During a discussion of whether or not it was proper of the Obama campaign to politicize the killing of Osama bin Laden, which occurred during a mission the President ordered one year ago this week, The View co-host Joy Behar said, in Obama’s defense, that if it had happened during George Bush’s tenure the Republicans would have held a ticker-tape parade from New York to Los Angeles.
Behar: But can you imagine, Sherri, if the Republicans had caught him? If Bush had caught him? They would have had a ticker tape parade going from New York to Los Angeles.
Co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the lone conservative on the show, took issue with Behar’s contention that the Republicans would have celebrated bin Laden’s death and said that it shouldn’t be politicized by either party and that doing so is crass.
The controversy surrounding the ad wasn’t as much about Obama taking credit for killing bin Laden as it was about suggesting that Romney wouldn’t have made the same call had he been president. Halfway through the ad, on the screen, the question was asked, “Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?”
Hasselbeck isn’t the only person who has a problem with the ad.
Prominent liberal Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post called the ad “despicable” during an interview on CBS Morning.
”Using the Osama bin Laden assassination, killing, the great news that we had a year ago, in order to say basically that Obama did it and Romney might not have done it … to turn it into a campaign ad is one of the most despicable things you can do.”
The Obama campaign ad was referring to remarks Romney had made criticizing Obama for saying that he would go into Pakistan to kill bin Laden whether that government liked it or not, which is very different than saying that he wouldn’t have authorized the mission.
In response to the ad, Romney said that “any thinking American would have ordered exactly the same thing.”
The Obama campaign is looking for any edge it can get in what looks like a tough re-election campaign this year, even if it means politicizing something like the death of bin Laden and casting doubt on what Romney would have done had he been in the oval office at the time.
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