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Updated 2:58 p.m. - Campaigning for the first time since Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, President Barack Obama began the final sprint to Election Day in Wisconsin, where he mocked Gov. Mitt Romney’s calling himself the candidate of “big change” while seeking to reclaim that moniker for himself.
While Obama had refrained from politicking since the storm made landfall earlier this week, he dove right back into heated rhetoric, saying Romney is being deceptive in his efforts to recast himself as a reformer.
A day after he toured storm-stricken New Jersey, President Obama resumed his campaign with an event in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“In the closing weeks of this campaign, Governor Romney has been using all his talents as a salesman to dress up these very same policies that failed our country so badly,” Obama said.
“And he is offering them up as change. He's saying he's the candidate of change,” Obama continued, as 2,600 supporters at the Austin Straubel airport laughed. “Well, let me tell you, Wisconsin, we know what change looks like. And what the governor's offering sure ain't change."
But even as Obama skewered his opponent, he also highlighted his own efforts at bipartisanship, noting instances when he worked across the aisle in Washington.
“Sometimes Republicans in Congress have worked with me to meet our goals, to cut taxes for small businesses and families like yours, to open new markets for American goods or finally repeal ‘Don't ask, Don't tell,’” he said, adding, however, that sometimes he’s had “big fights” with Republicans that “were worth having.”
Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images
President Barack Obama greets supporters during a campaign rally at Austin Straubel International Airport in Green Bay, Wis., on Nov. 1, 2012.
“I didn't fight those fights for any partisan advantage. I've shown my willingness to work with anybody of any party to move this country forward,” he continued.
The Romney campaign countered Obama's event with a statement from spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg, which read in part, "We've said all along this election is a choice between the status quo and real change - change that offers promise that the future will be better than the past. President Obama's misguided policies and broken promises have let down millions of Americans, and we can't afford four more years like the last four."
After his Green Bay event, the president headed to Las Vegas, Nevada for another rally.
Leave a Comment:
Big Change sounds too close to;
BIG LOVE...
(It was a great show)
....sounds closer to 'Pig change'?
Pres. O is the biggest show on earth.
Mitt running is the most dangerous show right now!
Big Change is right .. that poopy diaper Romney has filled to the brim with crap. That explains Queen Ann's scrunched up nose.
The biggest change?
We the people.
And we the people don't want anything to do with Romney, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Limbaugh, Norquist, Paul Ryan, Dan Senor, the msm.
David Axelrod, David Plouffe, Jim Messina, OFA, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Rev. Al, Martin Bashir, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews.
Keith Olbermann began our long winding road back.
We're almost there.
President Obama, Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden, Jill Biden - thank you.
GOTV.
Is Oprah really the biggest show on Earth now?
I know her weight "fluctuates" but...
---------------------------------------------------------
My wife is so fat that when she lays on the beach the people feel sorry for her and try to roll
her back into the water.
Romney's big change is a return to the neocon foreign policy of George Bush. 18 of his 24 foreign policy advisers are former Bushie neo-cons.
Romney's big change is more tax breaks for the rich. He has failed to explain how a 20% across the board tax cut will be made up for in closing deductions. Many of the rich when faced with an eliminated mortgage interest deduction will simply pay off their mortgage and get an effective savings of 20% of whatever mortgage interest rate they pay. I'd like to see a middle class taxpayer manage to do that.
Romney's big change is big talk with no definition of what big change is. It's a sales pitch we cannot afford to fall for.
Mayor Bloomberg endorses President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden
The Romney campaign is ruining my television watching experience - whatever I try to watch, on every show, one after another, negative ads about how America is going downhill.
Its pathetic how the Republicans rooted for failure from the moment the President was inaugurated, and now they do their best to run down the country, just to put their guy in the WH- to do what? To cut taxes for the wealthiest, keep subsidies for Big Oil, and try to deregulate financial industries, once again.
