Debate Over Presidential Campaign Responses to US Embassy Attacks
Both presidential candidates condemned the anti-American protests growing in the Middle East and turned some of that focus to the political debate here in the United States. President Obama said in an interview with ’60 Minutes’ that, “Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later, and as president, one of the things I’ve learned is that you can’t do that.”
Mitt Romney criticized the president’s response to the violence, saying, “An apology for America’s values is never the right course.”
Fox News political analyst Angela McGlowan and Fox News contributor Santita Jackson debated the campaign responses to the anti-American riots.
McGlowan believes, “Mitt Romney was exactly right by saying that we should not apologize for our values, nor should we apologize for freedom of speech. And for the administration to blame a film that was released online in July, before the September attacks, is a travesty.”
She charged that it was the policy of appeasement, that America is seen as weak, which has caused these attacks. Does this mean that President Obama’s foreign policy has failed?
Santita Jackson responded, “The fact is, we should not be trying to score political points – if ever there were a time to elevate patriotism over party, it is now.” She defended the US embassy’s initial response, arguing that they did not apologize for America’s values, but rather, “they apologized for rendering offense a billion people across the world.”
McGlowan disagreed with Jackson’s assertion that this occurred because of an anti-Islamic film. She said, “That film has been out there. It was an excuse."
Watch the rest of their debate below:
