Desperation

Mitt Romney’s opportunistic, incoherent attack

By Greg Sargent, WashPost

Mitt Romney just held a press availability about the attacks in Libya and Egypt and the death of the U.S. ambassador John Christopher Stevens. Remarkably, Romney doubled down on his claim that the Obama administration “sympathized” with the attackers.

“The administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our Embassy in Egypt, instead of condemning their actions,” Romney said. “It’s never too early for the United States government to condemn acts on Americans and to defend our values.”

Romney repeatedly invoked the word “apology,” hearkening back to his regular accusation that Obama has “apologized” for America. “An apology for America’s values is never the right course,” Romney said.

My bet is that a lot of this has to do with the recent criticism from the right the Romney campaign has endured for supposedly not being tough enough with its attacks on Obama. Some conservative commentators have suggested that Romney has retreated to a more cautious mode after the Paul Ryan pick. The claim that Obama “apologized” for America is just the sort of thing these critics want to hear more of; hence last night’s attack and today’s doubling down on it.

(More here.)