in this column posted at around 4 this afternoon for tomorrow's print edition.
Marcus tends to be very much of a centrist, conventional wisdom kind of writer - in other words, a typical denizen of "the Village" - which further demonstrates the trouble Romney has now created for himself with his recent comments.
I am not going to spend a lot of time going through her column. She will, for example, talk about Obama's speech in Cairo 4 years ago when he acknowledged the US role in overthrowing a democratically elected government of Iran (which is factual) but that he then immediately pivoted to the taking of the hostages from our embassy.
Allow me to offer a few snippets to give a sense of the column, as a means of persuading you to read it and pass it on.
“There are anti-American fires burning all across the globe; President Obama’s words are like kindling to them,” Romney wrote in “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.”
Romney repeated this falsehood in his acceptance speech in Tampa, claiming that Obama launched his presidency “with an apology tour.”
To Romney, apologizing means never actually having to say you’re sorry.
As irresponsible as Romney’s behavior Tuesday night, even worse was his move to double down at a Wednesday morning news conference, following word of the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other American diplomats in Libya. Tuesday night, before the killings were known, was amateurish. Wednesday morning was unconscionable.
And if I have not already convinced you had badly Romney has now lost "the Village," note the bluntness of the final column offered by Marcuys:
There is something disgraceful happening here, but it doesn’t involve a comment by an obscure embassy spokesman. It is Romney’s cynical, dishonest effort to take advantage of this national tragedy for his own political ends.
cynical, dishonest and
for his own political ends
Romney now not only has to battle the Obama campaign and the voters' doubts about him, he has created for himself his worst nightmare - most of the chattering class is now horrified by him.