JournoList Press Corps Interrogates Mitt Romney While Obama Administration's Foreign Policy Goes Down in Flames

The Democrat-Media-Complex and allied establishment foreign policy "experts" have successfully turned one of the biggest foreign policy fiascos of this administration into a referendum on Mitt Romney's fitness to serve.

Huh, what?

You read that right. Here's AoSHQ on Twitter:

Now, as The Foreign Policy President's (TM) foreign policy bears bloody fruit, the press wants to know why Romney brought us to this pass.

— (he said ironically) (@AceofSpadesHQ) September 12, 2012

And see Twitchy, "Ace of Spades, NRO destroy ‘real journalists’ covering for Obama at Romney foreign policy presser."

Also from Katrina Trinko at National Review, "The Insane MSM Questions Romney Faced at Presser."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Romney Offends the Pundits":

Tuesday's assaults on the U.S. Embassies in Benghazi and Cairo have injected foreign policy into the Presidential campaign, but suddenly the parsons of the press corps are offended by the debate. They're upset that Mitt Romney had the gall to criticize the State Department for a statement that the White House itself disavowed.

We're referring to the statement issued Tuesday under the headline "U.S. Embassy Condemns Religious Incitement." The statement came in response to Muslim protests against a 13-minute anti-Islamic video making the rounds on YouTube.

In response to anger in Egypt at the video, the Embassy in Cairo issued its statement saying that "The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims—as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions." It added that, "Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."...

Mr. Romney reacted late Tuesday with his own statement: "I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. 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." He followed Wednesday with a press conference reinforcing his criticisms of the Administration's "mixed signals" on "our values."

The Obama Presidential campaign jumped on the remarks Wednesday as inappropriate, yet a "senior Administration official" had told the website Politico later on Tuesday night that "The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government." So the White House can walk away from its own diplomats, but Mr. Romney can't criticize them?...

The broader point is that the attacks on the embassies do raise questions about how America has fared in the world in the last four years. (See above.) Throughout his candidacy, Mr. Romney has supported the necessity of America's global leadership, sometimes against the wishes of Republican voters. His comments this week are consistent with that worldview, which is also consistent with that of every recent conservative President.

His political faux pax was to offend a pundit class that wants to cede the foreign policy debate to Mr. Obama without thinking seriously about the trouble for America that is building in the world.

BONUS: At the Lonely Conservative, "Video: Mitt Romney Statement on Embassy Attacks in Egypt and Libya – Updated" (via Memeorandum). Also at Weekly Standard, "Press Coordinates Question to Ask Romney," and NewsBusters, "Video: CBS and NPR Reporter Plot to Insure Romney's Asked If He Regrets Obama Critique."