When Americans fight for their lives against terrorists overseas, Romney critiques their choice of weapons

I get that political campaigns are intramural sport. Protecting American lives is not. Americans rightly expect presidential candidates to know the difference.

Hitting send on their fax machines even as American public servants overseas were being slaughtered by rocket-bearing marauders, the Romney campaign, in it's effort to cross the finish line and shout "First," proved it could not distinguish between the two.

It wasn't just about his habitually dickish shoving to get his entitled, pasty ass at the head of line (son Tagg on dinner: "Dad always goes through the line first") it was about his warped sense of "winning." Just as he did at Bain, Romney merely saw the dead and dying Americans in harm's way as nothing more than a means to furthering his personal fortunes.

Displaying the most unpatriotic, unAmerican crassness imaginable, Mitt Romney saw not dead and injured foreign service workers who could be serving him if, God or Mohammed forbid, he were president, but a commodity to be traded on the public opinion market. In that moment, the Great Mormon Hope went from auditioning for Head of State of the most powerful nation in the world to The Great American Head Case by sniping at the embassy's weapon of choice as the assault of their compound became imminent.

The bi-partisan gut reaction was swift, visceral and resoundingly negative. The moment was called Romney's "Lehman" moment, harkening back to his predecessor John McCain's campaign meltdown in the face of the financial crisis. But it was much greater than even that. And his current opponent Barack Obama didn't miss the point.

"Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later."

That targeted and loaded statement conjured up another moment predating even the nation's financial crisis or John McCain.It served as a reminder of Iraq. George Bush. Weapons of mass destruction. Lies. Failure to let inspectors complete their mission. Jumping the gun.

True conservatives (not the boilerplate knockoffs cooked up in the kooky laboratories of the Koch Brothers and Dick Armey) approach war with a sobriety rivaling that of their presidential candidate;s aversion to alcohol. They, however, unlike their candidate, ascribe to the trappings of armed conflict a serious dignity replete with copious pomp and circumstance. Many have served the country themselves either militarily or through foreign service and wish to address that policy in a manner befitting their experiences.

So it comes as little surprise to read critiques such as this from the American Conservative:

 The truth is that Romney was trying to link his opponent in the minds of the public with the people attacking U.S. diplomatic missions. He made this attempt on the basis of the flimsiest evidence available. His accusation was then repeatedly shown to be false before he appeared at his Wednesday morning press conference. Undeterred by having been proven wrong, Romney pressed his dishonest attack once again.

Or this, also from the American Conservative:

 It would have been perfectly legitimate and even useful for Romney to ask what the administration intended to do next, question what the security arrangements in Benghazi had been, and insist on accountability for any mistakes. Instead of offering anything remotely resembling constructive criticism, Romney immediately launched a false attack intended to link his opponent with people responsible for assaulting U.S. diplomatic missions.

The withering condemnations spread from the East Coast's Tampa Bay ...

 The Republican nominee continued to exploit the situation on Wednesday in Jacksonville, after the deaths of U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three of his staff members. While seasoned congressional Republicans condemned the violence and avoided criticism, Romney accused the Obama administration of offering an apology for America's values. ... Criticizing a hateful video does not mean siding with protesters or violent extremists attacking Americans on foreign soil.

There are unanticipated turns of events in every political campaign that provide insights about the candidates, their judgment and their grace under pressure. Romney's factual mistake, exploitation of an evolving situation in which Americans were killed, and poor timing is one of those moments.

... to the West Coast's Los Angeles Times ...

 In reacting to the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and some Republican members of Congress appropriately focused on mourning the dead and honoring their patriotism. Mitt Romney thinks he has a better idea: capitalizing on the attack to shore up his dubious campaign narrative that Obama is soft on radical Islam and apologetic about American values. It's an outrageous exercise in opportunism.

  ... and points in between.

The country called for unity, dignity and comity in its time of crisis. Instead, from Romney at least, it got chaos, bluster and lies. Not just unpresidential ... unAmerican.