Rep. Allen West is the type of right-wing Republican that Mitt Romney needs to attract but whose penchant for incendiary remarks would normally cause him to keep his distance. This week, however, they’re speaking from the same playbook with accusations that President Obama’s idea of foreign policy is apologies and appeasement.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the lawmaker took it a step further, suggesting that the president is to blame for the attacks in Libya that killed the U.S. ambassador and three embassy staffers. He also compared what he called Obama’s “appeasement” and the events in Egypt and Libya unfavorably to the time when 52 Americans at the Iranian embassy were held hostage for 444 days when Jimmy Carter was president.
“Americans need to question whether the deaths of these innocent patriots could have been avoided. The Obama administration touted the Arab Spring as an awakening of freedom, which we now see is a nightmare of Islamism,” West said. “How anyone can believe this president is strong on national security and foreign policy is beyond my comprehension. President Obama has clearly surpassed former President Jimmy Carter and his actions during the Iranian hostage crisis as the weakest and most ineffective person to ever occupy the White House.”

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(Photo: ROBERT SULLIVAN/Reuters /Landov)