Mitt Romney strongly denounced an anti-Muslim film linked to riots against U.S. diplomatic compounds in the Mideast, accusing its director of wrongly offending Islamic sensibilities.
Romney told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that while he had not seen the film himself, he knew enough to declare it a “very bad thing.”
“You know, I think it’s dispiriting sometimes to see some of the awful things people say,” Romney said. “And the idea of using something that some people consider sacred and then parading that out a negative way is simply inappropriate and wrong. And I wish people wouldn’t do it.”
Romney said that the film is clearly legal under the Constitution.
“Of course, we have a First Amendment, and under the First Amendment, people are allowed to do what they feel they want to do,” he said. “They have the right to do that, but it’s not right to do things that are of the nature of what was done by, apparently this film.”
The Republican nominee also condemned Florida pastor Terry Jones, whose burning of a Koran sparked deadly attacks abroad in 2011, for promoting the film.
“I think the whole film is a terrible idea,” he said. “I think him making it, promoting it, showing it is disrespectful to people of other faiths. I don’t think that should happen. I think people should have the common courtesy and judgment —- the good judgment — not to be — not to offend other peoples’ faiths. It’s a very bad thing, I think, this guy’s doing.”
Now, if this all sounds good to you, I want to remind you that this was EXACTLY what President Obama said the day the riots began. And this sentiment is basically what Romney was speaking out against saying this approach to the issue was “apologizing” for the US.
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack,” Obama said with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at his side in hastily arranged public remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House.
“Today, we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake: Justice will be done.”
This hardly sounds like an apology.
Stevens lost his life in an assault on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, amid anger among Islamist extremists at a low-quality film mocking the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. Outrage at the movie also led an angry phalanx of Egyptian protesters to storm the U.S. Embassy there and tear down its American flag.
Noting anger in the Middle East at the film, Obama declared, “We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But there is no justification for this senseless violence—none.
“The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts,” Obama said. “Already, many Libyans have joined us in doing so, and this attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya.”
