The consensus view of the chattering class is that President Barack Obama narrowly won last night’s debate — if that is true, it’s only because the moderator, a long-time member of that chattering class, Candy Crowley, jumped into the debate at a key moment and ratified a false statement about Benghazi made by the President of the United States, then she ratified the point being made by Mitt Romney and lastly she changed the topic after having turned the segment into a complete mess.
Last night the Huffington Post couldn’t wait to get out the word that, “Tonight, Obama won clear points on a range of issues, from pay equity and contraception access, to immigration and China policy. Despite a disadvantage on Libya going into the debate, one of Obama's most decisive knockdowns came when Romney thought he had the president cornered on the issue. After spending weeks hammering the Obama administration for mishandling the crisis that took the lives of four Americans in Benghazi, Romney once again fumbled the facts.”
Not so. It was Barack Obama and Candy Crowley who fumbled the facts about Benghazi — thinking that it helped Obama.
In reality the actual words used by Barack Obama last night were just the latest installment of the Benghazi cover-up. Romney saw Obama way off-base and leaning in the wrong direction and was about to pick him off when Crowley jumped into the play and kept that from happening. Here’s exactly what the transcript says:
CROWLEY: Governor, if you want to...
ROMNEY: Yes, I - I...
CROWLEY: ... quickly to this please.
ROMNEY: I - I think interesting the president just said
something which - 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.
CROWLEY: It - it - it - he did in fact, sir.
So let me - let me call it an act of terror...
OBAMA: Can you say that a little louder, Candy?
CROWLEY: 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 there
being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct
about that.
ROMNEY: This - the administration - the administration
indicated this was a reaction to a video and was a spontaneous
reaction.
CROWLEY: It did.
ROMNEY: It took them a long time to say this was a terrorist act
by a terrorist group. And to suggest - am I incorrect in that
regard, on Sunday, the - your secretary –
OBAMA: Candy?
ROMNEY: Excuse me. The ambassador of the United Nations went on
the Sunday television shows and spoke about how –
OBAMA: Candy, I'm –
ROMNEY: - this was a spontaneous –
CROWLEY: Mr. President, let me –
OBAMA: I'm happy to have a longer conversation –
CROWLEY: I know you –
OBAMA: - about foreign policy.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. But I want to - I want to move you on and
also –
OBAMA: OK. I'm happy to do that, too.
CROWLEY: - the transcripts and –
OBAMA: I just want to make sure that –
CROWLEY: - figure out what we –
OBAMA: - all of these wonderful folks are going to have a
chance to get some of their questions answered.
For those interested, this is exactly what the President said in the Rose Garden on September 12, 2012 with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at his side (look and see if Barack Obama said the Benghazi attack was an act of terror): “As Americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in some cases, lay down their lives for it. Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe. 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.” (That’s the only mention of “ ‘act’ of terror” in the Rose Garden speech and it isn’t specifically addressed to the events in Benghazi.)
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