Tell me that this moment, where Mitt was so sure that he caught Obama in a lie about what he said the day after the Benghazi attack, wouldn’t have happened if Fox News weren’t the unofficial manager of the Romney campaign. As Joe Patrice points out in his excellent after-debate piece, Romney was already on the wrong track with this attack, since his belief that there’s another Watergate-style cover up had him focusing on the small potatoes issue of when Obama used the word “terror” rather than the more damaging issue of the lapse in security. That strategy may or may not be Fox’s fault, but Romney’s belief that Obama was lying must be completely based on what he or his advisors saw on Fox. No other media outlet was pushing that lie, and Romney bought it hook, line and sinker.
Replaying the video, I still wonder if part of the reason the audience is clapping after they laugh is because a journalist finally called out a politician on a fact in real time. A lot of my non-political friends think debates are a chance for politicians to sling lies. Catching one of them in real time is something they crave, and Crowley delivered.
Finally, it should be no surprise that the Fox idiots are doubling down on a Jesuitical parsing of what Obama said. Here’s the quote:
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.
Anyone with reading comprehension can see that Obama was putting Chris Stevens’ death in the same category as 9/11. Anyone, that is, but the Fox News “reporters” who led Mitt Romney down the garden path to the spanking he got on what should have been the worst question for Obama last night.