Mitt Romneys response to the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Cairo and a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya has gotten a negative reception from numerous Republicans some anonymous, some not.
Several foreign policy hawks, including former U.N. ambassador John Bolton and Sen. Jim DeMint, have defended Romneys charge that President Obamas administration sympathized with Americas attackers. But the Republican presidential candidate has also attracted critics in his own party for the way he handled the critique, both in a statement Tuesday night and a news conference Wednesday.
He bobbled it, Republican lobbyist Ed Rogers told the Post of the news conference. Its important that he present himself as serious, poised and credible during this time, and I thought his statement this morning was unpolished, a little too off-the-cuff for the occasion, and the contrast he set with Obama was not good.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said Romney was right on the larger point, but I probably would have waited a day or half a day. The Weekly Standards Bill Kristol was also supportive of the Romney campaigns argument, but said it was fair to question the timing and tone.
Mark Salter, a longtime aide to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), called the rush to condemn Obama, by Romney and other Republicans, as tortured in its reasoning as it is unseemly in its timing.
The Wall Street Journals Peggy Noonan said on Fox News Wednesday morning that Romney has not been doing himself any favors.
I always think discretion is the better way to go.
