HOW ROMNEY SHOT HIMSELF IN THE LEG ON LIBYA AT THE PRESIDENTAIL DEBATE

Mitt Romney pressed a prudent line of attack on President Obama on Tuesday night when the topic of the Benghazi, Libya, attack surfaced in Tuesday night’s town hall-style presidential debate. Echoing a story that has circulated heavily in conservative media in recent weeks, Romney recalled the Obama administration’s contradictory explanations as to what had caused the attacks:

There were many days that passed before we knew whether this was a spontaneous demonstration or actually whether it was a terrorist attack. And there was no demonstration involved. It was a terrorist attack, and it took a long time for that to be told to the American people. Whether there was some misleading or instead whether we just didn’t know what happened, I think you have to ask yourself, why didn’t we know five days later, when the ambassador to the United Nations went on TV to say that this was a demonstration. How could have we not known?

Solid, substantive, unimpeachable rhetoric from Romney.
When Obama got a chance to volley back, this is among the points he made (bolded text inserted):

The day after the attack, Governor, I stood in the Rose Garden, and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror. And I also said that we’re going to hunt down those who committed this crime. And then a few days later, I was there greeting the caskets coming into Andrews Air Force Base and grieving with the families. 

Romney had to be corrected on this publicly by the moderator. He  did not get his fact right. It really affected his score sheet.