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Conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin, who has a reputation for reflexively defending Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, falsely claimed on Sunday that President Barack Obama had not mentioned the attacks in Benghazi, Libya that killed four Americans in the same paragraph with the phrase "acts of terror."

During last week's second 2012 presidential debate, moderator Candy Crowley’s instant fact check had briefly stunned the GOP hopeful by undermining his claim that President Barack Obama had not initially referred to the recent attacks in Libya as “acts of terror" during his Rose Garden speech.

Speaking to CNN's Howard Kurtz on Sunday, Rubin said that Crowley "blew it" by correcting Romney.

"The substance of the question was not whether or not [Obama] said 'act of terror' or 'acts of terror,' but whether he specifically identified this attack as terrorism," Rubin opined. "He did not."

"In the last two paragraphs, he reviewed all of the acts of terrorism that we've gone through, and at the end he said, 'acts of terror' -- not in the same paragraph with Benghazi, never said Benghazi is a terrorist attack," she insisted. "For her to take sides -- and my interpretation may be wrong, I'll grant you that -- for her to take sides and intervene went well beyond [her duties as moderator]."

In fact, the president did refer to the attacks in Benghazi that left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead in the same paragraph with the phrase "acts of terror," according to the official White House transcript:

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. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Current TV's David Shuster told Rubin as he read Obama's words. "I'm reading from the transcript!"

"No, it wasn't that," Rubin said, shaking her head. "And by the way, I don't think this hurt Mitt Romney whatsoever. His campaign doesn't think it hurt Mitt Romney whatsoever. They're delighted to have this issue front and center."

"For you of all people to criticize Candy Crowley when she didn't get the precise language when everybody knew what the president was talking about," Shuster shot back. "I mean, it wasn't some sort of mistake like [you] suggesting the Norway attacks were some specific jihadist connection."

"He's the Joe Biden of Reliable Sources!" Rubin exclaimed, referring to a recent debate where Vice President Joe Biden interrupted Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan.

Media Matters' Simon Maloy on Sunday questioned why Rubin was "so blatantly lying and mischaracterizing the president's words" when she had nearly a week to read the official transcript.

"The answer can be gleaned from a comment she made towards the end of the video above about the 'acts of terror' flap: 'I don't think this hurt Mitt Romney whatsoever. His campaign doesn't think it hurt Mitt Romney whatsoever.' That lock-step synchronicity with the Romney campaign crystallizes the broadly held opinion of Rubin's increasingly embarrassing work for the Washington Post," Maloy wrote.

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GOP hopeful Mitt Romney found himself backtracking during the second presidential debate after moderator Candy Crowley challenged his assertion that President Barack Obama had not referred to recent attacks on Americans in Libya as terrorism.

"The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world 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," Obama explained following Romney's suggestion that the president had been more concerned with fundraising than national security after the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

"I think it's interesting that the president just said something, which is on the day after the attack he went in the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror," Romney replied. "Is that what you're saying? 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."

"Get the transcript," Obama insisted.

"He did, in fact, sir," Crowley pointed out to Romney.

"Can you say that a little louder, Candy?" the president asked Crowley as the audience applauded.

"He did call it an act of terror," the moderator agreed. "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."

"The administration indicated that this was a reaction to a video," Romney said, rephrasing his attack with a slight stutter. "It took them a long time to say this was a terrorist act by a terrorist group. And -- and to suggest -- am I correct in that regard?"

"I want to move you on," Crowley told the candidates. "People can go to the transcripts."

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House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) says that President Barack Obama's response to the attacks in Libya that killed a U.S. ambassador is like former President George W. Bush's widely-mocked 2003 "mission accomplished" speech which suggested that the U.S had won war in Iraq even though violence was only escalating in the country at the time.

Issa, who held hearings last week over the attacks, on Sunday told CBS host Bob Schieffer that he had determined that the Obama administration had downplayed the attacks in Benghazi because it wanted the appearance that the country had been stabilized.

But Schieffer noted that Republicans had pressured the State Department to cut security by voting to slash about $500 million from the embassy security budget over the past two years.

"Quite frankly, we believe that they didn't want the appearance of needing the security," the California Republican insisted. "The fact is, they are making a decision to not put security in because they don't want the presence of security."

