Candy Crowley Grills Republican Senator On What In Obama's Foreign Policy Is 'Weak'

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Republican senator Kelly Ayotte appeared on CNN's State of the Union today, and after brushing aside a few gaffes Mitt Romney made during his overseas tour, claimed his foreign policy would be stronger than President Obama's. Candy Crowley reminded Ayotte that Obama ordered the mission that killed Osama bin Laden and has increased the use of drones, and asked her what in that shows a weak foreign policy.

RELATED: Piers Morgan And Dan Rather Admire Obama's Foreign Policy Record, Ponder Why Others Don't

After Crowley reviewed Romney's gaffes, Ayotte argued that he would be 'strong' on foreign policy and will not 'go around and apologize for America.' She dismissed the gaffes as something to be expected occasionally in a campaign, but used the context of the Olympics to praise Romney for his leadership role in putting the 2002 Winter Olympics together in Salt Lake City.

Crowley then brought up Obama's foreign policy record and asked Ayotte how anyone could think the president has not been strong in this area.

'We're talking about a man who upped the drone war to get at al-Qaeda operatives, both in Pakistan and Yemen, well beyond what George Bush ever did. This is the man who gave the okay to go get bin Laden, now, of course, deceased. He wound down the war in Iraq, he's winding down the war in Afghanistan. And more important to Americans, I think ' there have been no attacks on U.S. soil since President Obama took office. What is weak about that?'

Ayotte said she gives credit to Obama for ordering the bin Laden mission and the increased use of drones, but then accused the president of 'outsourc[ing] leadership to the United Nations' on dealing with the situation in Syria. She insisted that 'apologizing for America' has been a big part of his foreign policy, and said Obama should be tougher on sanctions against Iran.

Watch the video below, courtesy of CNN:

• So basically beyond empty blog-sourced memes' she doesn't even know what foreign policy is'

  great! good job Senator!

• Every time I hear senator Ayotte speak, I am less impressed with her. She does not seem terribly bright, she never, never answers a question, and she is not particularly adept at memorizing or regurgitating talking point. I realize she is a mouthpiece for an inarticulate, terrible presidential candidate and might be given some grace for that, but she is still a poor surrogate. Kudos to you, Candy for helping to expose the Senator's gross and manifold failings.

•   'go around and apologize for America.'

  Only the most ignorant Americans, the right wingnut tea bagger clowns, buy that line of bulltripe.

• this proves that the gop will attack obama on anything. It's like jealous school children criticizing someone for getting an A on their report card instead of an A+ even though they've never achieved anything close to it.

• I agree with you Kelly sounded almost stupid then. I thought she had sense but she is as dumb as the other Republicans, like Sarah Palin with two brain cells. Glad to see Candy pushing for a change. The GOP has no leg to stand on as Obama has excelled in Foreign policy-one word #ROMNEYSHAMBLES.

• Yes, she does a really weak job at selling these talking points. The Republican women who advance seem 100% sure of their nonsense, regardless of any basis in fact which oppose the viewpoint they're promoting. Rep. Cathy Rodgers gets better marks for her delivery than Ayotte, as she's completely behind what she says, no matter how outlandish or ludicrous.

  Ayotte seems to be rolling her eyes at what comes out of her mouth half the time.