Romney gets capital of Libya wrong in press conf criticizing Obama on foreign policy

[greyl]

By John Aravosis on 9/12/2012 12:58:00 PM
Mitt Romney got the capital of Libya wrong in his opportunistic statement this morning criticizing the President about his handling of the attacks against the US embassy in Cairo and the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Romney referred in his statement to the "embassies" and particularly to "our embassy at Benghazi, Libya." He made the mistake three times, so it wasn't just a slip of the lip.

Any first year international relations student knows that our diplomatic offices in the capital are "embassies," and our offices in cities that are not the capital are "consulates."

This means that Romney either had no idea what the capital of Libya was when he said it was Benghazi (it's Tripoli, obviously), or he had no idea what the difference was between "embassies" and "consulates," which is so basic Diplomacy 101 that it's frightening that Mitt Romney wants to be commander in chief in four months and had no idea about the difference.

continue...

I
can
not
wait
for
the
debates.

[mgarr]

1. PANIC! not qualified to be president

Mr. Romney has done more than demonstrate his ineptitude in foreign policy matters.

He has demonstrated that he is easily panicked.

And that he is willing to put his political campaign ahead of national interest.

Mr. Romney is not qualified to be president of the United States.

[Cha]

2. Romney Shoots himself in both

feet Again.

This time he owes the entire Nation a Real Apology.

[JDPriestly]

3. It was very confusing. That's because our ambassador was at the consulate in Benghazi

rather than at the embassy in Tripoli. It was really confusing for that reason.

[CTyankee]

4. Bu tthe news reports said the ambassador was traveling to Benghazi from Tripoli, or at least

the early report I saw did.

[JDPriestly]

12. I didn't hear the full report. I read about it on DU. So I was confused at first.

I thought, why isn't our embassy in Tripoli? But I didn't question that it was. I soon learned it was a consulate. Thanks.

[CTyankee]

14. I had an unfortunate lesson in consulates, having had to visit one in a foreign

country after my passport was stolen. The embassy was further away and even the consulate was a train ride from the little town I was in at the time. My advice: if you must have your passport stolen or you lose it, make sure you are in a capital city!

[beac]

5. As President, one must be able to juggle several confusing situations at once.

Considering Rmoney has been making Libya his sole focus for the past 24 hours, one would think he could have sorted out that ONE bit of confusion before flapping his gums about it.



*edited for fat finger typo*

[Indpndnt]

6. I don't think so.

I found it initially confusing because the embassy in Egypt was attacked in the same night as the consulate in Libya. But once it quickly became clear that those were two different stories, there really is no reason for Willard to keep confusing the two. Surely he's heard of Tripoli. I seriously doubt he's familiar with Benghazi. There's no reason he should have believed we have an embassy there.

[avebury]

9. The ambassador had gone to Benghazi out of concern

for the safety of the Americans working at the consulate there.

[JDPriestly]

11. He was a hero. A brave man. This is a really great loss.

[ailsagirl]

7. Where was Nitt when the brains were passed out???

"A face unclouded by thought."

He's an embarrassment to our country.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

8. He's only been running for President for five years

and it's been over six years, since 2006 and the end of his Governor's term, that he hasn't had a day job. Why hasn't he been doing his homework and hitting the books during that time? He should be an expert on these things.

[avebury]

10. He is just like Sarah Palin. As the

"anointed" one whose turn has come he doesn't think that he actually has to any work to prepare for a job that is his by Divine right.

[lovimay]

13. Spam deleted by Warren DeMontague (MIR Team)

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

15. I can increase Mitt's chances of election with just two words:

Shut Up.

Seriously. Between now and November 6th, don't say a single, solitary word. You'll still lose the election, but you'll lose by less than if you kept on talking.