Romney and the Foreign Policy Crisis…. His Own

Mr. Kyl echoed Mr. Romney’s criticism of the embassy statement. “This is like a judge telling the woman that got raped, ‘You asked for it because of the way you dressed,’ ” he said. “O.K.? That’s the same thing: ‘Well, America you should be the ones to apologize. You should have known this would happen.’” — via the NYT.

It was hard not to think these days about John McCain issuing the US economy a clean bill of health in ’08 just as it went into free fall (or worse, to muse over a right wing Senator defending Romney’s attack on Obama with a rape metaphor).

Watching Romney/Ryan suddenly so obsessed with the military, I’m not sure if it’s actually dangerous or just desperate, the candidate intent on compensating somehow for overlooking Afghanistan at the RNC, then going on the offensive in the middle of a foreign crisis and near-instantaneously calling out Obama’s handling of it with confused facts.

On Instagram, AP photographer Charles Dharapak has taken a droll approach to the Romney theater over the past few days. In this photo of Mitt speaking to the National Guard on 9/11 (Romney relating how he smelled the stench from the plane that struck the Pentagon as he was driving the Beltway), the photographer tips his hand regarding the aspiring C.I.C., seen in the upward, obstructed view of a not-so-perceptible Romney, sandwiched between concentric emblems of military officialdom framed in harsh light. (Less artful in the hands of local Milwaukee photographers, Ryan spent 9/11 around camo.)

Even more sly is this photo yesterday of an aide adjusting the fold of the flag in Jacksonville before Romney disparaged Obama about the U.S. ambassador’s killing in Libya. (Also notice the Romney cut-out in the distance.) As things go south, the task at hand seems to be more about stage direction.

Back pedaling the way they are, I don’t imagine Team Romney feels they’ve got anywhere to go on foreign policy but up. I’m not so sure about that, however.

Things get any worse and it’s hard to imagine those photos of Ryan’s onboarding taken in front of a battleship (and “the plan” wagon) for-who-knows-what-reason (because Ryan’s from the state the ship is named after and the port is in a toss-up state?) starting to revivify this or this.

(photo 1 & 2: Charles Dharapak/AP via Instagram. photo 3: MittRomney.com. linked image: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)