Amy, I boast that I don't live in a swing state or one with all those kind of ads. We get a few now and then but here on the left coast are pretty much in the Obama camp and proud of it.
I'm glad I don't live in a real swing state. The congressional ads are bad enough. We are generally told we have to NOT elect the other person because that person will raise taxes and is a tax cheat who made money and will end Medicare and will steal your paycheck and ship jobs to china and kill grandma.
You can very easily run the same exact ads and just change the name of the person you are attacking and no one will know the difference.
Frankly, in my district, we might get a few flyers and a few law signs, but that's about it.
I think that all of the advertising has gotten to the saturation point where none of it helps.
"caring person of principle"
I'm sure he loves his family and friends as we all do.
But a man of principle will stand or fall on those principles. Romney has not stood firm on principles in the past 8 years. From abortion to states rights, he has compromised his principles to adapt to the crowd in front of him.
I would love to hear more about Romney's claim that 50 state run FEMA's are better than one coordinated effort. Or for that matter, why gifting FEMA to Halliburton or Bain capital will result in a better FEMA. In the latter instance, Halliburton/Bain would still be doing a cost analysis complete with Power Point presentations on whether the Sandy disaster is worth their time and/or effort. Very similar to the privatized medical insurance industry as they pick and choose what they will or will not cover.
Gee, thanks but no thanks Romney. Defending against and rebuilding from Sandy started days before the storm was forecast to hit and will continue for the next several months. That is why the Federal government should run FEMA.
RedDev-
Right? Stephen Colbert said last night (sarcastically as usual) that of course disaster relief should be the responsibility of the states. Who better to deal with a major catastrophe than the state that just had its infrastructure completely devastated?
This states' rights rhetoric is getting out of hand.
What about Benghazi? I miss Benghazi!
Irving, while most Republicans suffer from delusions of grandeur, they also suffer from ADHD. Thankfully, both will be covered by Obamacare!
You must be thinking of Ben Gazzara the actor LOL. He is gone. Benghazi isn't and won't be for some time.
As I am sure an Addadictome is. The transgender community is rejoicing.
I always liked Ben Gazzara...is Gina Rowlands still alive?
What about Ben Casey?
As I am sure an Addadictome is. The transgender community is rejoicing.
Yes! Exactly! Equality for all Americans!
Benghazi-Brain syndrome (acronym BBS) is a progressive disease that starts with a mild case FF-BS (FastFurious-Brain Syndrome) and escalates downhill into eventually a full mental breakdown. It is widely believed tinfoil is the common cure. Sadly, the only cure is extraction of the last remaining brain cell.
Irving - just go back to FoxNews that's all they are talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrGogKAr8wc
Irving99,
Did you say you want to be in the Miss Bengazi pageant? I have a bulldog that would likely beat you out if not in looks certainly in Miss congeniality.
Romney FTW 2012
I disagree with the President. Mitt Romney IS the candidate of change...he changes every five minutes. He was pro-choice before he was pro-life. He was against FEMA before he was for it (just yesterday). And that's just the tip of the iceberg. He thinks he's ordained to be President by some higher power. But if he's elected you will find out what those of us in MA know...he's nothing but an incompetent BS artist who will privatize everything (Medicare, Soc.Sec., FEMA) to benefit his wealthy friends and family.
I do not understand what kind of person could vote for Romney. To vote for Romney you would have to believe in the following:
1. It is ok to lie about others to advance your own purpose.
2. It is ok to give your opinion, on sensitive international affairs, that could put american lives in danger--again to serve your own political purpose.
3. It is ok to spend 5 thousand dollars on can foods--to make it look like people are donating them--again just to make yourself look good in the public eye.
4. It is ok to sell off companies to make rich men richer, and destroy the lives of all those who worked there.
5. It is ok to lead by "terrible example."
6. It is ok to refer to hard working people (47 percent) as "deadbeats."
Well, it is not ok to me. I voted Obama, and Romney, "I hope you get what you deserve for running a dishonest campaign."
Buy the way, I have paid taxes and worked hard all my adult life.
1. Like Obama and the whole "Video" incident.
2. What are you talking about
3. Should he steal them instead and then donate. I don't get your point.
4. He sells them to rebuild them so people can keep their jobs. Yes some will lose but isn't that better than all losing their job. It is called business
5. What does that even mean
6. 47% will vote for Obama no matter if the know the truth about him or not. That is what he was trying to say. I see you fall for the media twist on everything. 47% will vote for Obama and he can do nothing about it.
Now move along. Nothing to see here. The media has done a good job on you.
You my friend are an idiot. I wouldn't surprise me if what happened in Benghazi was a direct result of Obama and Biden spiking the football on Bin Laden twice a day. Idiots...
I do not see how anyone can vote for Obama. He says things that sound good at the time but turn our to be just bs. He has failed to keep his promises on the economy. His administration has run up a staggering amount of debt. He failed to bring the nation together as he had promised. His reaching across the isle has been with middle finger extended that has caused a stalemate in Washington. The congress has not even passed a budget in years yet they are required to do so by law. His transparent administration is anything but. He failed to cut the deficit in half in four years as he promised unconditionally and if reelected he will end up doubling the debt in 8 years. His economic plan for the next four years is devoid of details, and budget and is mathematically impossible.
cnn.com/2012/11/01/opinion/bennett-benghazi-obama/index.html
Obama is not a leader. He is a mocker and a divider. He rules by dividing this country like it has never been before.
Gosh, you people love living in that republican bubble in which facts can't get in. President Obama is one of the Greatest Presidents in history. That is a FACT!
Wow Nutjob 1, You really are nut job.
I read the President's economic plan for the next four years. The Plan is devoid of detail to include budget. It appears to be primarily a wish list. It seems that the President wants the federal government to spend a lot of money that it does not have to train math and science teacher's to teach vocational classes at the JC level for jobs that do not really exist in this country. Foreign manufacturers are paying their workers roughly a tenth of the minimum that our workers require and that is why they can always beat domestic manufactures on price. Neither candidate seems to have a solution for this problem. It is our huge trade deficit that is degrading efforts to revive the economy by injecting more money.
In many states, state colleges and universities are having to raise tuition to make ends meet because of tighter state budgets. The President wants to withdrew federal funding from these schools so that they either have to raise tuition even more or close down facilities. The President thinks that this effort will help improve the quality of education in America.
The President is expecting to pass his increased taxes on the "Rich". He has been trying to do that for the past four years but he somehow thinks the can prevail in the next 4 years. This tax will at best take 100 billion dollars per year from the private sector and put it into the public sector. The President promised that the 2012 federal deficit would not exceed 229.27 billion dollars yet the actual deficit exceeded 1.1 trillion dollars so his efforts to date to cut the deficit have been less than successful. He is proposing more spending and unspecified cuts and which has been provided it is impossible that any actually deficit reduction will take place. So I am looking at a nominal annual deficit of 1 trillion dollars assuming the increased taxes on the "rich" passes.
At the heart of the President's plan is the idea of bringing the troops home in 2014 and with the savings use half of it to start paying down our debt and use the other half for infrastructure improvements. To start paying down the debt the federal government has to run a surplus. To run a surplus with half of the piece dividend, the federal government will have to realize a savings of more than 2 trillion dollars per year from bringing the troops home. That amount is more than twice a s much as we are paying for defense including all overseas operations. The President's plan is mathematically impossible. Mathematically impossible plans are at the least less than viable. The President's plan is an example of fantasy economics.
My biggest concern is all the debt that our federal government has been accumulating. With a debt or more than 16 trillion dollars and huge deficits predicted for at least another decade, I estimate that the money that the federal government is borrowing today will end up costing the tax payers more than 10 times the amount borrowed to repay over the next 180 years. Paying 10 times the going rate for goods and services is not good management. The President has yet to present a detailed plan for repaying the debt. The tax payers have a right to know how much all of this federal borrowing to going to end up costing them.
