the president of the US is directly, personally responsible for a lone tweet designed to calm a dangerous situation - and this other person's tweet is then described as a "severe miscalculation" by the president and "akin to an apology." Well: you try to figure the logic out. Then this outreach from his senior foreign policy spokesman, Rich Williamson:

Tuesday night, while the attacks were still ongoing, Williamson said that the governments in Egypt and Libya as well as the Obama administration bear responsibility for the deteriorating security environment that led to the attacks.

"The events in Egypt and Libya show the failure of the Egyptian and Libyan governments to uphold their obligations to keep our diplomatic missions safe and secure and the regard in which the United States is held under President Obama in these two countries," he said. "It's all part of a broader scheme of the president's failure to be an effective leader for U.S. interests in the Middle East."

My italics. These people are simply unfit for the responsibility of running the United States. The knee-jerk judgments, based on ideology not reality; the inability to back down when you have said something obviously wrong; and the attempt to argue that the president of the US actually sympathized with those who murdered his own ambassador in Benghazi: these are disqualifying instincts for someone hoping to be the president of the US. Disqualifying.

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Originally posted by chrisisall:
The idea that you can be in a country where most people hate you, but you'll be safe because you're in an 'Embassy' is ridiculous. It's magical thinking, as has been sadly demonstrated.

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Originally posted by Hero:
There is also the issue that there have been several years now of express warnings on Embassy security in these countries that have gone ignored by the President...probably mentioned in one of those 60% of security briefings he skipped for his fundraising, parties, and golf games.

H

Hero...must be right on all of this. ALL of the rest of us are wrong. Chrisisall, 2012

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
Your childish cartoon is beyond ridiculous. Romney rightfully was responding to Obama's lame, empty, pathetic apology statement.

Come November 6, we can fix that, and put an actual adult in the White House, instead of the incompetent man child who sits there now.

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Originally posted by Hero:

There is also the issue that there have been several years now of express warnings on Embassy security in these countries that have gone ignored by the President...probably mentioned in one of those 60% of security briefings he skipped for his fundraising, parties, and golf games.

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Libya, after we ( foolishly ) supplied them w/ the air power and support needed...

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
I was always against military involvement in Libya. Whether it was Obama or Romney calling the shots.

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Or Reagan?

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Bad idea, and now we see why. 1 ambassador and 3 other Americans dead. Embassy taken over... that help really paid off, huh?

Not so much.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Meanwhile, even American conservatives have nothing but disgust for Romney and his bunch. From Andrew Sullivan:

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Meanwhile, even American conservatives have nothing but disgust for Romney and his bunch. From Andrew Sullivan:

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Andrew Sullivan is British. He's also more of a fiscal rather than social conservative.

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Iranian and Iraqi officials said the building was an Iranian consulate and the detainees its employees.

The US military said it was still investigating, but that the building did not have diplomatic status.

The troops raided the building at about 0300 (0001GMT), taking away computers and papers, according to local media.

AFP news agency quoted Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman as saying he did not know the nationality of the six but said they were "suspected of being closely tied to activities targeting Iraq and coalition forces".

"I can confirm for you through our forces there that this is not a consulate or a government building," he said.

However, Tehran said the attack violated all international conventions. It has summoned ambassadors from Switzerland, representing US interests, and Iraq.

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Originally posted by CATPIRATE:
NewOldBrowncoat,
you are the only one at the table who has the smarts. Right ON.

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Originally posted by CATPIRATE:
AU, I see that your post has turned into anti Christian, anti Romney, anti US by the self loathing Americans we have here. They can't come out and say that the muslims killed Americans on 9/11 because that would racist. Now these same Quislings would say we have to have an embassy we need dialogue and communicate.

The Ambassador has been murdered. 86' history lesson, airstrikes from the USS Ronald Reagan. Get it now. Act of War.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Meanwhile, even American conservatives have nothing but disgust for Romney and his bunch. From Andrew Sullivan:

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Andrew Sullivan is British. He's also more of a fiscal rather than social conservative.

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He's aggressively seeking U.S. citizenship, because he so badly wants to be American.

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And do you have a problem with conservatives who are fiscally conservative more than socially conservative?

Are they not "real" enough conservatives for you?

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Wait, that sounds familiar... Where have I heard that before?

Oh yeah: "Bin Laden determined to attack within U.S."

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Originally posted by Hero:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Wait, that sounds familiar... Where have I heard that before?

Oh yeah: "Bin Laden determined to attack within U.S."

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There is not one documented report of President Bush missing a security briefing...let alone 60% of them.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Also, it was known before Romney shot off his mouth that there were American deaths involved.

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Originally posted by CATPIRATE:
NewOldBrowncoat,
you are the only one at the table who has the smarts. Right ON.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Also, it was known before Romney shot off his mouth that there were American deaths involved.

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Romney correctly, courageously commented on this administration's lack of a response to those who attacked sovereign US soil, and instead tried to ridicule and mock our 1st Amendment rights.

" To defend and uphold the US constitution " - that's the oath this President took, but apparently, he and those in the Obama admin think that 'hurting the religious feelings of Muslims ' takes precedent over our own rights.

Shot his mouth off ? Hell, Romney was sounding like a President SHOULD sound, in such times. Barry ? He figured it was bed time, and could have cared less about the fate of his ambassador.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

How many riots were sparked by the release of a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, The Last Temptation of Christ ?

Zero.

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On October 22, 1988, a French Christian fundamentalist group launched Molotov cocktails inside the Parisian Saint Michel movie theater while it was showing the film. This attack injured thirteen people, four of whom were severely burned. The Saint Michel theater was heavily damaged, and reopened 3 years later after restoration. Following the attack, a representative of the film's distributor, United International Pictures, said, "The opponents of the film have largely won. They have massacred the film's success, and they have scared the public." Jack Lang, France's Minister of Culture, went to the St.-Michel theater after the fire, and said, "Freedom of speech is threatened, and we must not be intimidated by such acts." The Archbishop of Paris, Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger, said "One doesn't have the right to shock the sensibilities of millions of people for whom Jesus is more important than their father or mother."

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Originally posted by BIGDAMNNOBODY:
While unfortunate, could this instance really be classified as a riot?

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