It's Playing Politics in a TownHall Thing

Dear America,

so liberals have all

swallowed a morning after pill

and have come away 

thinking Obama won the debate...

just a G take

Typical; but now it's time for the rest of us to go to work -- and look at the fine print. And this is in response to just one of only ten questions that made the cut with the folks of the Town Hall...

In the Rose Garden, September 12, 2012...

"The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack.  We're working with the government of Libya to secure our diplomats.  I've also directed my administration to increase our security at diplomatic posts around the world.  And make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.

Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths.  We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.[referring to the VIDEO]

But there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence.[referring to reaction to the VIDEO]  None.  The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts."

Moving into a more general tone, he adds this:

"Of course, yesterday was already a painful day for our nation as we marked the solemn memory of the 9/11 attacks. We mourn with the families who were lost on that day.  I visited the graves of troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hallowed grounds of Arlington Cemetery, and had the opportunity to say thank you and visit some of our wounded warriors at Walter Reed.  And then last night we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi."

And then making a sweeping declaration in a brand new paragraph, he says "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for."

So throughout the president's entire speech in the Rose Garden, he uses descriptive phrases like: "shocking attack" "killers who attacked our people" "senseless violence" "brutal acts" "this attack in Benghazi" "terrible act" and then generally, generically hangs out a blanket "acts of terror."

[G note: Now the rest of today gets rather LOOOOOOONG.  I have included full text pertaining to the question of 'acts of terror' controversy and sideline action...If your memory serves you well...just skip through anything that you have heard before...]

Let's fast forward in rewind to last night.  If you recall, the question posed in the debate was simply this:

Who was it that denied enhanced security and why?

And we got this:

OBAMA: Well, let me first of all talk about our diplomats, because they serve all around the world and do an incredible job in a very dangerous situation. And these aren't just representatives of the United States, they are my representatives. I send them there, oftentimes into harm's way. I know these folks and I know their families. So nobody is more concerned about their safety and security than I am.

So as soon as we found out that the Benghazi consulate was being overrun, I was on the phone with my national security team and I gave them three instructions.

Number one, beef up our security and procedures, not just in Libya, but at every embassy and consulate in the region.

Number two, investigate exactly what happened, regardless of where the facts lead us, to make sure folks are held accountable and it doesn't happen again.

And number three, we are going to find out who did this and we're going to hunt them down, because one of the things that I've said throughout my presidency is when folks mess with Americans, we go after them.

[which is funny, considering number 3 sounds an awful lot like number 2, but I digress...or did he?]

Anywho, and in addition, we got this:

OBAMA: Now Governor Romney had a very different response. While we were still dealing with our diplomats being threatened, Governor Romney put out a press release, trying to make political points, and that's not how a commander in chief operates. You don't turn national security into a political issue. Certainly not right when it's happening. And people -- not everybody agrees with some of the decisions I've made. But when it comes to our national security, I mean what I say. I said I'd end the war in Libya -- in -- in Iraq, and I did.

and this:

I said that we'd go after al-Qaeda and bin Laden, we have. I said we'd transition out of Afghanistan, and start making sure that Afghans are responsible for their own security, that's what I'm doing. And when it comes to this issue, when I say that we are going to find out exactly what happened, everybody will be held accountable. And I am ultimately responsible for what's taking place there because these are my folks, and I'm the one who has to greet those coffins when they come home. You know that I mean what I say.

President Obama never answered the question.

