To better understand the nature of Romney’s remarks in context, the events that occurred on Sept. 11, 2012 need to be looked at in chronological order.
6:17 a.m. (ET) The American Embassy in Cairo issued a press release that denounced an obscure film that mocked Islam, and the Prophet Mohammed. Facing a growing crowd of protesters outside, the embassy issued the statement that condemned “the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.”
2:07 p.m. The American Embassy in Cairo was later breached and the American flag was torn down and replaced with a black flag. Although the embassy walls had been breached, there was no major damage or injury caused by the incident.
10:00 p.m. The assailants first reached the walls of the Libyan embassy and began their assault.
10:07 p.m. The Romney campaign issued a statement to the press that was to be embargoed till midnight.
10:15 p.m. Some of the assailants gained access to the embassy compound. Over the course of the next two hours, intense fighting occurred between the security forces and the attackers. By midnight, three Americans had been killed and the whereabouts of Ambassador Stevens were unknown.
10:25 p.m. The Romney campaign lifted the embargo early and released a statement to the media from Romney that read, “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.”
6:18 a.m. It was not until Sept. 12 that the whereabouts of the ambassador were finally known and disseminated by the Associated Press. The Honorable Stevens had died due to smoke inhalation from a fire at the embassy the night before.
10:16 a.m. The Romney campaign held a press conference to address the statement released the night before in lieu of the ambassador’s death. Romney vigorously defended and doubled down on his characterization of President Obama as an appeaser and being weak on foreign policy.
10:42 a.m. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared next to President Obama at the White House as he conveyed his condolences to the families of those affected and the president stated, “There’s absolutely no justification for this senseless violence, none.”
The Romney campaign was so desperate to score political points against President Obama that they criticized a press release, issued before the breach at the embassy, as an apology from the Obama administration to the attackers. They issued this criticism as an embargoed statement to avoid the appearance of playing politics on Sept. 11, only to subsequently release the statement during an actual assault on the embassy in Libya in which four Americans lost their lives.
To say this was one of the most cynical and crass political moves of the election is an understatement. The audacity it took to issue a statement erroneously criticizing the president, during an ongoing breach at the American embassy in Libya, is beyond comprehension.
It wasn’t just the insensitive timing, the entire basis of Romney’s criticism is a false narrative that President Obama is weak on foreign policy and that he has been on an apology tour across the world. Apparently Osama Bin Laden missed a date on that apology tour because President Obama ordered the mission that resulted in his death.
Many Republicans immediately rebuked the campaign which left Romney alone in his criticism. A former Bush administration State Department official stated in a Buzzfeed article, “It wasn’t presidential of Romney to go political immediately; a tragedy of this magnitude should be something the nation collectively grieves before politics enters the conversation.”
Prominent Republican officials Senator John McCain, and Speaker John Boehner, all took the correct action and saw it fit to issue statements expressing their condolences to the victims along with a stern condemnation of the attacks on the embassy without taking political shots at the president during a national tragedy.
The irony is that this fiasco occurred on Sept. 11 when only 11 years before, the nation faced the worst attack on American soil in our history. During the events of 9/11, no one looked for a politician or a political party to blame, but rather, everyone came together and rallied behind President Bush, who did his best to reassure a nation in mourning. When we as a country face tragedy, we put aside our political differences and rally around the American flag. We don’t lob political cheap shots.
The Romney campaign thought they could score some political points as a result of the situation at the American embassies in Egypt and Libya, but rather they showed themselves to be completely insensitive, political rank amateurs. Romney has exuded such un-presidential behavior during this ordeal by politicizing the attack of an embassy, that he has shown himself to be completely devoid of the ability to lead this country. It’s now officially amateur hour at the Romney campaign.