How badly did Romney botch response to Libya attack?

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney boards his campaign charter plane in Jacksonville, Fla., Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012.

/ AP

(CBS News) The conventional wisdom emerged in Washington almost immediately on Wednesday: Mitt Romney's handling of the violence in Egypt and Libya was a disaster.

"The comments were a big mistake, and the decision to double down on them was an even bigger mistake," Steve Schmidt, senior campaign strategist to Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, told CBS News. "There are legitimate criticisms to be made but you foreclose on your ability to make them when you try to score easy political points. And the American people, when the country is attacked, whether they're a Republican or Democrat or independent, want to see leaders who have measured responses, not leaders whose first instinct is to try to score political points."

Romney's campaign released a statement late Tuesday night in response to a statement by the U.S. embassy in Cairo condemning "the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims -- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions."

The embassy statement, which was in response to anger over production of an amateurish anti-Islam film, came before any violence occurred. (It was an apparent effort to head off possible violence.) It was also a statement from the embassy, not the Obama administration, which later distanced itself from the sentiment.

The Romney campaign nonetheless asserted "that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks." Again, the first response came before there were any attacks, and it did not come from the Obama administration.

Wednesday morning, Romney held a press conference to follow up on his initial statement. Between Romney's initial statement and his press conference, the situation had turned tragic: The U.S. Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans were killed in Benghazi. (Protesters had also stormed the embassy in Cairo, Egypt.) Romney decided to stand by his initial criticism amid a flood of questions about whether he had jumped the gun, stating that "It's never too early for the United States government to condemn attacks on Americans and to defend our values."

Romney's initial position fit into his longtime argument that Mr. Obama has, as president, been too willing to apologize for America. But his decision to double down left some observers incredulous.

"I saw the statement he put out last night and I thought it was maybe a low-level press person who put this out and today they would correct the damage," Darrell West, vice president of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, told CBS News. "Instead they're digging the hole deeper. I mean you can't really play partisan politics in U.S. foreign policy."

Obama: Romney shoots first, aims later

The seeming mishandling of the situation prompted comparisons to McCain's handling of the financial meltdown in September 2008, which is widely seen as having contributed to Mr. Obama's victory that November. One top adviser to McCain's 2008 run told CBS News that while the Romney campaign should be concerned, the situations are fundamentally different.

The financial collapse "immediately impacted the U.S. population - main street America. I don't know if that's going to happen in this case," he said.

Still, the adviser added, the fact that the Romney campaign is facing widespread criticism for its handling of the Libya killings could have a lasting impact.

"If the American public perceives him as not ready for prime time, that's a serious risk," he said. "And that can start with a drumbeat within Washington."

Even before Romney put out the statement on Tuesday night, his campaign was facing criticism from Republicans who said that he needed to start offering up specific policy positions and a clear vision for the country. A second top adviser to McCain's 2008 presidential campaign told CBS News that the Romney campaign has continued to grasp at every "shiny object" that comes its way. 

"It's whatever the thing is of the day, and they can be talking about social issues, or foreign policy, or whatever else, but they're not talking about a cogent economic plan to move the country," said the adviser. "These are all probably speed bumps, but they can't afford any speed bumps."

"So much for politics ending at the water's edge," a third top 2008 McCain campaign adviser added in an email. "Not sure why a campaign that's only advantage is on the economy wants to talk so much about foreign policy/national security. If Romney wants to pick a fight why isn't it about jobs. Every day Obama gets to talk about anything other than the economy is a good day for his campaign. Amazing."

[kaytothe2nd]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, ROMNEY WAS RIGHT!!!

[oakcity]

I can't believe CBS senior political consultant doesn't understand that the US Embassy and Obama administration are the same thing. When an Embassy issues a statement it is on behalf of the current administration.

[FoolKiller]

This is a contrived tempest in a teapot to divert attention from the mess in Libya. Obviously, no one in the Obama administration ever imagined there might be a terrorist attack on 9/11. Oh wait... they didn't have to... they were warned three days before.

