Fox News Sunday Panel Takes On The Romney Campaign's Missteps

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During today's edition of Fox News Sunday, the panel took on what some characterized as Mitt Romney's 'clumsy' attacks on the Obama administration's response to the violent protests in Libya and Egypt, and then took on the various missteps they see in how the Romney campaign has conducted itself since announcing its vice presidential pick.

Liz Marlantes of the Christian Science Monitor said that Romney's aggressive response 'did seem political and seemed like he was acting more in the interest of his campaign than acting in the interest of the Americans overseas who were in danger at the time.'

She added that Romney seems to have difficulty articulating exactly what his foreign policy would be: 'He has this sort of sweeping language about how he wants to project strength. If strength means military force and spending more money on foreign aid, that is not popular either. It is not clear are what his actions would be.'

Neoconservative commentator Bill Kristol agreed with co-panelist Brit Hume that the Romney response was clumsy, but added that it is 'better to be clumsy and correct than timid and silent.'

Kristol also criticized the Republicans for not mentioning Afghanistan during its national convention, noting that the Democrats got a poll bounce after making frequent mention of the wars and the country's service members. He added that maybe American voters would 'actually like to hear what the next president would do about this crisis.'

The New York Times' Jeff Zeleny added that Romney has 'failed to take advantage of the moment of the really three weeks since naming the vice presidential candidate and into his convention,' and said that even Romney's advisors would concede that these haven't been the 'smoothest' of weeks. However, he noted, major polls show a three-point margin in the race, meaning things are still close and 'anything could happen.'

Host Chris Wallace then asked why the Romney campaign seems so reluctant to give a major foreign policy speech. Zeleny surmised that Romney's team believes the election is still mostly about firing President Obama, but perhaps they are realizing it is time to address these issues and 'kick things up a little bit.'

'It seems a lot of Republicans are hungering for more of a reason to hire Governor Romney,' he noted, adding to the reasons why the GOP candidate should give some sort of major foreign policy address.

Hume then chimed in that Romney has not effectively differentiated his policy ideas from Obama's. He's got the family man image down, Hume said, but Romney has yet to 'dwell at length' about the nitty-gritty differences in policy.

Watch below, via Fox:

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• This is old hat. Let's move on.

• Mitt Romney came off as an ambulance chaser. Not more Presidential.

• They'll need more that the hour just to get started on Mittys 'missteps' for just last week.

• Romney doesn't want to talk about foreign policy because his 'solutions' would be unpopular, meaning that yet again he isn't telling people what he would do because he knows he would lose if he did.

  People aren't buying this secrecy and evasion.

  But I am glad that Mediaite decided to finally put another article up. I thought that Netanyahu was the only person who spoke to the press today.

• What missteps? Romney will crush the evil Marxist Muslim interloper presently occupying the White House by 10 points at least, sending him back to him native Kenya where he belongs.

  signed,
  Joe Teabagger

• When you're losing the support of the GOP network you know your campaign is in trouble. They're afraid about going down the same path McCain/Palin went down. It might be time for Willard to go back to putting that car elevator in one of his houses.

  A little piece of advice for Mitt; fire your staff especially the etch-a-sketch guy.

• Fox strategy of trying to bring Obama down to Romney's poor performance acknowledges what a weak candidate Romney is.

• How about Team Romney 'move on' to something substantive rather than just repeating the same empty 'cheerleading' rhetoric than they've been spewing ad nauseum ?

  Chances are They Can't 'move on' because they/Team Romeny have nothing of merit/substance to offer that would/could actually move the countrty in any more a positive/productive direction than the curent administration already has, and most likely their 'ideas' would only serve to reverse the true progress thas has been made these past near four years' and Their Definitely Has Been Progress.

• Someone should remind these folks that the 3 point national poll number they cling to is irrelevant. We don't vote nationally in this country. We vote on the same day but, it's state by state. The reason the media likes to cling to those national numbers is to pretend that the race is close. It's not. Withe Obama ahead in Virginia by 5, Florida by 5, and Ohio by 7 Romney is toast. The margin of error in those polls is 3 so, even if Mitt were up 3 points higher in those states, he'd still lose. Ohio is the real bellwether in this since NO PRESIDENT has won without Ohio.

