GOOD MORNING WORLD
I watched the debate last night. I think the moderator was not as bad as it was feared she would be before the debate happened. She did make a couple of really bad calls. The worst perhaps being the questions she chose. I thought the questions were quite easy and missed many a point. I wondered what they did not choose. I liked the format and loved the challenging and questioning. Let the fact checking begin. I did a bit of that on my own quickly.
President Obama said that monies that were paying for our wars would be available to be used here. Are we not borrowing money to run those wars? Has he not said that those wars were put on a credit card???
Gov. Romney really pushed on the drilling and the fact that oil production is down. According to the fact checkers this was a draw. Both of the men were right. Yet from my point of view I still question the fact that many oil rigs in the Gulf – from our country at least- are still not back on line. Other countries are drilling there just not America. Perhaps this needs more fact checking on my part.
I was surprised that the President thought he had done much with immigration. His interview by the Univision reporters certainly led one to believe that they did not think he had done much or at least what he said he would do.
Gov. Romney believed that what he proposed for Detroit is what the President actually did. The fact checkers say that it would not have worked as they industries were bleeding too much money and needed the government intervention. From my point of view I think Romney was correct. The only difference was an infusion of public funds rather than private funds.
While it is taken as knowledge that the Presidents do not have control over the price of gas, many use it as a gauge for their job approval. The fact is the gas prices are double what they were when he took office.
Another thing that irritated me about both of them is they refer to the Bush tax cuts. Didn’t Obama approve them last year? Why are they now not the Obama Tax Cuts?
Lastly, not the only other fact to check just the last one I am going to do was President Obama’s discussion of Libya.
Kerry Ladke of Minneola asked the President about Libya. He asked, “…reports that the State Department refused extra security for Benghazi…who denied enhanced security?”
The President answered, “As soon as we found out the Benghazi consulate was being overrun I was on the phone with my National Security team and gave them three instructions. 1) Beef up our security and (stutter) safe ah an pro…procedures not just in Libya but in every embassy and consulate in the region. 2) Investigate exactly what happened regardless of where the facts lead is to make sure folks are held accountable and it doesn’t happen again. 3) We are going to find out who did this and we are going to hunt them down because one of the things I’ve said throughout my Presidency is when folks mess with America we go after them.”
The fact checkers focused on the exchange the came after when Gov. Romney challenged that the President ever called it a terror attack. The Comcast fact checker found the following:
OBAMA: The day after last month’s attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, “I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened. That this was an act of terror and I also said that we’re going to hunt down those who committed this crime.”
ROMNEY: “I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.”
OBAMA: “Get the transcript.”
THE FACTS: Obama is correct in saying that he referred to Benghazi as an act of terrorism on Sept. 12, the day after the attack. From the Rose Garden, he said: “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. … We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act.”
But others in his administration repeated for several days its belief that the violence stemmed from protests over an American-made video ridiculing Islam. It took almost a month before officials acknowledged that those protests never occurred. And Romney is right in arguing that the administration has yet to explain why it took so long for that correction to be made or how it came to believe that the attack evolved from an angry demonstration.
I looked a little further. The following is what he said in the Rose Garden the day after the consulate was attacked. He did not call it a terrorist attack. He did say no acts of terror.
10:43 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Every day, all across the world, American diplomats and civilians work tirelessly to advance the interests and values of our nation. Often, they are away from their families. Sometimes, they brave great danger.
Yesterday, four of these extraordinary Americans were killed in an attack on our diplomatic post in Benghazi. Among those killed was our Ambassador, Chris Stevens, as well as Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith. We are still notifying the families of the others who were killed. And today, the American people stand united in holding the families of the four Americans in our thoughts and in our prayers.
The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack. We’re working with the government of Libya to secure our diplomats. I’ve also directed my administration to increase our security at diplomatic posts around the world. And make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.
Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. None. The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts.
