Politics: Mitt Speaks Up

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Politics Mitt Speaks Up Will it be foreign-policy issues that finally reveal the type of president Romney would be?  By John Dickerson Posted Wednesday, Sep 12, 2012, at 10:29 PM ET Usually when the presidential campaign conversation revolves around tone, timing, and how a certain story is "playing," we've reached a discouraging place. The policy is more important than the politics, so let's not get caught up in the theatrics. In the case of the violence in Egypt and Libya, the underlying policy is still more important, but the theatrics are not entirely trivial. In international affairs, what, when, and how you say something is important. That fact is at the heart of both Romney's complaint about the U.S. embassy's response to violence in Egypt and the critique of Romney's response. Here's what happened: shortly before protests erupted in Egypt, the U.S. embassy in Cairo issued a statement "condemn(ing) the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims."* The statement was issued in response to an anti-Muslim movie allegedly inflaming the rioters. The mission was then attacked. The embassy condemned the violence and reiterated its earlier statement. Romney issued a press release saying he was "outraged by the attacks" and the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi, Libya where violence had also erupted and where later, three more would be reported dead, including the ambassador. Romney went on to say that it was "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." What is a voter to make of ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Rahm Emanuel Should Send His Kids To Chicago Public Schools Finding Myself in David Foster Wallace's Notebook NFL 2012	Advertisement
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