[gbgentleman]

Though I will admit as an Obama voter, I am disappointed at some of the decisions he's made BUT in comparison to what I see in Romney, Obama is still the 'better' choice to make in this election.

Sometimes as voters we're left to decide who is the lesser of two 'evils' when it comes to our votes. I believe that decision is quite easy to make in this election.

[tampadoc]

So the fact that the Obama administration screwed up by not beefing up security when there were clear warnings of an attack AND!!!!! ON 911!!!!! And then the Obama Administration attempted to cover up their screw up by trying to convince evryone that it was protesters and not a planned attack thet they had been warned about. And you're critisizing Romney????

I suppose you believe the reports that inspite of the worse economic report of the year, that our economy is rebounding?

[sloan5]

Romney is a total loser. He says anything that comes in his head without thnking the consequences. Is this what America needs for a President? It is very obvious- he is not ready. He needs another 4 more years to get ready and he can start campaining now and hope fully he will be ready in 4 years or may be ANN CAN RUN FOR PRESIDENT? SHE HAS MORE PERSONALITY AND CHARISMA THAN HER HUSBAND.

By the way, Romney, where are your tax returns? America is still
waiting? You wanted Ryan to show more than 2 years of his return- What about yours? Or Pawlenty? America- we want transparency before we can trust Romney as President. Obama/Biden 4 more years!!!!

[RisingTideUSA]

Romney campaigned to be president for EIGHT YEARS and then the repubs claimed he was going to show the country who he REALLY is at the convention!!!

FYI if the country doesn't know who Romney is after eight years... he should move to the Caribbean to be with his money.

[petoz2]

the headline should read "the state department allowed 4 brave Americans to be murdered, they failed to protect them in a country full of radicals, with thousands of unaccounted weapons on september 11th of all days" I do not care about romney this and that stop the politics.

[RisingTideUSA]

Since when is it the state department's job to account for weapons in a foreign country?

All it took was a couple of dozen radicals to take down the World Trade Center.

Why didn't Bush2 protect us from them?

[petoz2]

@RisingTideUSA no the state department's job is to protect our diplomats from these weapons when they are there working for us and they failed utterly.

[Aerostar700]

SKIPPING HIS DAILY SECURITY BRIEFINGS TURNED OUT TO BE GROSS INCOMPETENCE - EPIC FAIL !!!

According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information about potential violent attacks at least
48 hours before the mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, & the embassy in Cairo. Unfortunately the command structure broke down.

Either that information never made it into a security briefing which is difficult to believe, or perhaps no one in authority ever saw
the information. In either case, no orders were ever issued for any type of increased security measures to be deployed.

And in either case it raises some very serious questions indeed. Are we dealing with a breakdown at the State department, The CIA or
perhaps the President's unwillingness to take live security briefings, preferring in many cases to simply read the written briefing.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/09/14/did-u-s-know-about-embassy-attack-threat-in-advance/

http://wizbangblog.com/2012/09/13/bombshell-us-had-credible-warning-48-hours-before-benghazi-attack-but-did-nothing/

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/09/america_was_warned_of_libya_consulate_attack_and_did_nothing_uk_independent.html

http://www.timesofisrael.com/report-us-government-knew-of-possible-attacks-on-diplomatic-missions/

http://www.newser.com/story/154044/brit-paper-says-us-ignored-warnings-of-violence.html

Nothing like having an AMATEUR at the helm that feels that it is OK to skip his security briefings in order to make more time to campaign or play golf. Had Obama made it a point to take the daily security briefings every day, he probably would have learned of the threat of impending attack. Obama SAYS he READ the briefing? Can we believe him? And if he DID read them, as he claims, then WHY did he not take note of the danger and order steps that would mitigate that danger with an increased marine presence?

And as it turns out, the few US Marines who were there were not even allowed to carry live ammo!

http://freebeacon.com/reports-marines-not-permitted-live-ammo/

http://www.examiner.com/article/military-analyst-state-department-clinton-to-blame-for-deaths-libya

http://www.examiner.com/article/marines-defending-u-s-embassy-cairo-not-allowed-live-ammunition

Obama asked our brave men and women to step into the eye of the storm, then in some type of twisted social experiment, he asks them to do so with toy guns. I wonder if, as the President travels abroad, he asks the Secret Service to leave their bullets at home? If you recall, our border patrols officers are asked in many cases to defend themselves with guns that shoot BEAN BAGS.

