This is why I am a humble blogger instead of being a talking head on TV.
To tell the truth, I didn't put much importance on Candy Crowley inserting herself into the Libya discussion last night, but she is the talk of the airwaves today. Prior to the debate, both sides had concerns about her, and I guess she justified at least the fears of the Romney camp.
At issue was whether President Obama called the Benghazi incident a terror attack during his September 12 Rose Garden remarks. Last night, he said he did. Romney took issue with that. As I previously stated, Obama made a reference to terror attacks, but it was not really clear if he was talking about Benghazi or terror attacks in general. At any rate, Crowley jumped in and supported Obama-then added that Romney was correct in that the "protest" story was out there for two weeks. Romney supporters are charging that Crowley saved Obama from Romney's points on the Libya issue. You can read the transcript of the exchange as well as the full debate transcript here. In addition, you can see Crowley's explanation post-debate here.
At any rate, there is a silver lining here. This will get more people talking about Libya and the administration's responses. In the next debate, foreign policy is the topic, and Libya figures to get a lot of air time as well as the so-called "Arab Spring" and Obama's handling of Israel. That is unless, of course, moderator Bob Schieffer tries to keep those items short and move on to other subjects like trade with China and the cost of French perfume. I suspect that after Crowley, all eyes will be watching Schieffer's moderating.
There is another point that should be clarified either now or during the next debate: If President Obama wants to stake out the position that he did indeed call the Benghazi assault a "terror attack" on September 12, then doesn't that make Ambassador Susan Rice's (and others) statements days later about a "protest over a video that got out of control" even more egregious?
This is a great opportunity here. Obama has placed himself in a box. It behooves Romney to nail him on this in the next debate.
4 comments:
Gary . . . So far all of these debates have been rude and worthless. The moderators have all failed to keep the opponents from yelling over each other. None of the opponents have clearly stated their party platform. Who learns from this kind of rapid fire personality contests? We get enough of this stuff from the main stream idiots. Where's the beef?
Dixon,
At the end of it all, the debates should mean nothing. Anyone who depends on the debates to decide their vote is an idiot. The ideological divide is so wide, what does it matter if one candidate scored a few points points here and there?
Gary and Dixon,
I respectfully disagree with both of you. The poll numbers show the effect of the debates which have had a telling, positive effect on the Romney campaign. The Obama, Chicago, Saul Alinsky machine has spewed lies about Romney, that has diminished his stature. After the first debate, Romney pulled the poll numbers up and made him a contender. He was seen as not the evil one posited by the Obama team. The war on women is over.
The Biden baboonery has pushed Romney 5 points ahead of Obama in today's Gallop poll.
Romney held his own in the last debate, which will allow him to continue being a contender.
I cannot wait until the Monday night final debate.
Squid
Well, sure Squid, in the debates, Romney threw away everything he stood for in the Republican primaries, and remade himself as a liberal who would promise people could keep all the wonderful things President Obama has delivered that they want to keep.
So, will the real Mitt Romney please stand up? There is a reason conservative Republicans aren't complaining. Romney is the only hope they have left to dump Obama, and he can say anything he wants if it ups his poll numbers. In a way, he has conceded that what Obama offers is what voters want. Now, he's trying to prove that he is a better Obama than Obama.
I've said all along, Romney has only one platform:
"I really admire the thought of ME being president! What do I have to say this week to win your vote?"
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