Friday

As the four Americans killed in Libya came home (see post below), violence spread across the Middle East.  But in most places, it did not involve many people.

Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating the Benghazi attack, and their working theory is that it was an organized terrorist attack, possibly by an al Qaeda affiliated group.

Eugene Robinson's column is the latest to go after Romney for his role in this crisis, adding to the other charges this one: ignorance."...I guess this whole performance says a lot about what kind of man Romney is. The most charitable explanation is that he’s in a panic over polls that show Obama opening a lead. If this is not the case, then Romney’s ignorance of foreign policy is more profound — and potentially dangerous — than anyone could have suspected."

It's long been my contention that ignorance is a core value of the Rabid Right.

But Andrew Sullivan argued for the importance of temperament, and what this week says about the President and the GOPer candidate:

"But when I think of the characteristics I want in a president in turbulent times, this capacity for calm and poise comes pretty high on the list. And that's why I think this past week was almost as damaging to Romney as the week before. He over-reacted in a petty, political way to a sudden, murky series of events that demanded restraint and calm and fact-gathering. Then he doubled down on his attempt to politicize it. This was talk-radio performance, not presidential behavior."

On MSNBC, veteran journalist and editorial director Cynthia Tucker commented that "Governor Romney has put his conscience--if he has one--in a blind trust."

NYT/CBS likely voter poll shows President Obama up by 3 points.  But as TPM points out, this is their first likely voter model--in comparison to their last registered voter poll, President Obama has increased his lead by 8 points.

The GOP war on voting rights suffered a significant if unheralded defeat.  A court has stopped the Iowa GOPer secretary of state declaring a "state of emergency" so he can suddenly purge voter rolls.  One of the judge's reasons was that given the lack of evidence of in-person voter fraud and the likelihood that legitimate voters would be denied their rights without recourse in time to vote in this election, the likely harm clearly outweighs the possible good.  It's a decision that the PA Supreme Court might note and heed.

Finally, a tribute to the two-way conversations that can occur on the Internet, admidst the mostly toxic comment systems.  In both cases, the sites themselves pulled these comments from the mailbag and published them.

From TPM

From a Foreign Service Officer …

It’s probably not a surprise. But can I just say that if Mitt Romney wins in November, he is going to have a very chilly reception from his employees every time he goes abroad? I don’t think I can quite state the rage we’re all feeling towards him. 

From The Dish:

A reader writes:

Your quoting of two then-future presidents regarding the Iran hostage crisis got me thinking even more about the horrific events of the past couple days. Candidates Reagan and Bush were responding to an event that Jimmy Carter had an actual hand in deciding. Carter was the one who made the call to attempt to rescue the hostages. By doing so Carter is accountable for what happened. And yet Reagan and Bush stood firmly behind their president and did not criticize the decision that he made.

Fast forward to 2012. The Republican presidential candidate chooses to attack the Obama administration for a statement that upon reflection looks like a balanced respectful approach to a situation that President Obama had nothing at all to do with.

The reader goes on to comment on the transformation of "my father's Republican Party" and concludes: "Mitt Romney and those who classlessly have been backing his attack are not only not fit to be leaders of this nation, they are not fit to maintain any public soapbox at all."