(Updated) Storming Embassies, Killing Ambassadors, and ‘Smart’ Diplomacy

Victor Davis Hanson  "The attacks on the US embassy yesterday in Cairo and the storming of the American consulate in Libya, where the US ambassador was murdered along with three staff members — and the initial official American reaction to the mayhem — are all reprehensible, each in their own way. Let us sort out this terrible chain of events."
....
"The attacks in Egypt come a little over three years after the embarrassing Obama Cairo speech, in which the president created an entire mythology about the history of Islam, in vain hopes of appeasing his Egyptian hosts. The violence also follows ongoing comical efforts of the administration to assure us that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is not an extremist Islamic organization bent on turning Egypt into a theocratic state. And the attacks are simultaneous with President Obama’s ongoing and crude efforts to embarrass Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu."

Remember this cartoon from an earlier incident?

....
"At some point, someone in the administration is going to fathom that the more one seeks to appease radical Islam, the more the latter despises the appeaser."
Related.

Netanyahu: We Can’t Rely On Obama Admin To Take Part In Strike Against Iran. We Americans are too cowardly to defend OURSELVES from attack!

Weasel Zippers   Obviously.
From Jerusalem:

"Earlier this week Netanyahu issued a rebuke of the U.S. cautious stance, perceived as an indirect swipe at the Obama administration. He said that "those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel."

Flashback: Obama Predicts Hostilities With The Islamic World Will Cease The “Day I’m Inaugurated”…   How's that working out for you, Mr. Obama?

 

Posted by Ronbo at the Freedom Fighter's Journal

Israel Hayom; Iran’s politically inconvenient nuclear program "An Israeli attack would likely draw the U.S. into the conflict, and on the side of Israel, with negative implications for Obama’s Muslim outreach program, not to mention the risk of casualties and widespread destruction."

Jennifer Rubin; Mitt Romney gave one of his most cogent comments regarding Egypt on ABC News:   "[Middle East scholar] Bernard Lewis has said many times that people around the world should view America as the best friend you can have — and the most dangerous enemy. But at the least, it is vital that the opposite impression not be conveyed: That America is harmless as an enemy and treacherous as a friend.”  
"It is up to the Romney-Ryan campaign to spell this out, and it now has a unique moment when everyone is finally paying attention to national security."

Intellectual Conservative;  The General is Right, Terrorists Only Stand Down in Front of Power and Knowing Action Will Follow
"[The General] said all these terrorists know is to fear power and force. The best was to control them, he offered, was to tell the country in no uncertain terms that if it killed four of our people, we would respond by killing 400 of theirs. This brought shock and dismay from mainstream media commentators across both the electronic and print news services. But, I agree with the general. I have seen it in action." Read more...
Democrats do not do that, however. Democrats instead prosecute those who would make our enemies pay a price for killing Americans and our allies.

Blackfive; This is what happens when leaders don't do their jobs. "And word 'round the campfire is that the OinC is too busy to attend the daily intelligence briefing (not attended since September 5th).  Anyone who votes to keep an administration in office like this one needs to be involuntarily committed to an institution."

Wright Winger  "Although Barack Hussein Obama once declared that the Islamic call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth," it seems likely that he's now found one even more pleasing: the sound of rioting anti-American mobs across the Middle East.
"What we're seeing is more than the result of four years of appeasement by this president's administration...we're seeing the consequences of four years of his actually encouraging radical Islam while backing away from America's allies."

Charles Krauthammer on "The abandonment"

Charles Krauthammer;  "A policy so incoherent, so knowingly and obviously contradictory, is a declaration of weakness and passivity. And this, as Anthony Cordesman, James Phillips and others have argued, can increase the chance of war. It creates, writes Cordesman, “the same conditions that helped trigger World War II — years of negotiations and threats, where the threats failed to be taken seriously until war became all too real.” "

Warning Signs

The Obama Administration, the Mainstream Media and the Death of Journalism

DonkeyHotey

Conservative Daily News  "It’s nothing new to point out that the mainstream media has placed itself as the tool of the Obama Administration. However, over the past 24 hours, that contention has taken on a truly frightening meaning. Bluntly, it seems that there are countless examples of the media regurgitating whatever the Obama Administration spoon feeds it, and passing it off as journalism. It’s gone beyond the point of even considering fact-checking, and “news” has become almost purely opinions pieces – not “straight journalism.” "

Mainstream Media Will Spin Debates for Obama Like They Spun the Conventions
"Obama's tactics reflect a strategic understanding of how debates work that Republicans have not mastered yet. Obama does not come to debates to argue with his opponent, but to deliver a pre-packaged message. That technique is commonly taught to left-wing pundits by Media Matters for America, and is best exemplified in the appearances of such surrogates as Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz."