"This is not very Republican, if you will, but when President George W. Bush went aboard an aircraft carrier and said, 'mission accomplished,' I listened -- rightfully so -- to people saying, 'Look, but there's still problems and they're still dying.' And quite frankly, things got worse in many ways after that famous statement," Issa continued. "We're going through a mission accomplished moment. Eleven years after Sept. 11th, Americans were attacked on Sept. 11th by terrorists who pre-planned to kill Americans. That happened and we can't be in denial."

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MA) later told Schieffer that the election-season hearings into the attacks in Libya were just politics as usual from Issa and other Republicans.

"This conspiracy stuff is kind of ridiculous," Cummings explained. "I'm kind of surprised that they've gone to these lengths, but, you know, that's what they do."

"Issa did admit that they did try to cut the budget -- they did in fact cut the budget for security," he added. "And I'm hoping that they will join me -- by the way, in that hearing I requested that they join me in getting an emergency supplemental [funds] for our embassy so we can protect our people."

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The friend of a former Navy SEAL who was recently killed during attacks in Libya says that his friend "would definitely not approve" of Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney invoking his name to score political points.

Over the past week, Romney has been recalling a chance meeting with former Navy SEAL Glen Doherty years ago to get an edge on President Barack Obama after attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that resulted in the death of the veteran, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and other Americans.

The former Massachusetts governor appeared to get choked up on Tuesday as he told a crowd in Iowa that he had met Doherty when he mistakenly attended the wrong neighborhood party.

"We had a lot of things in common," Romney said. "You can imagine how I felt when I found out that he was one of the two former Navy SEALs killed in Benghazi on Sept. 11th."

But Elf Ellefsen, a friend of Doherty's, said that the former SEAL's recollection of Romney was not as favorable.

"He said it was very comical," Ellefsen told Ron & Don radio show producer Libby Denkmann. "Mitt Romney approached him ultimately four times, using this private gathering as a political venture to further his image. He kept introducing himself as Mitt Romney, a political figure. The same introduction, the same opening line. Glen believed it to be very insincere and stale."

"He said it was pathetic and comical to have the same person come up to you within only a half hour, have this person reintroduce himself to you, having absolutely no idea whatsoever that he just did this 20 minutes ago, and did not even recognize Glen's face."

Although Doherty was a member of the advisory board of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), Ellefsen said that he was non-political and "would not approve" Romney using his name.

"Whether it be Republican, Democrat, Green Party, Libertarian, it doesn't make a difference," Ellefsen explained. "Because this guy is using our great friend, our humble, and honorable great friend... who is truly larger than life... He has become part of the soapbox routine for politics in a presidential race."

"Honestly it does make me sick. Glen would definitely not approve of it. He probably wouldn't do much about it. He probably wouldn't say a whole lot about it. I think Glen would feel, more than anything, almost embarrassed for Romney. I think he would feel pity for him."

Speaking to WHDH, Doherty's mother also called on the GOP hopeful to stop using her son's name on the campaign trail.

"I don't trust Romney," Barbara Doherty told the station. "He shouldn't make my son's death part of his political agenda. It's wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama."

Update (2:45 p.m. ET): After Romney told the same story about Glen Doherty again on Wednesday, his campaign promised that the former Massachusetts governor would not mention the slain former SEAL in campaign speeches again.

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Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is accusing Republicans of politicizing an attack on the U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi because he probably "doesn't care" about the death of U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens.

McCain told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday that the Obama administration had taken it's time to acknowledge the attack in Libya -- which resulted in the death of Stevens and three American staffers -- was terrorism because of "willful ignorance or abysmal lack of knowledge of the facts."

Crowley pointed out that Reid had recently asserted that it was "sad and disappointing" that some Republicans were using the attack to "score cheap political points" by calling for the resignation of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.

"Maybe Sen. Reid doesn't care about Christopher Stevens," McCain charged. "Maybe he doesn't care about those three other brave Americans. We do."

"You know he does though, right?" Crowley asked.

"No," McCain insisted. "Well, to make a statement like that, of course, then politicizes an issue that all Americans should be concerned about what information there was and what caused his death, every American -- no matter whether they're Democrat or Republican. So, he's the one that's taken the cheap political shot."

(h/t: State of the Union via Think Progress)