I mock The Bishop and his queen thinking that it is 'their turn'. Put away the tape measures GOP crowd. The White House is staying in Democratic hands.
I am one of the 47% of whom Romney is so contemptuous. I am 69 years old. I have been in the workplace in some capacity or another for 54 years. During that time, I paid into both Social Security and Medicare. Now I am claiming the benefits I paid for. I am not a mooch or a leech or a deadbeat. I do take personal responsibility and care for my life, as I have cared for others throughout my life.
His running mate, Mr. Ryan, thinks I am one of 30% of this country he labels "takers".
Since Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan have such disdain for me and for millions like me, why on earth should I ever consider voting for him? Explain that to me, please.
The country is going bankrupt under Obama. His economic plan for the next 4 years is mathematically impossible. Romney is a business turn around specialist. We need his expertise to change the economic course of the nation. If we continue the way that we have been going we will all end up feeling the pain of financial collapse of the federal government. Greece will not be their to bale us out.
Doximom,
Thank you for your contribution to our society. You worked for your entitlements and you deserve to collect them.
Romney referred to the 47% of the population that will not vote for him because they like Obama better. He never said he did not care about these people, only that he did not worry about trying to get them to vote for him.
Paul Ryan has never referred to people that have worked their entire life and are now collecting Social Security and using Medicare benefits as "Takers". So don't worry, you are not a 'Taker" and Paul Ryan never accused you of being one.
You are the honest, hard working American that the has made this country great. I applaud you even though I disagree with voting for someone because they convinced to that the other guy does not like you. Instead, please look at the records of both candidates and make your choice based on that. If I told you that Obama does not like you, would that keep you from voting for him? I hope not. I hope you are smart enough to look beyond the jabs that both parties take at each other and decide who you feel (Not who someone tells you) will do the best job at repairing America. It is currently broke, in more ways than one.
Since Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan have such disdain for me and for millions like me, why on earth should I ever consider voting for him? Explain that to me, please
Because the choice of a President should not be based on who you think likes you. It should be based on who can do the best for the most Americans. This is not a popularity contest.
Which person would you want as your next boss:
1. The guy that says he thinks your haircut looks funny and that you are a little overweight, but he will hire you at $20 an hour.
2. The guy that tells you how pretty you are, loves the sound of your voice and compliments your children as being "Really, Really SMART!", but he does not have a job for you right now. Check back in 4 years and he can probably get you a position for $12 an hour.
JC in G---you are wrong---go listen to the tape again. Romney equated the people who don't pay income taxes with the people who support President Obama and said he, Romney, wouldn't get their support because they won't take responsibility for their lives. Apparently Romney doesn't understand that people like Doximom can take full responsibility for their lives, work hard for many years, collect social security and medicare and not have enough income that they are required to pay taxes. Shows how out of touch he is.
I have a serious question.........Don't you think all these billionaire are backing Romney for nothing??????
That they don't have their own agenda....and its not to help the middle class....... less regulation, more welfare for corporate America......They talk welfare for the poor, they need to talk about welfare for the wealthy..........but we will see the truth.....the truth always comes out in the end.....
And if Romney so virtuous why does he lie about JEEP even the CEO of the car company came out and said it was a LIE...... why does he have to stoop to falsehoods and lies to when the election. Makes you wonder what else he is lying about.....like caring for the 100% percent not just 52%........
Don't you think the unions will want something from Obama?
Caring for 100%, yes.
Worrying about the 47% that will never vote for him, no.
There is a difference.
What lie are you referring to about Jeep. Please include the specific quote, not just a left wing talking point.
Thanks.
Jeep is not leaving the country for China as Romney says. Jeep is so successful that they are expanding and hiring more American workers. They are also making Jeeps in China for the Chinese which is thumbs up. Building where you sell is great when you are doing so well in America. This is unlike Romney and Bain who are closing companies and taking the equipment and jobs to China for Chinese workers who will be paid little to nothing for the greed of republicans like Romney.
