The most devastating moment of the debate for Romney, and most memorable for President Obama, was when our President slammed him for politicizing the Benghazi attack. Among many of Romney's false smears was the accusation that it took two weeks for Obama (and his administration) to officially call the Benghazi attack an act of terrorism. Obama, backed up with the fact that he indeed called it an 'Act of Terror' in his statements on the day after the attack in the Rose Garden on September 12th, slammed Romney hard. Candy Crowley fact-checked in the President's favor in real-time, and Romney was left looking petty, divisive and weak for his failed smear attack.
The post-debate, right-wing talking points (see Michele Malkin, Breitbart) argue that the context of President Obama's 'Act of Terror' statement in his Sept 12th remarks, was about terrorism against the United States in general, and not specifically about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. However...
Borrowing from President Clinton's 'It's Math' analogy, IT'S GRAMMAR! ... Obama's Rose Garden statements on Benghazi directly describe the attack as a terrorist act. The entire paragraph from the transcript of President Obama's pitch-perfect Sept 12th statements from the Rose Garden below:
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. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.
The 'Acts of Terror' statement is in the TOPIC SENTENCE of the same paragraph that then goes on to specifically discuss the Benghazi attack. "Acts of Terror" describes "this terrible act" which causes us to "mourn four more Americans." DONE. Thank you to my 5th grade English teacher. The Republicans need to learn them up on some knowledge on 5th grade grammar skillz.
CNN followed up on Ms. Crowley's real-time fact check with an official post-debate Reality Check, which resulted in the same conclusion: Obama's assertion in the debate was true:
The shill organization that is ABC News and their 'fact-checker' somehow missed their 5th grade grammar class and bent-over themselves to Fact-check this into a "Mostly true for the President, but not entirely factual though". I also heard that Anderson Cooper may have also tried to excuse Romney's false smear based on 'context'.
CNN has a remarkably factual timeline of the statements that various Obama administration officials/spokespersons have made since the Benghazi attack here, starting with the President's Sept 12th remarks. The administration has been very consistent since The President's and Secretary Clinton's first remarks that day.
Now, sit back and enjoy the entire moment again, as reported by Rachel Maddow
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Personally, I think Benghazi is a losing talking point for the Romney campaign. It makes them look like they're trying to score cheap, petty, political points on the heels of a national tragedy, and it reminds Americans how presidential President Obama, and Secretary Clinton, have been in its aftermath.
More on topic sentences below the orange terrorist fist bump :)
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