Tonight's Presidential Candidate Debate...

McG

Quote:

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.

"this terrible act" was not a reference to "acts of terror" two sentences earlier?

You would have understood the connection if "justice is done for this terrible act of terror" had been used in the speech?

Back to English class to you.

OBAMA: “What we’ve seen over the last week, week and a half, is something that actually we've seen in the past, where there is an offensive video or cartoon directed at the prophet Muhammad. And this is obviously something that then is used as an excuse by some to carry out inexcusable violent acts directed at Westerners or Americans.
“And my number-one priority is always to keep our diplomats safe and to keep our embassies safe. And so when the initial events happened in Cairo and all across the region, we worked with Secretary Clinton to redouble our security and to send a message to the leaders of these countries, essentially saying, although we had nothing to do with the video, we find it offensive, it's not representative of America's views, how we treat each other with respect when it comes to their religious beliefs, but we will not tolerate violence.”

QUESTION: “We have reports that the White House said today that the attacks in Libya were a terrorist attack. Do you have information indicating that it was Iran, or al-Qaeda was behind organizing the protests?”
OBAMA: “Well, we're still doing an investigation, and there are going to be different circumstances in different countries. And so I don’t want to speak to something until we have all the information. What we do know is that the natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests.”

“Based on the best information we have to date ... it began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo, where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassy sparked by this hateful video. But soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent.... We do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned.”

“I think it’s important to note with regards to that protest that there are protests taking place in different countries across the world that are responding to the movie that has circulated on the Internet. As Secretary Clinton said today, the United States government had nothing to do with this movie. We reject its message and its contents. We find it disgusting and reprehensible. America has a history of religious tolerance and respect for religious beliefs that goes back to our nation’s founding. We are stronger because we are the home to people of all religions, including millions of Muslims, and we reject the denigration of religion. We also believe that there is no justification at all for responding to this movie with violence.”

Re: the Univision thing,

Does that affect our response at all? Nope.

Cycloptichorn

I mean according to you guys,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

Does that affect our response at all? Nope.

Cycloptichorn

Of course it doesn't. Why should it? Never let the facts get in your way Cyc. That way you never have to try to discuss them.

Romney claimed Obama didn't call it a terrorist act; he clearly did,

The point was that Romney stated that Obama did not call it what happened in Benghazi a terrorist attack until 2 weeks after the event. Obama got smug and the the moderator interrupted Romney to interject her own opinion. Both, as it turns out were wrong.

here's what you said was the point

McGentrix wrote:

The point was that Romney stated that Obama did not call it what happened in Benghazi a terrorist attack until 2 weeks after the event. Obama got smug and the the moderator interrupted Romney to interject her own opinion. Both, as it turns out were wrong.

so, to be absolutely sure we understand what your point was, which two were wrong? Obama and Romney? Obama and Crowley? Romney and Crowley?

there's no good choice for you to make now, but you're going to have to make one - you claimed to be making a point

given the way your sentences were formulated your answer should be Romney and Crowley, but you should have another go at it

Yes, he Clearly did.

Cycloptichorn

It shows that the president did refer to "acts of terror" - but not specifically in reference to the Libya attack. Instead, he made a broader statement about American defiance.

"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," he said.

You can make the case that the president was referring to the Libya attacks as well as other "acts of terror," since he made the comment in the course of a statement about those attacks. But the stronger case would seem to be that the president did not specifically refer to the attack as an act of terror - as Romney said.

ANDERSON COOPER: Wolf, this whole the whole acts of terrorism thing, I don’t think it’s as clear a slam dunk as the Obama campaign would like it to be. In his speech, he wasn’t saying this was an act of terror. Previous to the paragraph where he said acts of terror, he’d been talking about 9/11 and obviously the killing of four Americans, he didn’t reference that video in particular, but I do think it’s open to debate. I can see why the Romney campaign is critical.

Cooper’s colleague and the debate moderator Candy Crowley said post-debate that Republican nominee Mitt Romney was “right in the main” on the Libya issue, but chose the wrong word.

“I think it’s interesting the president just said something which is that on the day after the attack, he went in the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror.”

“That’s what I said,” Mr. Obama replied.

Mr. Romney: “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.”