Shiny Object

[CleverBomb]

Yesterday:

It doesn't surprise me that they're raising foreign policy because it's another distraction from the Administration’s terrible economic record,” [Romney foreign policy advisor Robert] O’Brien told BuzzFeed. “They're going from one shiny object to the next.

Today:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The gunfire at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, had barely ceased when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney seriously mischaracterized what had happened in a statement accusing President Barack Obama of "disgraceful" handling of violence there and at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

"The Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks," Romney said in a statement first emailed to reporters at 10:09 p.m. Eastern time, under the condition it not be published until midnight*.

In fact, neither a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo earlier in the day nor a later statement from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offered sympathy for attackers.

*because it would be unseemly to play politics on a September 11th. (It should be noted that the campaign lifted its embargo on the statement 15 minutes later.)

Not just going for the "shiny object" for political advantage, but getting ahead of both the news cycle and the facts on the ground.

Aside from the politics, this is a tragedy, (we've lost a great Ambassador and three of his fellows in the Foreign Service), a diplomatically delicate situation, and is just plain f*ked up on a number of levels.

 

[Yakatori]

 

[Yakatori]

 

[DELIMAN092262]

 

[LeoGibson]

 

[CleverBomb]

 

[CleverBomb]

 

[CleverBomb]

 

[DELIMAN092262]

 

[CleverBomb]

 

[hal84]

 

[bigmac]

 

[dabdab]

 

[J34]

 

[mediaboy]

 

[DELIMAN092262]

 

[CleverBomb]

 

[DELIMAN092262]

 

[CleverBomb]

 

[DELIMAN092262]