GROSS NEGLIGENCE ! PURE & SIMPLE !!

[Am_WM]

This President is not bush...security briefing is done in a remarkable way and everyone is held accountable. bush did not read at all so he wanted verbal interaction... Mr. Clinton and President Obama briefings are different-they are first done in writing then presented to higher ranking officers then the President. That is the reason why this President has been so successful and continues to do so...He has gotten over 47 top Al Qaeda, Taliban and other terrorist including Bin Laden. There was no accountability in bush reign that is why there was so much he said -she said. The Republican Party is such a poor bunch that they could not find a formidable opponent to get Obama out. I will not be voting for romney . I have been voting rep. for the past 40 years...the only one I did not vote for was Dwight Eisenhower.

[VeggieVal]

@Am_WM: Yes, he's not Bush. He's not Clinton, the "other" Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, LBJ or JFK, either.

The Presidential Daily Briefing began in 1960, and except for Obama, all US Presidents have felt it valuable enough to show up religiously. During times of crisis, many prior leaders even requested seven day coverage.

Obama, on the other hand, is somehow "above it all".

To suggest that Obama is able to gather the full intent by reading the summaries is quite naive. If that were true, we could dispense with criminal trials - just let the judge and jury read the police and witness statements and dispense justice accordingly.

The value is the Socratic exchange between the President and the presenter, and the often deeper follow up research these exchanges promote. To think this could be replaced by the Presidential iPad is quite absurd.

[carolo43]

Mitt the twitt in London and Mitt the twitt at home. He goes to Iowa and insults a business man there. He goes to London and insults the Brits. He insulted China and now Russia, twice.

When the blind Chinese activist, Chen Guangcheng, fled to the US and heavy negotiations were going on for his family to join him here, Romney made some stupid remark then too when he injected himself into that deal. He's a CIVILIAN and needs to butt out when it does not involve him.

[RealWorldNow]

If he doesn't have a position then the media pounces and says he has no policy so he can win with the media either way, so much for objective reporting, Obamas first response was to comment about Romney and not about our personnel losing their life !! How political is that?

[RollotheNorman]

RealWorldNow...Willard's a Giant Loser. Now that's objective and gets to the core of Willard's campaign.

[Indyswim66]

"If the American public perceives him as not ready for prime time, that's a serious risk," What an understatement! Romney is a diplomatic train wreck! Every time he opens his mouth he sounds/looks ridiculous, nieve, uninformed, and downright ignorant!

[RealWorldNow]

Obama is part of this problem with his foreign policy, you can give him a free pass on everything, he has to has some responsibility on some thing!!

[Am_WM]

That not all true...he was able t rape and pillage many of their pension and lives but this can also be considered as WRECK.

[cattiej]

I am tired of seeing Romoney stand in front of the camera with our American Flags draped behind him or on both sides behind him...like he was already the President...he is just a pretender, his is a lier and has outsouced thousands of jobs overseas...Who knows how much money he HASEN'T paid in taxes..He is also a friend of Karl Rove and Grover Norquist. Karl Rove should be arrested along with Grover Norquist for treason against our country. There are both terriorts in that they want to destroy our country as we know it and mold it like a kingdom for the rich. The rest of the 99% will become slaves.

[RisingTideUSA]

Romney is an amateur politician. He thinks he can buy the election, buy the Repub Party and buy the country for all his super-wealthy friends.

What do you do after you've looted hundreds of companies for millions of dollars and you have millions of dollars stashed all over the world?

You buy a country and buy yourself the presidency.

The Repubs didn't have a serious candidate for the presidency in 2008, even tho I have enormous respect for John McCain (until today).

And they didn't have anyone in 2012.

It's the end of the Repub Party.

Here come the Whigs!!!!

[RollotheNorman]

I'm guessing it's the return of the Royalists! The Barron Romney.