Romney: Attack on Consulate Disgusting

Unlike President Obama, Mitt Romney actually took questions about Libya.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ROMNEY: I - the embassy in Cairo put out a statement after their grounds had been breached. Protesters were inside the grounds. They reiterated that statement after the breach.

ROMNEY: I think it's a - a - a terrible course to - for America to - to stand in apology for our values. That instead, when our grounds are being attacked and being breached, that the first response of the United States must be outrage at the breach of the sovereignty of our nation.

An apology for America's values is never the right course.

QUESTION: Governor Romney, do you think, though, coming so soon after the event really has unfolded overnight was appropriate, to be weighing in on this as this crisis is unfolding in real time?

ROMNEY: The White House also issued a statement saying it tried to distance itself from those comments and said they were not reflective of their views. I had the exact same reaction. These views were inappropriate. They were the wrong course to take when our embassy has been breached by protesters. The first response should not be to say, "Yes, we stand by our comments that - that suggest that there's something wrong with the right of free speech."

QUESTION: So what did the White House do wrong, then, Governor Romney, if (inaudible) put out a statement saying (inaudible).

ROMNEY: It's their administration. Their administration spoke. The president takes responsibility not just for the words that come from his mouth, but also from the words that come from his ambassadors from his administration, from his embassies, from his State Department.

They clearly - they clearly sent mixed messages to the world and the statement that came from the administration and the embassy is the administration. The statement that came from the administration was - was a statement which is akin to apology and I think was a - a severe miscalculation.

QUESTION: Governor, some are...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (inaudible) talk about mixed signals, (inaudible) mixed signal when you criticize the administration (inaudible).

ROMNEY: We are having - we have a campaign for presidency of the United States that are speaking about the different courses we would each take with regards to the challenges that the world faces. The president and I, for instance, have differences of opinion with regards to Israel and our policies there; with regards to Iran; with regards to Afghanistan; with regards to Syria.

We have many places of distinction and differences. We join together in the condemnation of the attacks on American embassies and the loss of American life, and join in the sympathy for these people. But it's also important for me, just as it was for the White House last night, by the way, to say that the statements were inappropriate, and in my - in my view, a - a disgraceful statement on the part of our administration to apologize for American values.

QUESTION: Governor, some people have said that you jumped the gun a little in putting that statement out last night, and that you should have waited until more details were available. Do you regret having that statement come out so early before we learned about all the things that were happening?

ROMNEY: I don't think we - we ever hesitate when we see something which is a violation of our principles. We express immediately when we feel that the president and his administration have done something which is inconsistent with the principles of America. Simply put, having an embassy which is - has been breached and has protesters on its grounds, having violated the sovereignty of the United States, having that embassy reiterate a statement effectively apologizing for the right of free speech is not the right course for an administration.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Governor Romney, if you had known - if you had known last night that the ambassador had died, and obviously I'm gathering you did not know...

ROMNEY: Well, that came - that came later.

QUESTION: ... right. If you had known that the ambassador had died, would you have issued...

(CROSSTALK)

ROMNEY: I'm not - I'm not going to take hypotheticals about what would have been known what and so forth. I - we responded last night to the events that happened in Egypt.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (inaudible)

ROMNEY: I think President Obama has - has demonstrated a - a lack of clarity as to a foreign policy. My foreign policy has three fundamental branches.

ROMNEY: First, confidence in our cause, a recognition that the principles America was based upon are something we shrink from or apologize for; that we stand for that principles.

The second is clarity in our purpose, which is that when we have a foreign policy objective, we describe it honestly and clearly to the American people, to Congress and to the people of the world.

And number three, is resolve in our might: that in those rare circumstances - those rare circumstances where we decide it's essential for us to apply military might, that we do so with overwhelming force, that we do so in the clarity of a mission, understanding the nature of the U.S. interest involved, understanding when the mission will be complete, what will be left when it is - what will be left behind us when that mission has - has been - has been terminated.

These elements I believe are essential to our foreign policy and I haven't seen them from the president.

As I've watched - as I've watched over the past three and a half years, the president has had some successes. He's had some failures. It's a hit-or-miss approach, but it has not been based upon sound foreign policy.

QUESTION: How specifically, Governor Romney, would President Romney have handled this situation differently than President Obama? You (ph) spoke out before midnight when all the facts were known. How would you have handled this differently than the president did?

ROMNEY: I spoke out when the key fact that I referred to was known, which was that the Embassy of the United States issued what appeared to be an apology for American principles. That was a mistake. And I believe that when a mistake is made of that significance, you speak out.

Thank you.