Another Reprehensible And Craven Idiot Speaks

The attacks on our embassies & diplomats are a result of perceived American weakness. Mitt Romney is right to point that out.
— @RumsfeldOffice via Twitter for iPhone

Donald Rumsfeld was Secretary of War Defense between 2001 and 2006, so none of this should be news to him:

June 14, 2002, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Suicide bomber kills 12 and injures 51.

February 20, 2003, international diplomatic compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Truck bomb kills 17.

February 28, 2003, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Gunmen on motorcycles killed two consulate guards.

July 30, 2004, U.S. embassy in Taskkent, Uzbekistan
Suicide bomber kills two.

December 6, 2004, U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Militants stormed and occupied perimeter wall. Five killed, 10 wounded.

March 2, 2006, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Suicide car bomber killed four, including a U.S. diplomate directly targeted by the assailants.

September 12, 2006, U.S. embassy in Damascus, Syria
Gunmen attacked embassy with grenades, automatic weapons, and a car bomb (though second truck bomb failed to detonate). One killed and 13 wounded.

January 12, 2007, U.S. embassy in Athens, Greece
A rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the embassy building. No one was injured.

July 9, 2008, U.S. consulate in Istanbul, Turkey
Armed men attacked consulate with pistols and shotguns. Three policemen killed.

March 18, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen
Mortar attack misses embassy, hits nearby girls' school instead.

September 17, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen
Militants dressed as policemen attacked the embassy with RPGs, rifles, grenades and car bombs. Six Yemeni soldiers and seven civilians were killed. Sixteen more were injured.

Above is another post from elsewhere that deserves reprinting pretty much whole. These guys will say anything, no matter how egregious or disgusting, how cynical or dishonest, for perceived political advantage; and they assume their followers won't stop to think, or take the time to consider facts like those just listed. Based on the teabagging that's overtaken the R party, they're not necessarily wrong.

I keep thinking that as the evidence of their mendacity keeps piling up, it might dawn on those Foxified and bedazzled teabaggers that they're being played, being beaten by a dead horse; that this is the occasion where one is called upon to change it midstream.

I used to buy lottery tickets, too, when it hit a hundred mill or so, until someone pointed out to me that it's the only game in which the odds of winning are the same if you play or not. So I'm realistic now, and I know it'll never happen.

I have a conservative friend -- an actual and honorable conservative, as opposed to what passes for it in today's Republican party -- and he's said he can't vote for Romney. Because he's not exactly thrilled by Obama, I assume he'll abstain in the presidential race. He's the thoughtful sort who, like me, remembers the days when Ds and Rs shared a commitment to making democracy work. But until a certain reader admits that she, too, finds Romney's lies and pandering, his unprecedented changing of every single position he ever held too much to bear, (or, at least, answers my questions) I'll know the Foxorovian formula works: lie, distort, distract, bamboozle. And assume your audience is too stupid and/or too scared by the lies you tell them to respond sentiently.