US Ambassador to Libya Killed in Benghazi; Romney Says Obama "Sympathizes" With Attackers

Mitt Romney Response To Libya, Egypt Attacks Called 'Irresponsible,' 'Craven,' 'Ham-Handed'


Many members of the media reacted with puzzlement and criticism to Mitt Romney's continuing criticism of the White House response to the deadly attacks in Libya and Egypt.

The Romney campaign drew fire on Wednesday morning for issuing a blistering statement condemning the American embassy in Egypt for speaking against an incendiary anti-Muslim film, even though the embassy made the statement before any attacks had taken place. NBC's Chuck Todd, for instance, called the statement "irresponsible" and a "bad mistake."

CNN's Peter Hamby also criticized the response:


@PeterHambyCNN
Peter Hamby
Clinton issued statement condemning violence at 10pm EST Tues night. Yet Romney camp still went ahead w/ claim O "sympathizes" w/ attackers

September 12, 2012 1:20 pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite


National Journal's Ron Fournier called Romney's actions "ham-handed" and "inaccurate."

Conservative pundit Erick Ericson, while disagreeing with Todd's response, also warned Romney to be "cautious."

Despite that criticism, Romney continued this line of attack in an appearance on Wednesday morning, saying that the White House had made a "severe miscalculation."

This drew a fierce response from analyst Mark Halperin:


@MarkHalperin
Mark Halperin
Unless Mitt has gamed crisis out in some manner completely invisible to Gang of 500,doubling down=most craven+ill-advised move of '12

September 12, 2012 2:33 pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite


Other reporters were similarly baffled. "The Romney campaign's politicization of the embassy attacks is even worse than I expected," Foreign Policy writer Blake Hounshell tweeted.

Speaking on Fox News, Peggy Noonan was also blunt. "I don't feel that Mr. Romney has been doing himself any favors in the past few hours," she said. "Sometimes when really bad things happen, when hot things happen, cool words or no words is the way to go."

"If you think the eye-rolling at Romney is just coming from the MSM, call up some Republican foreign policy hands," BuzzFeed's Ben Smith added.

Joe Scarborough responded to Smith's tweet:


@JoeNBC
Joe Scarborough
@BuzzFeedBen I've been inundated with emails and calls from elected GOP leaders who think Romney's response was a mistake. Not today.