It was most welcome, Mr. President, thank you. Honestly I'd nearly forgotten.
But no more, and the anger I felt then is redoubled.
It happened within minutes after the news broke that our consulate in Benghazi had been sacked, and our Ambassador killed. Mitt Romney said this:
I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It's disgraceful 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.
I couldn't believe it then, and I can't believe it now. Has a candidate for President ever done anything so despicable? I'm no expert, but I know that pretty much all the 100 or so people who have made a serious run at the Job have strayed into the gutter; going clear back to Jefferson's day it is an unfortunate tradition that can get very nasty. Historically candidates for President of the United States say and do things that are petty, politicizing, or just plain repulsive.
Unfortunate, that, but it beats the hell out of the guillotine, or the tank.
Meanwhile, has anybody ever done anything like what Mitt Romney said and did? During an unfolding incident involving the death of American service-people? He released it so soon after the news broke, a mere 16 minutes after Secretary Clinton confirmed the tragedy. God, the idiot sounds so implusive. It was impulsive. And looking at how it went down I see no other conclusion. During the crisis the pretender jumped the shark, big time.
See here for a very good timeline of the events and reactions of that day.
I can almost see him grinning a wicked grin as he hatched this plot, while everybody else who knows a damn thing about foriegn affairs were holding their breath waiting to see what other horrors may be waiting. It was after all the 10 year anniversary of September 11, 2001.
I bet Romney was sitting there with a campaign official or two. And I bet they're telling him not to do it; in that flattering and jovial yes-tone shitty managers use to break bad news to a tyrant like Mitt.
But he's so confident, he's so cock-sure. He thinks it's brilliant. So he goes for it.
For my part he lost any hope of ever winning by releasing that statement when he did. If there were any damn justice the fool would've been out on his butt after that.
And I don't think President Obama would disagree. He is a very calm guy, of course, nevermind what the haters think. But no man is without anger. We saw a glimpse of what seemed a highly controlled and slowly simmering anger from Mr. Obama, encompassing this one issue only. It seems as though all other issues, attacks and dogwhistles wash off of him. But who can blame him if that one sticks in his craw? Seriously. It was an unbelievably foolish and dangerous thing for Romney to do, not to mention un-presidential. If the President is angry, I think he's damn right to be.
I think Mitt had better learn to control himself, because the likes of him won't otherwise come near the Really Big Chair.
Thanks for the reminder, Mr. President, America needed that.
Contribute to Obama for America here.
4 more years.