UPDATE: An excellent article from Talking Points Memo explains the history of the bizarre fake controversy. You might want to read this, particularly to compare the quotes of Paul Pillar in this article to the quotes from Pillar in the McClatchy article linked below.
Here is my quick take on the subject, written before I had read the TPM article above.
This is a responsibly written article from McClatchy’s Washington, DC bureau about the mixed statements over a 10 day period from the Obama administration. I recommend reading it, and then ask yourself, is this a controversy of the proper caliber to take down a President of the United States in a scandal? It is a loser.
My best guess as to why the administration (almost entirely done by only one person, the UN ambassador) began to put out mixed signals, is because they were afraid of a GOP attack claiming that diplomatic security had been inadequate. To the Administration’s complete surprise, the GOP never united around such an attack, instead preferring to concoct a conspiracy theory that Obama was hell-bent on “apologizing” to the Muslim world for the murder of our personnel. However, Obama had already completely covered himself by making the “Act of terror” statements in the days immediately after the attack. Essentially, the Obama administration finessed any possible controversy by giving the GOP enough rope to hang themselves with (insisting that Obama was on the side of protesting Muslims instead of criticizing poor security precautions in Libya). Once they realized their conspiracy “Obama apologized for the deaths of our personnel” angle was a loser, the GOP wanted to have a “do-over” in which they turned the mixed signals from the Administration into a controversy of its own; but it was too late. Finally, and most importantly of all, Romney shot off half-cocked and poorly briefed during the debate, causing the ENTIRE issue to blow up in his face spectacularly.
Now, why are McClatchy and AP today writing even MORE stories about it? This story (above) is essentially a post-mortem story on its surface, but the reason it is being printed at all is because on right wing media there is no talk of any other topic, period, since the moment Obama slapped Romney down on it, 3 days ago. Romney and the GOP set a trap for themselves, and then fell straight into it. At this very moment they are still screaming at the top of their lungs (don’t believe me? Turn on your AM radio RIGHT NOW THIS SECOND, spin the dial, and you will hear someone defending Romney and attacking Obama over this incident. They are STILL SNARED IN THE TRAP, and the foreign policy debate is on MONDAY.
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