• Mitt, I think you are doing just fine, stay the course. Obama/Biden 2012

• 'My sense is that he was on the mark,' Hume added. 'He might have timed it better or said it better.'

  Yeah, Hume is another pile of Murdoch tripe, here is what Unfit Mitt said:
  'It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not
  to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with
  those who waged the attacks,'

  A great day for America would be the day we strip Murdoch of his citizenship and deport his sorry ass home to Australia.

• Next time, I suggest the GOP nominate that empty chair.

• Clearly Mitt doesn't get, the middle doesn't like the hate and spin. That's the tea party, which he already has.

• Hey Mitt If we are not better off than we were four years ago, Why don't you bring out President Bush to remind us how great it was then?

• >>adding to the reasons why the GOP candidate should give some sort of major foreign policy address.<<

  Notice how this has been the FOX talking point for the past few days?

  When Mitt does give this speech it will be ample evidence that FOX is running the GOP.

• ''it is 'better to be clumsy and correct than timid and silent.'

  The Organizer was waiting for the polls to tell him what to do.

  Tweets:

  Jennifer Rubin
  if Obama keeps up this 'the movie made them do it' he'll be exposed as a fool' and if the red nose and floppy shoes fit'

  Monica Crowley
  It's hard to imagine this president being any worse/more destructive/pathological/dishonest. But he still has a few more months. #HELP

  David Burge '
  the reaction of US media to Romney's statement proves that Egyptians aren't the only ones driven to blind batshit rage by words.

  David Burge '
  Chief Obama flunky Valerie Jarrett is protected 24/7 by 6 full time Secret Service agents. More security than the US Libyan consulate

• Romney knows foreign policy.

  That's why he has money in offshore accounts;-)

• wtf do you have this saved somewhere just to keep posting?

• Slight correction. Nixon won Ohio over Kennedy in 1960.

  Otherwise you are spot on. :-)

• ' Romney missteps ' like a drunken millipede.

• Gallup has Obama up 3 on their tracker. But conservatives/teabaggers don't want to mention that one anymore. Rasmussen is literally the voice crying in the wilderness these days.

• He's a flustered bagger watching his little toy boat sink in the regressive tub of filth and insanity.

• 'Romney is losing ground!' Chris Wallace

  Why is this suddenly a surprise. Romney has spoken in nothing but generalities. When he is pinned down, then as with his statements on Healthcare Care he'll do an Olympic Somersaulting Flip Flop!

• exactly ' even the democruds are saying the polls are wrong ' okay, the 'cruds are saying the polls are wrong partly because rasumussen is using an absurdly rubepublican-favorable model, and gallup has a huge landline bias in its data, and the obambi registration push only recently got freed from the unconstitutionally illegal constrictions of rube state governments in most of the swing states and now is working like a termite colony on a sugarcane farm registering new d-troops, but the PRINCIPLE remains: there's a bipartisan consensus that 'Teh Pollsters R Wrong', and by the same universal physics that says anything that MIGHT happen is BOUND to happen ' sometime ' somewhere ' then, yes, there is indeed a 'chance' that the merkin peepholes will suddenly decide to rise up on the morning of six november and say, ah fughit, let's give the dark ages another whirl.

• Next Brit and Bill will give Willard hair style tips and wardrobe hints.

• When will Obama announce that he is stopping the release of the Killing bin Laden movie that will surely inflame our good Muslim friends, who were chanting 'We are all Osama' as they stormed the consulate in Libya, killing and raping and dragging the Ambassador's body trhrough the street?

  Obama was so angered by this, he waited 20 minutes before heading out to Las Vegas to campaign and fundraise.

• romney came off as presendial, the real president, he had to answer questions while Obama didn't'he was inspiring and stood up for american values

• standing up for freedom of speech isn't ever going to hurt a politician, romney knows that

• lmao'.

• No Republican has won the White House without Ohio, is what he/she likely meant.

• dey kinda already did, yes no?

• Hey Obama. Why should we reelect a corrupt, arrogant failure like you?

  O: 'Romney's tax returns!'