You're absolutely right, s. harris. The Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson didn't become super-powerful billionaires by throwing away millions of dollars. They're not supporting Romney, they're investing in his presidency. Because if he wins, they'll save billions in taxes
Who cares if the rest of the country goes down the toilet? They'll have gotten a killer return on their investiment.
JC in G- I know why you wanted the "specific quote". Because the wording in Romney's anti-Jeep ad isn't technically untrue. But the message of the ad is undeniable, and the intent of the ad is clearly to scare Ohio auto workers into believing a lie.
Don't you think there's something wrong with a candidate and his campaign when even his most ardent supporters have to split hairs to try to say he isn't a liar?
Obama can talk about his "reaching across the aisle" all he wants, but it's a fraud. He promised a change in Washington, no more red and blue he said, but he didn't deliver. We've got more red and blue than ever before. Blame it all on the GOP if you want, but that's like saying every divorce is 100% my "ex"s" fault. Bottom line is that the president doesn't talk to legislators...even of his own party. He finds time to phone, literally, thousands of donors while riding around on air force one, but hasn't bothered to talk to John Boehner since July.....February before that.....December before that. How can you possibly claim you're reaching across the aisle when you only talk to the speaker of the house three times in over a year? It's laughable.
Steve, President Obama tried on several occasions to reach across the aisle only to have his hand slapped by those whose stated objective was not to govern for the people but simply to make Obama a one term president.
Barack Obama is an extraordinary man and I my choice for President. Slow and steady wins the race...his approach has been thoughtful and the outcome has been successful. The Republican obstructionists (think record filibusters) had a goal in mind to ensure that the President was not reelected. Shame on them. Party before people...what a disgrace. Colin Powell's chief of staff, a republican had an explanation for why the republicans don't want the president reelected. I hope he's wrong...
John Boehner is a traitor and should be charged with sedition for taking part in the conspiracy of January 19,2009, along with Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and several others.
They conspired to destroy the economy simply to make President Obama a one-term president.
Boehner's lucky the President speaks to him at all.
Willard ran out of words long time ago, when he said he wasn't going to produce 10 years of Taxes. What else could he say? So like all Liars he now has to steal. Stealing can lead to killing. The last pitiful act of desperate coward. Cowards can be dangerous.
To me, reelecting the President means 4 more years of the same just hoping that things change. The President's new program to fix the the economy, besides being mathematically impossible, is just more of his same on going program to fix the economy. My biggest concern is all of the debt that has been building up. I estimate that an additional 5 trillion dollars of debt will end up costing the tax payers 50 trillion dollars to repay in 180 years. I agree with the President when he stated:
And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on.
Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America’s priorities. Instead,interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans–a debt tax that Washington doesn’t want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.
Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.
~ Senator B. H. Obama, March 2006
Under Obama's presidencey we have escaped the Republican Economic Financial Crisis that almost ruined all our lives. Now you want to run back to a guy that is like Bush only worse? How dumb can you be. It is that simple.
Romney may be a "quick change artist", as he changes his positions so quickly, and frequently, but he sure as hell isn't a "big change" candidate.
TAXES
”While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks,” Warren Buffett, US second wealthiest.
LIE: I’ll work with Democrats. But he can’t. Romney’s signed the Teapublican Tax Pledge of never raising the Rich Tax ever even if nation goes over the cliff. Problem’s the Dems and the 99%’ll never buy his hogwash.
Voters want to see his tax reports and offshore accounts. Romney’s worth $250 millions and pays little or no taxes. Genius or a cheat? Clobbered Middle Class pay up to 35% tax rate and would die to know how in the hell he does it.
