Ever since the Obama reelection campaign unveiled Operation Destroy Mitt Romney, Republicans everywhere are rallying to his defense. Case in point, via Mediaite:
Of course, as shown in the segment above, Charles Krauthammer is referring to the slanderous attack ad released by the Obama reelection campaign that suggests Mitt Romney wouldn’t have given Operation Geronimo the green light if he were president. What a disgrace. We’ve certainly seen a number of negative campaign ads this election cycle, to be sure, but none have been as cheap and unsettling as this. Krauthammer’s essential point, I think, is that the president has stooped to a new low by politicizing a significant historical event and turning it into an unwarranted criticism of his Republican challenger. Yes, President Obama deserves all the credit in the world for giving the order to authorize the operation. And yes, he made a difficult – and ultimately successful – decision based on faulty intelligence that all Americans can be proud of. However, echoing the sentiments of Senator John McCain, I think Krauthammer was right to call out the president for using such unfair and divisive smear tactics to discredit his opponent and tout his foreign policy credentials. In the end, as Krauthammer suggests, I wouldn’t be surprised if this nauseating advertisement (narrated by former President Bill Clinton, of all people) has a long-term negative effect on the very voters President Obama is trying to court.