You would think after last night’s debate that Romney made the biggest gaffe in the history of Presidential debates when he called out President Obama’s soft response to the attacks in Libya that ended with a U.S. Ambassador being murdered by terrorists. But last night, with an assist from moderator Candy Crowley, Obama was able to pretend that he took full responsibility for the attacks on Day One, and that he had acknowledged from the start they were committed by terrorists. But the fact is that he had been ducking the facts from the start, and had attempted to put the blame on a YouTube video which has now been debunked. So why is the media pretending the past four weeks didn’t happen?
Politifact had the transcript of the back and forth:
Obama: “The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people in 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 think interesting the president just said something, which is that on the day after the attack he went into the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror.”
Obama: “That’s what I said.”
Romney: “You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack, it was an act of terror. It was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you’re saying?”
Obama: “Please proceed, governor.”
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.”
Moderator Candy Crowley decided to interject into the debate:
“He did in fact, sir. So let me — let me call it an act of terror,” Crowley said.
“Can you say that a little louder, Candy?” Obama said.
“He — he did call it an act of terror. It did as well take — it did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea [of] there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct about that,” Crowley said.
Unfortunately, most people only heard the part where Crowley said he did call it an act of terror, as the applause from a portion of the audience muffled the truth about the riot.
“I thought it was a knockout until Candy said that because she was playing semantics here. He was not calling it a terrorist attack, he used the word terror in his statement. It was a blanket statement,” Glenn said.
Stu pointed out that CNN’s own website reported that it took almost two weeks for the Obama campaign to admit it was a terrorist attack.
Now CNN host Soledad O’Brien spent the morning trying to say that Obama’s remarks encompassed all there was to say about the events in Libya:
O’Brien begins by playing edited clips of the debate, in which Romney says it took the president two weeks to admit the attack was actually a “terrorist attack,” before moderator Candy Crowley intervenes to say the president did refer to an act of terror the next day in the Rose Garden. After applause for the president, Crowley also says Mitt Romney had the right “idea,” however, and that the administration did spend roughly two weeks claiming the incident was a spontaneous protest in response to a YouTube video.
After O’Brien concludes “that’s what happened,” Snunu objects.
“The fact is that in that Rose Garden speech, the president first [said] it was the video, and then two weeks later at the U.N. the president goes out and tells the world six times it’s the video. The president got caught lying last night, and I think the world should know that!”
O’Brien’s guest John Sununu criticized her and CNN for leaving out the parts of Obama’s speech where he put the blame on the YouTube video, but O’Brien continued to push the narrative that Obama had been truthful in his response.
On radio, Glenn said that the media was entering into Clinton-era levels of “the definition of is is” in order to defend the President.
“They clearly say it was the video that did it. This man’s judgment is upside down,” Glenn said.
“Candy Crowley should be ashamed of herself. This is the biggest coverup, and biggest changing of history I’ve ever seen,” he added.