The only 'change' that the GOP/RNC "Speculator and Chief" only likes the change that gingles in his tax cheating pockets. The "Outsourcer and Chief" likes 'change' that is of silver and gold. The GOP/RNC Bain Trained Speculator has made alot of 'change' from China The GOP/RNC Zombie and Chief is going to make more change when Sensata in Freeport Illinois is finally sent to china. The GOP/RNC "Tax Cheat and Chief" likes to hide his gold and silver 'change' in secret Swiss Accounts. Why is the IRS not investigating this GOP/Tea Begger "Tax Cheat??"
American: Mr. Romney - what do you think of (fill in the blank)
Romney: Well, what do you want to hear?
The only thing Romney knows about change is changing his mind. He is a political whore who is a narcissist, a liar, and a panderer to the wealthy. He makes me sick.
On election day next Tuesday, let's come together and help President Obama learn a valuable Life Lesson that Millions of Americans have learned these past 4 years.
What it's like to lose your job due to a Failed Economic Plan.
UNINSTALLING OBAMA..... ████████████████▒ 99.8% complete
The president said he would create the dept. of business. Obama is so out of touch with the working class.
we got the obama phone during his first term. probably get obama cable tv if reelected.how can hard working tax paying folks who are really struggling to pay bills see welfare people have it better than they do in alot of areas. no rent, insurance food, meds ect.
When Obama called on the SEALS they acted and killed Bin Laden. When the SEALS called on Obama in Benghazi, he just let them die............
is the entire republican world based on lies and misinformation. Appears to be readng these posts
Hey Dahly- then why didnt Mittens have the guts to challenge Obama during debate three which was based on Foreign affairs yet mittens never mentioned Benghazie after being called out for the lie in debate two.
Idiot. Terrorists struck in Libya. They killed four wonderful Americans and the republicans cut millions for the security of our embassies. Facts for you rigth wing lunatics who are trolls for the one percent of wreck and ruin.
thats not what lamb said under oath at congress, nice spin attempt, you must be the king of dramamine.
Obama abandons Americans in need.
Obama denied ambassadors plea for more protection.
Obama reduces ambassadors protection.
Ambassador plus 3 more murdered.
Obama spins a cover up lie.
Obama lies for 2 weeks.
Obama has
Hillary lie
UN ambassador lie
Biden Lie
Press secretary lie
Obama, Obama, Obama, lie, lie, lie
What a poor, weak little man.
You're wrong about everything you posted.
The embassy staff (not the ambassador himself) sent a request to the State Dept. for more security for the embassy in Tripoli, not the consulate in Benghazi. It was a mid-level paper-pusher at the State Dept. that denied the request. Neither Clinton nor Obama ever heard about the request until after the attack. At no point was any security reduced.
When Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Rice were speaking to the press the following weekend, they were using talking points from the most current CIA briefs. They weren't lying, they were following the best intelligence of the moment.
The CIA still believes that those that attacked the consulate in Benghazi had been conspiring to do something, but had no real plan. When they saw the demonstrations in Cairo over the Youtube video, they chose that as their motivating moment and went into action.
One thing we can be sure of: President Obama will track them down and kill them, unlike his worthless predecessor who would prefer to keep them alive as a kind of bogeyman to keep the American people scared.
.... AND YET MORE LIES FROM FOX NEWS .... REPUBLICAN PARTY USING LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES ..... JUST PATHETIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .... and voters don't see it ... or refuse to see it???
U.S. says CIA responded within 25 minutes to Benghazi attack
Intelligence officials dispute a report by Fox News that officers in Libya were ordered to 'stand down' after the diplomatic compound came under attack.
By Ken Dilanian, Los Angeles Times November 2, 2012
WASHINGTON — CIA security officers in a Benghazi post responded within 25 minutes to a call for help from a nearby State Department compound after it came under attack Sept. 11, officials said Thursday, seeking to refute a Fox News report asserting that CIA managers ordered them to stay put.
In releasing a detailed timeline of CIA actions that night, senior intelligence officials have put aside long-standing concerns about revealing the extent of the agency's presence in Benghazi in order to push back against what officials say are baseless allegations that aid was withheld.
