2012 U.S. Presidential Election

**Goofball** · 09-12-2012, 21:50

Originally Posted by Lemur

Text of the infamous Cairo tweet: "We condemn the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims -- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions"

Text from Governor Romney's talking points: "Governor Romney rejects the reported message of the movie. There is no room for religious hatred or intolerance."

One is a betrayal of America which must be condemned in the middle of hostilities, one is not. Go figure.

There is an obvious difference between those two statements; they are like night and day.

If you didn't hate freedom, you would be able to see it.

**Xiahou** · 09-13-2012, 00:56

Originally Posted by Goofball

There is an obvious difference between those two statements; they are like night and day.

If you didn't hate freedom, you would be able to see it.

If you look at the actual press release from the embassy and contrast it with the entirety of Romney's talking points, there's quite a bit of difference. Taking a tweet and putting it alongside a cherry-picked excerpt isn't very productive outside the bounds of political gotcha games.

Originally Posted by Press Release

September 11, 2012

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others

Where Romney went wrong was when he queued a statement for release before the timeline of events was solidified- he stepped in it there. He was right to criticize the embassy's statement, while wrong to assert that the statement was in response to the attack.

But, too much is being made of that and too little questions are being asked about why the embassies were so poorly defended, particularly Benghazi, even though the warning signs were there.

**Lemur** · 09-13-2012, 01:38

Originally Posted by Xiahou

If you look at the actual press release from the embassy and contrast it with the entirety of Romney's talking points, there's quite a bit of difference. Taking a tweet and putting it alongside a cherry-picked excerpt isn't very productive outside the bounds of political gotcha games.

So if we just had more context we'd see that the Cairo embassy was freedom-hating, and Governor Romney was freedom-loving. Gotcha.

Entire text of the Cairo embassy press release: "The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."

God, you can smell the appeasement and freedom hatred just rising off it in waves!

Compare that with what a real freedom-lover has to say: "We have seen a foreign policy of weakness and decline in American influence and respect. Yesterday, we saw the consequences of this perceived weakness."

-edit-

Frum, as per usual, has a good grip on what happened:

The incident reminds of one other thing: the dangerously distorting effect of disrespect for one's political opponents. Inside Team Romney, and among Romney's donors and core supporters, it may be taken absolutely for granted that Barack Obama is a weak-willed appeaser of radical Islam, a cringing apologizer for America who does not love the country the way "we" do. So why not say it loud, especially when you think you've just caught his administration doing it again? And then you discover the mistake only after the statement has departed the outbox.

And here's a roundup of the tacks being taken by apologists. I'll file the one just stated in this thread under "Romney was unfortunately careless with his timing but essentially correct in his criticism."

After a period of practically bipartisan disgust with Romney, the right is finally lining up behind him. A whole set of (frequently contradictory) defenses are already being mustered: that Romney was totally right, that Romney was unfortunately careless with his timing but essentially correct in his criticism, that Romney is the victim of a liberal media conspiracy, that the Democrats are actually the ones politicizing the tragedy and demanding that no one criticize the president during a crisis, etc.

**Major Robert Dump** · 09-13-2012, 04:31

Actually, I wasn't talking about the embassy statement, as that was released before the news of the deaths broke, and is making Romney come off as a bit of a buffoon.

I was referencing the lack of mention that Merica had Freedom Teh Speech, and the muslims needs to just deal with it. We are all no more koran burners than they are all goat sexing homoes.

**Centurion1** · 09-13-2012, 18:33

Originally Posted by Major Robert Dump

Actually, I wasn't talking about the embassy statement, as that was released before the news of the deaths broke, and is making Romney come off as a bit of a buffoon.

I was referencing the lack of mention that Merica had Freedom Teh Speech, and the muslims needs to just deal with it. We are all no more koran burners than they are all goat sexing homoes.

but....