The Campaign that Ended with a Smirk

Which one of these men is smirking at the prospect of winning political brownie points from the murder of an American diplomat?

Well it was fun.

Campaign seasons are always silly and this one did not disappoint, but now it's over. Too bad really, because I think there were several issues that could have been debated, several perceived failings of the way President Obama has handled things that could have made interesting dialog. 

I always thought that Mitt Romney was probably a capable administrator, after all he did serve as CEO of a successful enterprise. Granted, I'm not sure those skills necessarily translate to the Presidency, but it was worth a debate. He certainly seemed smarter than the last Republican President, right?

Romney's campaign manager a few months back seemed to telegraph a strategy whereby they would erase their politics--like an Etch-a-Sketch-- and create a more moderate persona for the candidate after the Republican Convention. They didn't. Instead they seemed to have panicked and created an imbecile. I guess it's better that we found out now instead of after the election like in 2000.

Here's the story of how Mr. Romney got the timeline wrong, criticized the President's foreign policy before he got all the facts and US embassies were still under active assault, then doubled down on the ill-advised rhetoric the next morning:

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For what it's worth, I doubt it takes a lot to "stun" Chuck Todd, but whatever. Still, Mr Romney's comments seem indecent. Proof of this indecency comes from Rush Limbaugh's support for Romney on this issue. And, inexplicably, Donald Rumsfeld has crawled out from under his rock to add his insanity by stating:

"The attacks on our embassies & diplomats are a result of perceived American weakness. Mitt Romney is right to point that out. "

Dailykos points out that under Bush's presidency our embassies sustained more than an attack per year-- more than during the current administration-- and several diplomats and workers were murdered, so this must say something about "perceived American weakness" under Bush-Rumsfeld leadership. And that doesn't even count the 9-11 attacks.

There was a time when we had two political parties in this nation, when fundamental ideologies could be debated, but not anymore. Even on this issue, maybe we could debate whether Marines should act as security on 9-11 in hotspot areas, but that didn't happen. Now the opposition is not loyal, they just filibuster,  obstruct jobs bills, lob rhetorical grenades... and smirk.

Good-bye, Mr Romney, you gave it a shot.