"At every level in the chain of command, from the senior officers in Libya to the most senior officials in Washington, everyone was fully engaged in trying to provide whatever help they could," a senior intelligence official said in a statement. "There were no orders to anybody to stand down in providing support."
Fox News asserted in a story last week that CIA managers had ordered agency security officers to "stand down" and remain in their own facility, known as the Annex, when the attack on the diplomatic compound began about 9:40 p.m. and that there was an hour delay before officers disobeyed orders and went to help repel the attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and State Department officer Sean Smith.
Among those who rushed to help was Tyrone Woods, a former Navy SEAL who was part of the CIA security team and who later died in the attacks.
The Fox story also asserted that the CIA "chain of command" refused to pass along requests from its officers for military aid and that special operations forces in nearby Sicily could have been sent to help but were not. Intelligence and Pentagon officials strenuously denied that Thursday.
They insisted there was no viable military option to disrupt what amounted to a series of sporadic attacks in a crowded city full of people sympathetic to the U.S. There were no armed drones in the region and airstrikes were not called for, officials said.
"Let's say we were able to get an aircraft there. Do you go in and start strafing a populated area without knowing where friend or foe is?" a senior Defense official asked. "If you did that, you could kill the very people you are trying to help."
A special operations team was sent to Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, but the team arrived after the attack ended, said the senior Defense official, who would not be quoted by name discussing potentially classified
information.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta learned of the attack shortly after it began, about 4:30 p.m Eastern
time, Defense officials said, and discussed it in a previously scheduled meeting with the president. Obama ordered him to pursue whatever options were feasible, a Defense official said.
Panetta "ordered all appropriate forces to respond to the unfolding events in Benghazi, but the attack was over before those forces could be employed,"Pentagon spokesman George Little said.
Shortly after 11 p.m. a surveillance drone had arrived from elsewhere in Libya — about an hour after it was requested, officials said. But the video feed was not seen by the president, contrary to some news reports. And the feed did not offer analysts a clear understanding of what was happening on the ground, officials said.
After the CIA team arrived at the compound, "over the next 25 minutes, team members approach the compound, attempt to secure heavy weapons [from Libyans], and make their way onto the compound itself in the face of enemy fire," the senior U.S. intelligence official said.
The senior intelligence official disclosed that the CIA also sent a second six-member team from Tripoli on a chartered plane to help repel the attack. The team included Glen Doherty, another former SEAL, who was later killed when attackers fired mortar rounds at the CIA Annex.
The team arrived around midnight but got bogged down at the airport. Ultimately, it learned that "the ambassador was almost certainly dead" and headed to the agency facility "to assist with the evacuation," the official said.
It arrived with Libyan support at the Annex at 5:15 a.m., just before mortar rounds began to strike. Woods and Doherty were killed as they fired on militants from the roof. The mortar attack lasted 11 minutes, the official said.
The drone overhead was not armed. Even if it had been, there were no viable targets, officials said.
"The officers on the ground in Benghazi responded to the situation on the night of 11 and 12 September as quickly and as effectively as possible," the intelligence official said. "The security officers in particular were genuine heroes. They quickly tried to rally additional local support and heavier weapons, and when that could not be accomplished within minutes, they still moved in and put their own lives on the line to save their comrades."
nice spin attempt, see vila for your daily dose of Dramamine, then read the remark about lambs testomony.
What kind of commander abandons his troops to die.
Obama is a Coward, a lying Coward.
Weak little man.
I would not follow that man anywhere.
Well, I hope you're not one of those supporters of President Bush that lead our troops to die in Iraq based on lies of weapons of mass destruction.
justblogging, so you think my freinds who died over there did so for nothing then?
Obama had the time and resources to save
the ambassador and 3 others.
Obama knew he failed so what did the coward do.
Obama created a cover up lie to hide his failure.
Obama is a weak, little man.