MSNBC Take on Riots: Blame Romney

Watching MSNBC today, Martin Bashir's theme on the events in Egypt and Libya is to blame Mitt Romney for his critical comments on the now-infamous State Department statement condemning the makers of some film in the US that mocked Mohammed and Islam. The point, according to Bashir, Jonathan Alter, and Dana Milbank of the Washington Post is that Romney was wrong to condemn  the (embassy) statement because it was released prior to the beginning of both protests. According to Bashir et al, Romney was disgracefully politicizing the tragedy. Bashir also had on his show the "Honorable" tax cheat Congressman Charlie Rangel, who blasted both Romney and Paul Ryan. Romney was also criticized for making his comment even before all the next-of-kin had been informed of the four deaths in Libya.

As for the latter point, both President Obama and Hillary Clinton made statements about the tragedy this morning when the identities of two of the victims had yet not been made public. Clinton, in her statement, said that next-of-kin notifications were still pending as to two of the victims. The names of Ambassador Chris Stevens and the other victim were released since their families had been notified.

Here is what Hot Air had to say on the State Department statement:

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/09/11/senior-administration-official-the-cairo-embassys-tweets-do-not-reflect-the-view-of-the-u-s-government/

Commentary Magazine had this take:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/09/12/walking-back-the-cairo-apology-embassy-attack-obama-speech/

So apparently, the Cairo embassy, knowing that a protest was in the works, put out the much-maligned statement in the form of a tweet. The State Department and the administration apparently stepped back from the statement, and later released a condemnation of the Cairo protest while affirming their condemnation of those who had "offended the feelings of Muslims" (referring to the film).

But Mitt Romney is the bad guy.

Meanwhile, Bashir made reference to Milbank's paper, the Washington Post's editorial blasting Romney:

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-death-of-an-ambassador/2012/09/12/ed3b719e-fcfa-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_story.html

Here is the portion of the Post editorial that Bashir highlighted:

"J.CHRISTOPHER STEVENS, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, was a skilled and courageous diplomat who repeatedly placed himself at risk in order to support the cause of a democratic Libya. His death, along with those of three other Americans, during an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday is a tragedy that should prompt bipartisan support for renewed U.S. aid to Libyans who are struggling to stabilize the country. That it instead provoked a series of crude political attacks on President Obama by GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is a discredit to his campaign."

(Emphasis mine)

Bashir also showed President Obama at the State Department this morning with Secretary Clinton signing a condolence book and later the both of them appearing before reporters in the Rose Garden. What Bashir did not show was that after the morning events, Obama took off on Air Force One to Nevada and Colorado for campaign appearances. Here is the White House schedule for today.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete


"Anybody home?"


Obama arriving today in Las Vegas for a campaign appearance (Las Vegas Sun)

Maybe the president should start attending some intelligence briefings, which he has apparently missed this week.  (Hat tip Breitbart).

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/09/12/Exclusive-Obama-Skipped-Intel-Briefings-Week-Before-Embassy-Attacks

So as our bodies are en route home, another mob in front of the Cairo embassy as I write, Obama is once again on the campaign trail and missing intelligence briefings, and Mitt Romney is the bad guy according to MSNBC-the ones who are truly politicizing the incident.