Breaking the restriction both candidates had self-imposed to avoid politicking on September 11th, Mitt Romney made an astonishingly unprofessional claim. Before he even knew the facts, he made the astonishing assertion that the Obama Administration “sympathize[d]” with the terrorists who murdered four American heroes.

Now that is low. When extremists on the Left claimed that Bush supported the attacks on September 11th as a justification for invading Iraq, I told them they were nuts. Disagree with the President all you want — and I did disagree with Bush on the War in Iraq — but saying Bush wanted 3,000 innocent Americans to die on 9/11 so America could take over Iraqi oil fields was more than I could stomach. The President of the United States is often wrong, but if you are going to claim he is evil, you need some pretty hard proof.  Otherwise whoever makes such an accusation is either a liar or a wacko.

Romney’s claim that Obama sympathizes with America’s enemies is equally abhorrent. It’s perfectly fine to disagree with Obama’s policies. It’s perfectly fine to question the Administration’s security arrangements at the consulate, just as it’s fair to ask Paul Ryan and the other Republicans in Congress why they fought State-Department funding for such security. But accusing the President of the United States of sympathizing with the murderers of our Ambassador and consulate staff is beyond the pale. It shows someone who speaks without thinking.

Romney’s too smart to believe this nonsense.  He knows there’s a world of difference between condemning a crude anti-Muslim piece of trash designed to inflame tensions (as Bush and Karen Hughes did) and sympathizing with terrorists. President Obama made a brave call to take out Bin Laden and to conduct successful drone attacks. In fact, I’m quite confident that these particular terrorists will meet an American drone quite soon. President Obama, whatever his flaws, does not sympathize with America’s enemies. Nor has any American President. And Romney knows this. He should not have tried to seek political gain from this horrific murder of some very honorable Americans.

When the United States is attacked and innocent Americans are killed, all Americans should stand together as one, support finding out exactly which terrorists did the attack, and cheer as our Government brings them to justice. Such an attack should not divide Democrats and Republicans. It should bring us together, as it did for 99% of us on September 11, 2001.