September 12, 2012

In perhaps the understatement of the day, Wall Street Journal columnist and republican establishment mouthpiece Peggy Noonan voiced her disapproval with the way Mitt Romney was reacting to the death of the American diplomat in Libya.

PEGGY NOONAN: “I was thinking as he spoke, I think I belong to the old school of thinking that in times of great drama and heightened crisis, and in times when something violent has happened to your people, I always think discretion is the better way to go. When you step forward in the midst of a political environment and start giving statements on something dramatic and violent that has happened, you're always leaving yourself open to accusations that you are trying to exploit things politically. I don't feel that Mr. Romney has been doing himself any favors, say in the past few hours, perhaps since last night. Sometimes when really bad things happen, when hot things happen, cool words or no words is the way to go.”

Her comments, on Fox News of all places, carry even more weight than the more pointed and scathing criticisms from other media sources, such as Time magazine's Mark Halperin:

Unless the Romney campaign has gamed this crisis out in some manner completely invisible to the Gang of 500, his doubling down on criticism of the President for the statement coming out of Cairo is likely to be seen as one of the most craven and ill-advised tactical moves in this entire campaign.

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