Forum Post: half of America want to vote for this?

[-] 2 points by bensdad (8977) 12 years ago

Our hearts go out to the families of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and the other Americans who lost their lives during Tuesday night's attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya. Demonstrations outside several U.S. embassies continue, and American officials may still be in danger.

At such a grave moment, Mitt Romney could have chosen words to help console and unite a nation in grief. Instead, he launched a false and craven attack on our president.

Romney accused President Obama of "sympathizing" with the murderers and apologizing for American values, based on a statement the president never made.

Even Republicans were shocked by Romney's response. "Just calling it a 'disgrace' doesn't really cut it," says a former John McCain aide. "It wasn't presidential," according to a former Bush State Department official.

When faced with a national emergency, Romney rushed to judgment, acted rashly, lied to the American people, and put politics ahead of the national interest.

That's something voters need to consider when they decide who has the temperament to be Commander in Chief. You have the power to make that happen by getting in the most highly read section of the newspaper: the letters to the editor.

Here's what happened. In response to a clearly offensive amateur film defaming Islam, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo condemned efforts "to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims."

In a misguided attempt to exploit the Libyan tragedy, Romney falsely attributed this statement to the White House, falsely claimed it was an apology, and falsely identified it as a response to the attacks, even though it was made before the attacks.

In fact, while President Obama rightly rejected the denigration of religious beliefs, he strongly condemned the attacks, saying, "we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants."

Americans are probably asking themselves today whether Romney failed a critical test of leadership. One senior Republican even called this Romney's "Lehman moment," in reference to Senator McCain's failure to act as a steady leader in response to the Lehman Brother's crisis in 2008.