Already, many Libyans have joined us in doing so, and this attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya. Libyan security personnel fought back against the attackers alongside Americans. Libyans helped some of our diplomats find safety, and they carried Ambassador Stevens’s body to the hospital, where we tragically learned that he had died.
It’s especially tragic that Chris Stevens died in Benghazi because it is a city that he helped to save. At the height of the Libyan revolution, Chris led our diplomatic post in Benghazi. With characteristic skill, courage, and resolve, he built partnerships with Libyan revolutionaries, and helped them as they planned to build a new Libya. When the Qaddafi regime came to an end, Chris was there to serve as our ambassador to the new Libya, and he worked tirelessly to support this young democracy, and I think both Secretary Clinton and I relied deeply on his knowledge of the situation on the ground there. He was a role model to all who worked with him and to the young diplomats who aspire to walk in his footsteps.
Along with his colleagues, Chris died in a country that is still striving to emerge from the recent experience of war. Today, the loss of these four Americans is fresh, but our memories of them linger on. I have no doubt that their legacy will live on through the work that they did far from our shores and in the hearts of those who love them back home.
Of course, yesterday was already a painful day for our nation as we marked the solemn memory of the 9/11 attacks. We mourned with the families who were lost on that day. I visited the graves of troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hallowed grounds of ArlingtonCemetery, and had the opportunity to say thank you and visit some of our wounded warriors at Walter Reed. And then last night, we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi.
As Americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in some cases, lay down their lives for it. Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe.
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.
But we also know that the lives these Americans led stand in stark contrast to those of their attackers. These four Americans stood up for freedom and human dignity. They should give every American great pride in the country that they served, and the hope that our flag represents to people around the globe who also yearn to live in freedom and with dignity.
We grieve with their families, but let us carry on their memory, and let us continue their work of seeking a stronger America and a better world for all of our children.
Thank you. May God bless the memory of those we lost and may God bless the United States of America.
END
10:48 A.M. EDT
You can be the decider of this argument as you have all the information. My conclusion is the President is parsing his words. In the Rose Garden speech he said, ‘ Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. None. The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts.’ He did not call this a terrorist attack. He spent the next 14 days after the attack on Benghazi referencing an anti-Muslim video and a spontaneous demonstration. On Sept. 16th our representative to the UN went on 5 television shows and said this was not preplanned or pre-meditated. The President himself continued to say the same on Sept 20th to Univision. He said it on Sept. 25th at the UN and again on Sept 26th. He said it on The View and David Letterman. The President of Libya called it a terrorist attack the next day. Rep. Mike Rogers did the same.
The way the President used ‘no act of terror’ seems to be generic as it could happen down the street. When we refer to the 9/11 attacks we call them ‘terrorist attacks’. Why when an Ambassador is killed is this not the same? Are there degrees of terrorism? Is there some distinction that I am missing? Why did the President not call this attack on our Consulate a terrorist attack? It is our soil and it was a terrorist attack? Or am I just parsing words? Has the White House called this a ‘terrorist attack’?
The thing I heard that I had NOT EVER heard before was last night at (I have since found out the time at 10:09PM) the President said, “…I was on the phone with my National Security team…”. I have not ever heard him say that since the attack. In writing this post I do note that he did say in the Rose Garden speech he had directed his administration to increase security at all diplomatic posts. Never heard this reference ever again.
Golly when Pearl Harbor was attacked FDR made the ‘Day of Infamy’ speech the next day and it was on the radio. After the original 9/11 President George Bush spoke to the country from a schoolroom and I bet all remember his standing there. Even his getting the word as he read to the children. Both memorable. Our President was standing before us all on Sept 12th and no one remembers him telling us that this was a terrorist attack or what he did to or was doing to counteract this attack. What we remember is his continually blaming the video. I think Hillary Clinton called it a terrorist attack before the Commander in Chief did.
It was an interesting way to pass the evening. I personally think it was a draw despite the moderators help. I am guessing everyone heard what they wanted to hear.
…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…
ktsquared 