A former staffer for Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jonathan Allen, “reporting” for the Virginia-based trade publication Politico, said that “President Barack Obama scored a technical knockout on foreign policy Tuesday night, dodging and weaving his way through a tricky question on Libya until debate moderator Candy Crowley declared him the winner.”
Allen continued with his lavish praise for Obama and debate moderator Candy Crowley, of CNN:
But it was Crowley’s response to a technicality — whether Obama had recognized the attack as an act of terror rather than the result of a spontaneous protest — that helped Obama regain his footing on an issue that has hamstrung his administration for weeks.
“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?” Romney said. “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 challenged him: “Get the transcript.”
That’s when Crowley jumped in with the instant fact-check: “He did in fact, sir. So, let me — let me call it an act of terror.”
Except Allen, perhaps playing more the role of Democratic political hack and less the role of journalist, ignores the inconvenient facts.
First of all, on September 21, ten days after the September 11 attack, CNN reported that “The White House, for the first time Thursday, declared the attack that killed Stevens and three other people a terrorist attack.” Hmm. That contradicts Candy Crowley’s declartive statement at last night’s debate that Allen earnestly regurgitated.
But there’s more. Candy Crowley herself previously reported it took the Obama administration weeks to call the attack in Benghazi terrorism. Via Ace, here’s a conversation Crowley had on September 30, with Obama’s top political adviser, David Axelrod:
AXELROD: Well, first of all, Candy, as you know, the president called it an act of terror the day after it happened. But when you’re the responsible party, when you’re the administration, then you have a responsibility to act on what you know and what the intelligence community believes. This was — this is being thoroughly investigated.
CROWLEY: But first it was, like, not planned.
AXELROD: We need to bring to justice–
CROWLEY: First, they said it was not planned, it was part of this tape. All that stuff.
AXELROD: As the director of national intelligence said on Friday, that was the original information that that was given to us. What we don’t need is a president or an administration that shoots first and asks questions later.
CROWLEY: But isn’t that what happened?
AXELROD: And, you know, Governor Romney leaped out on this Libya issue on the first day, and was terribly mistaken about what he said. That is not what you want in a president of the United States. And as for Senator McCain, for whom I have great respect, he has disapproved of our approach to Libya from the beginning, including the strategy that brought Gadhafi to justice.
CROWLEY: But this has to do not with the approach to Libya but with the murder of four Americans in Libya. And didn’t the administration shoot first? Didn’t they come out and say, listen, as far as we can tell, this wasn’t preplanned, this was just a part of —
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: At this point, this is what we know, and we are thoroughly investigating. And that’s exactly what you should do. That’s what the responsible thing to do is. I was kind of shocked to see Representative King attack Ambassador Rice for what she said last Sunday here and elsewhere, because she was acting on the intelligence that was given to her by the intelligence community. To say she should resign — she is one of the most remarkable, splendid public servants we have. That’s thoroughly irresponsible.
And, as Ace also points out, just before Axelrod came on her show, the CNN host told John McCain:
Why do you think and are you bothered that it has taken them this long from September 11th to now to get to this conclusion?
Allen’s declaration of Obama knocking Romney out rings false. Sure, Crowley jumped in with an “instant fact-check” but she gave the wrong facts.
The fact is, Obama used the phrase “act of terror” in that speech. The other fact is he used that phrase not in relation to the attack in Benghazi, but in very broad, general terms.
The weird thing is, Allen acknowledges this, “A top White House official called the incident a terrorist attack seven days after Obama’s Rose Garden speech. But it took two weeks for Obama’s position to become clear.”
But for the former staffer to the chair of the Democratic National Committee, facts are not factored in when determining political knock out punches, apparently.
