A common theme among the Romney campaign, and during the vice presidential debate, has been to point fingers at the Obama administration for supposedly bungling both the preparation for and the response to the attack on the American embassy in Libya.
It would be a safe bet to say that Romney will once again repeat this talking point during tonight's presidential debate, and what you should know is that, once upon a time, Mitt Romney was very much against pointing fingers.
ThinkProgress dug up the video today
It’s very easy, it is extraordinarily easy to point fingers and say, ‘Why, this part of government knew this and it didn’t tell that part.’ And, ‘These people here haven’t learned that.’ Well, the reason those barriers exist is for legitimate purpose in a world that was pre-September 11th. And judging our intelligence by post- September 11th conditions is something we have to do carefully. We do that to help us get better, and to the extent we find criticism in the kind of work that I’ve had to do and others are doing, it should be focused on how we can make ourselves more effective in the post-9/11 world. But trying to judge what happened pre-9/11 by post-9/11 knowledge is probably not terribly fruitful.
It is extraordinarily easy, which is why Mitt Romney is doing it now.
If my memory serves me well, Democrats did not immediately pounce on George W. Bush after the events of 9/11. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, held a press conference within hours of the embassy attack in Libya to accuse President Obama of apologizing for America and sympathizing with the attackers.
When it comes to contradicting every single position he has previously held, Romney leaves no stone unturned.