Franchisors warn Obamacare will halve profits

Washington Secrets  [Atlanta Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchiser David] "Barr has 23 stores with 421 employees, 109 of whom are full-time. Of those, he provides 30 with health insurance. Barr said he pays 81 percent of their Blue Cross Blue Shield policy, or $4,073 of $5,028 for individuals, more for families, for a total bill of $129,000 a year. Employees pay $995.

"Under Obamacare, however, he will have to provide health insurance for all 109 full-time workers, a cost of $444,000, or two and half times more than his current costs. That $315,000 increase is equal to just over half his annual profit, after expenses, or 1.5 percent of sales. As a result, he said, "I'm not paying $444,000."

Romney is right: In embassy incidents, Obama administration's first instinct was to sympathize with attackers

Byron York   "In his original statement last night, Romney said, "It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."  Then, on Wednesday morning, Romney said the administration "was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions."
"And that is exactly what the administration did."  

Ambassador dragged through the streets (right)

Muslim Cleric Tears Bible At Protest Outside the US Embassy in Cairo

Assyrian International News Agency

"During the demonstration which was held in front of the American Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday, 9/11, a Muslim cleric named Abu Islam tore and burned the Holy Bible in front of thousands of Muslims. His action was met with applause and anti-Christian cheers from the demonstrators. Before leaving the demonstration and getting into his car, he told the crowds "next time I will urinate on it." "

Mark Steyn has this to say

Steyn said. “Every American should be ashamed of their president.”   "“Nobody, no novelist would attempt to do anything so crass after this man is dragged through the streets — after he is killed, dragged through the streets of Libya, God knows what’s happened to him if you believe some of the worst stories out there. And then the guy goes to Vegas. Why not just do it at Caesar’s Palace with a bunch of showgirls? Every American who’s watching, regardless if you’re Democrat or Republican, if you’re not embarrassed by the buffoon who’s serving as President of the United States after that performance last night, there’s something wrong with you.” "

The media: an electorate's source for wisdom and knowledge (UPDATED)

Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to Romney, Richard Williamson, smacks Don Lemon right in the Talking Points: “We Look Forward To Talking About the Substance When You’re Available”
I hope this is a good indication of how the Romney campaign will talk to the liberal press.

Remember  the Obama Sycophant who asked what Bernie Goldberg called "The Dumbest Media Question I’ve Ever Heard":

Back in November, CNN's Dan Lothian Asks Obama if GOP Candidates Are 'Uninformed, Out of Touch, or Irresponsible'   "And this is the type of hard-nosed journalist the supposedly most trusted name in news has as a White House correspondent"

NPR's Shapiro Defends Question Collaboration  "Ari Shapiro of National Public Radio went on the defensive after being identified as one of the reporters caught on an open microphone coordinating questions before Wednesday’s press conference with Republican nominee Mitt Romney."

UPDATE– NewsBuster’s Tim Graham identifies the reporters heard in the video as NPR’s Ari Shapiro and CBS reporter Jan Crawford. He also gives us some perspective on the situation:  
Crawford considered by some as very fair.

The Obama Administration didn't see this coming? Marines' lack of ammo rumor refuted.

From the UK Independent; Exclusive: America 'was warned of embassy attack but did nothing'.  Revealed: inside story of US envoy's assassination 
"Senior officials are increasingly convinced, however, that the ferocious nature of the Benghazi attack, in which rocket-propelled grenades were used, indicated it was not the result of spontaneous anger due to the video, called Innocence of Muslims. Patrick Kennedy, Under-Secretary at the State Department, said he was convinced the assault was planned due to its extensive nature and the proliferation of weapons.

"There is growing belief that the attack was in revenge for the killing in a drone strike in Pakistan of Mohammed Hassan Qaed..."

From Politico: The Obama administration is flatly denying a blaring British newspaper report that the U.S. diplomats in Libya were killed as a result of a “continuing security breach,” and that “credible information” about possible attacks had been ignored

Jihad Watch; First Amendment Death Watch Alert.   "U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly says this is a "tiny minority." And we will see the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims rising up en masse to rein in their violent coreligionists any second now...any time now...it's coming...wait for it...yes, it has been eleven years, but they're still getting dressed. Have some patience."