Crowley turns to Romney --

ROMNEY: Thank you Kerry for your question, it's an important one. And -- and I -- I think the president just said correctly that the buck does stop at his desk and -- and he takes responsibility for -- for that -- for the failure in providing those security resources, and -- and those terrible things may well happen from time to time. I -- I'm -- I feel very deeply sympathetic for the families of those who lost loved ones. And today there's a memorial service for one of those that was lost in this tragedy. We -- we think of their families and care for them deeply. There were other issues associated with this -- with this tragedy. There were many days that passed before we knew whether this was a spontaneous demonstration, or actually whether it was a terrorist attack.

and this:

ROMNEY: And there was no demonstration involved. It was a terrorist attack and it took a long time for that to be told to the American people. Whether there was some misleading, or instead whether we just didn't know what happened, you have to ask yourself why didn't we know five days later when the ambassador to the United Nations went on TV to say that this was a demonstration. How could we have not known?

and this:

But I find more troubling than this, that on -- on the day following the assassination of the United States ambassador, the first time that's happened since 1979, when -- when we have four Americans killed there, when apparently we didn't know what happened, that the president, the day after that happened, flies to Las Vegas for a political fund-raiser, then the next day to Colorado for another event, other political event.

I think these -- these actions taken by a president and a leader have symbolic significance and perhaps even material significance in that you'd hope that during that time we could call in the people who were actually eyewitnesses. We've read their accounts now about what happened. It was very clear this was not a demonstration. This was an attack by terrorists.

and finally this:

And this calls into question the president's whole policy in the Middle East. Look what's happening in Syria, in Egypt, now in Libya. Consider the distance between ourselves and -- and Israel, the president said that -- that he was going to put daylight between us and Israel.

We have Iran four years closer to a nuclear bomb. Syria -- Syria's not just a tragedy of 30,000 civilians being killed by a military, but also a strategic -- strategically significant player for America.

The president's policies throughout the Middle East began with an apology tour and -- and -- and pursue a strategy of leading from behind, and this strategy is unraveling before our very eyes.

Saying the word "terrorist(s)" three times in less than thirty seconds.

Back to Crowley, for she didn't want to leave things quite like that --

CROWLEY: Because we're -- we're closing in, I want to still get a lot of people in. I want to ask you something, Mr. President, and then have the governor just quickly.

Your secretary of state, as I'm sure you know, has said that she takes full responsibility for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi. Does the buck stop with your secretary of state as far as what went on here?

OBAMA: Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But she works for me. I'm the president and I'm always responsible, and that's why nobody's more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I do.

The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people in the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened. That this was an act of terror and I also said that we're going to hunt down those who committed this crime.

And then a few days later, I was there greeting the caskets coming into Andrews Air Force Base and grieving with the families.

And the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the Secretary of State, our U.N. Ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. That's not what we do. That's not what I do as president, that's not what I do as Commander in Chief.

Oh yeah, Mr. We are NO longer going to let the media document our soldiers coming home in caskets, except maybe just this once?

and then we go to a whole-notha-level in like mach-six seconds:

CROWLEY: Governor, if you want to...

ROMNEY: Yes, I -- I...

CROWLEY: ... quickly to this please.

ROMNEY: I -- I think interesting the president just said something which -- which is that on the day after the attack he went into the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror.

OBAMA: That's what I said.

ROMNEY: You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack, it was an act of terror.
It was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you're saying?

OBAMA: Please proceed governor.

ROMNEY: I want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.

OBAMA: Get the transcript.
CROWLEY: It -- it -- it -- he did in fact, sir. So let me -- let me call it an act of terror...
OBAMA: Can you say that a little louder, Candy?
CROWLEY: He -- he did call it an act of terror. It did as well take -- it did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct about that.  [COMMENTS THAT WERE WALKED BACK immediately after debate...]
ROMNEY: This -- the administration -- the administration indicated this was a reaction to a video and was a spontaneous reaction.
CROWLEY: It did.

ROMNEY: It took them a long time to say this was a terrorist act by a terrorist group. And to suggest -- am I incorrect in that regard, on Sunday, the -- your secretary --

OBAMA: Candy?

