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In an interview on CNN, Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said "the entire reason" the attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi has become a political lightning rod is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
"The entire reason that this has become the political topic it is is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. It's a big part of their stump speech and its reckless and irresponsible," Cutter said this afternoon.
O.K., hold on a second. The "entire reason"?
To Cutter's point, Romney has leveled some nakedly opportunistic accusations in wake of the September 11 attacks. (The night of the killings, Romney accused the administration of sympathizing "with those who waged the attacks," an essentially groundless charge.) But Romney and his running mate are hardly responsible for the Benghazi attack's resilience as front page political news.
Need we remind Cutter, a U.S. ambassador was murdered along with three other personnel and dozens of State Department personnel and CIA agents were evacuated. If that weren't enough to give the story credibility, the administration's confusing briefings on the murders have left the public mystified as to the origins of the attack.