Today White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declared that the embassy protests, firebombs, assassinations and all out mayhem is in response to a video and not at all “… directed at the United States, writ large, or at U.S. policy.” (h/t mediate)
“This is a fairly volatile situation, and it is in response not to U.S. policy, not to, obviously, the administration, not to the American people. It is in response to a video – a film – that we have judged to be reprehensive and disgusting.”
Political cover bordering on delusional denial.
Regarding Mr. Carney’s statement however, those shredding the United States flag in the image on the right, and the graffiti emblazoned on the US embassy in Cairo indicate subtle disagreement as to the motivation of the perpetrators. Perhaps they didn’t get the memo from Secretary Carney or there was a translation snafu because the graffiti on the Cairo embassy reads, “Take care America, we have 1.5 billion ‘Bin Ladens‘”. (h/t therightscoop.)
Now in fairness, the apology issued the other day by the embassy in Cairo was not approved by Washington, so perhaps too is Jay Carney’s statement not approved by Washington, and a forthcoming clarification will be issued to straighten things out and enlighten the public as to the White House position on the matter.
The bewildering incompetence of this administration is frightening enough when we consider its domestic economic record and the speed with which it plunged the nation to a dangerous depth of debt. Now we need to consider that the ostrich contortions maneuvered by this administration in order to preserve a political face-saving posture pose an even more existential threat when it comes to national security. Phoning in an attack to kill a terrorist is not a substitute for foreign policy and strong, resilient leadership when our sovereignty is violated, and worrying about politics and political futures when ambassadors are murdered, embassies attacked and set a light, and there’s no end in sight to this insidious madness is, indeed, reprehensive and disgusting. How much longer will Democrats and those on the left fail to see the sorrowful, woeful failure of this administration? The answer to that may be when the scimitar is eventually raised to their necks to alleviate the negligible amount of stress it endures to support the empty vessel that sits atop it.