Bloody Hand Prints at Consulate Reveal Americans Were Dragged From Building Before Their Death
"There will be blood: A Libyan man explains that the bloodstains on the column are from one the American staff members who grabbed the edge of the column while he was evacuated, after an attack that killed four Americans on September 11tt. (Daily Mail)"

Documents containing delicate information have been lost in the attack, the paper reported. These documents are believed to contain the names of Libyans who are also working for Americans, as well as information on oil contracts.

THAT 1979 FEELING

Left: Roman Genn cartoon

Campaigner-in-Chief decides to skip yet ANOTHER intelligence briefing   "How long had it been since President Obama attended his daily intelligence meeting in the lead-up to the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Egypt and Libya? After all, our adversaries are known to use the anniversary of 9/11 to target the United States."

Pentagon denies reports on Marine blogs that U.S. embassy did not authorize service members to carry ammo

Mother Jones - no friend of the military - posts this denial of the story that Marines had no ammo: The Marine Corps has confirmed to Mother Jones that a military blogger's popular conspiracy theory about the embassy attack in Egypt is wrong.

From: Cross, Alex Maj OLA, LA-41B Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 4:55 PMTo: Cross, Alex Maj OLA, LA-41B Subject: Marines in Libya and Egypt Ladies and Gentlemen-The following information is provided regarding Marine involvement in the recent actions in Egypt and Libya:Egypt:-The Ambassador did not impose restrictions on weapons or weapons status on the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group (MCESG) detachment.  The MCESG Marines in Cairo were allowed to have live ammunition in their weapons.  The Ambassador and Regional Security Officer have been completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation. Reports of Marines not being able to have their weapons loaded per direction from the Ambassador are not accurate.

Corroboration here: Though it would not surprise anyone were it true, Marine Corps major (the USMC Congressional Liaison) issued statement today saying the Ambassador in Cairo did not restrict live ammo and the USMC guards were in fact armed.

Fox News confirms that Marines were not refused ammunition.  "Further Marine spokesman at Pentagon Lt Col Chris Hughes says these reports are NOT true. This is on the record:"

“The Ambassador and RSO have been completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation.  No restrictions on weapons or weapons status have been imposed.  This information comes from the Det Commander at AMEMB Cairo.”

Socialism means we all share the misery

An Economic 'Plan'?  by Thomas Sowell  "But history shows that the economy rebounded out of a worse unemployment situation in just two years under Harding, who simply let the market revive on its own, as it had done before, time and time again for more than a century.

"Something similar happened under Ronald Reagan. Unemployment peaked at 9.7 percent early in the Reagan administration. Like Harding and earlier presidents, Reagan did nothing, despite outraged outcries in the media.

"The economy once again revived on its own. Three years later, unemployment was down to 7.2 percent -- and it kept on falling, as the country experienced twenty years of economic growth with low inflation and low unemployment."....

Despite demands that Mitt Romney spell out his plan for reviving the economy, we can only hope that Governor Romney plans to stop the government from intervening in the economy and gumming up the works, so that the economy can recover on its own. (emphasis added)

Good and Bad News from the Fed "...you can make an argument that the declining ability of stimulus to move the needle is a sign that inefficiencies are beginning to accumulate and that the economy has some deeper issues that conventional policy measures aren’t reaching."  
The American Interest

Bernanke Sucker-Punches Romney Campaign "The Fed's $40 billion-per-month of "quantitative easing" could kick off inflation, led by rising prices in the energy sector -- exacerbated in no small part by Obama's unwillingness to approve the Keystone pipeline, approve domestic drilling, or impose order on the Middle East.  
"But Obama will have his second term to finish "transforming" America, and Bernanke will get his reappointment.
"The country will be in very, very deep trouble.
"No matter.
"They'll just blame Bush."

Obama's War on Middle Class: Median Income Lowest Since 1995

‘Whose Democratic Party?’

New ad questions Obama's relationship with Israel
In the coming days, the Emergency Committee for Israel, a pro-Israel advocacy organization, will release an ad entitled, “Whose Democratic Party?”

"The spot, which will air during Sunday’s football game between the Miami Dolphins and the Oakland Raiders in what is being described as a “significant ad buy,” accuses Obama of leading his party to weaken the U.S.-Israel alliance."