ROMNEY: Excuse me. The ambassador of the United Nations went on the Sunday television shows and spoke about how --

OBAMA: Candy, I'm --

ROMNEY: -- this was a spontaneous --

CROWLEY: Mr. President, let me --

OBAMA: I'm happy to have a longer conversation --

CROWLEY: I know you --
OBAMA: -- about foreign policy.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. But I want to -- I want to move you on and also --
OBAMA: OK. I'm happy to do that, too.

So given your Secretary of State has just spent the better part of the last 24 hours taking full responsibility, I guess, as the president -- if I am hearing you correctly, sir --  last night also served the purpose of canceling each other out?  Kinda like votes in the case of polar opposites?  But honestly, where does the buck really stop?

For full debate transcript, go to Fox News here.

For full Rose Garden speech, care of Fox News, go here.

For full Fact-Checking on Libya, care of Fox News, go here.

For a fabulous breakdown of the 'un-biased' moderator drone attack on stage, go here.

In reality -- we all know how it went down; and it has become a narrative nightmare ever since.

For as we watched all the talking heads making their media rounds on Sunday, September 16th -- everything is centered on the video. All apologies, are centered on the video.  All appearances, are centered on the video.  We interrupt this broadcast to finally admit:

"Yes, they were killed 

in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy." 

Matt Olsen

Director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center

September 19, 2012

No, scratch that -- all guest appearances, like on The View, continue to be centered on "mob action" attributed to the video; all apologies, are centered on the video; the United Nations speech is centered on the video...and that day being September 25 even!

"And the suggestion 

that anybody in my team, 

whether the Secretary of State, our U.N. Ambassador, 

anybody on my team 

would play politics 

or mislead 

when we've lost four of our own, governor, 

is offensive. 

That's not what we do. 

That's not what I do as president, 

that's not what I do as Commander in Chief."

Then if it's not about politics, then why not tell us the truth right from the start -- considering that well within 24 hours after the news that a shocking act of senseless violence by killers who want to brutally attack and kill our people occurred was already known?  

And then why not say it's an "act of terrorism," thereby exhibiting an act of leadership and strength the whole world needs to see, but mostly for the purpose of reassuring the American people that the buck truly stops with you?

In any event, the question was never really answered, was it, Mr. President?

Who was it that denied enhanced security and why?

For this happened [the DENIED enhanced security] months before the senseless act of violence at the hands of killers who want to kill our people on September 11, 2012, wasn't it? And really now, what good is it to beef up security after the fact?

For this happened [the DENIED enhanced security], even when all the signs written on the consulate wall were pointing to serious vulnerabilities and misguided priorities -- see also, the ambassador's diary, multiple requests for security denied, random bombings.

So, if I am hearing you correctly, YOU are responsible for that -- as you say "I am ultimately responsible for what's taking place there because these are my folks, and I'm the one who has to greet those coffins when they come home. You know that I mean what I say.........Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But she works for me. I'm the president and I'm always responsible, and that's why nobody's more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I do..." 

Perhaps a simple "I did" would have been the right response, for starters.  

But now as to the why?   Why now, that IS a real doozy.... 

....given that it is, after all, Libya...[to the rest of us recognized as"Obama's war" or is it "Kinetic Military Action"?]

....given that the unrest (including bombs bursting in air and tearing holes through walls) had been well documented for months leading up to the senseless act of violence at the hands of killers who want to kill our people, see also Lindsey Graham letter,

....given that it was the eleventh anniversary of September 11th, 

....given that you say you are "ultimately responsible for what's taking place there because these are my folks, and I'm the one who has to greet those coffins when they come home. You know that I mean what I say."

Do you not see how some Americans might find your in-action totally alarming, your lack of being up front somewhat insulting, and the amount of time it took for you to stop blaming the video and tell the truth grossly offensive? 

But more important --

even though the question of

'Who was it that denied enhanced security and why'

was never really answered,

it is to blame for this day in the life.

Along with Terrorists...

yeah, yeah

lots and lots of terrorists...

"Obama, Obama, there's a billion Osama's!" 

Make it a Good Day, G