During an appearance on Fox & Friends Thursday morning, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed that 2012 Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney could have possibly defeated President Obama in 2012 if he “had made Benghazi a bigger issue.” This came during a discussion about the potential 2016 GOP field and the possibility that Romney may throw his hat in the ring for a third time. Per Giuliani, if Romney decided to get in the race, he needs to run a more aggressive campaign and not shy away from hard-hitting topics, like he did with Benghazi.
There were a lot of competing narratives going on in this short segment Thursday morning. Noticeably, Giuliani and the Fox hosts wanted to play the ‘what if’ game and provide fanciful post-game analysis regarding Romney’s 2012 campaign. Recently, we’ve had news that Romney feels that the improving economy was the reason he lost in 2012, even though his campaign centered on the premise that the economy was extremely weak and Obama was the main reason behind it. Now, we have a Republican saying Benghazi should have been hammered on even harder during the final weeks of the campaign.
Of course, while making the claim that Romney should have made a bigger deal about Benghazi, the hosts and Giuliani still gave him a pass because of the liberal media. Host Steve Doocy brought up CNN anchor Candy Crowley famously correcting Romney during a debate when Romney claimed Obama did not call the Benghazi attack an act of terror. Giuliani said Crowley was lying when she said that and essentially blamed her and the media for pushing a falsehood that could have cost Romney the election.
Another thing that was apparent during this segment is the right-wing media will obviously try to make Benghazi a lead issue again in 2016, despite the fact that a GOP-led House investigation revealed there was no coverup or scandal involved in the Benghazi attack. With former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton more than likely the Democrat nominee, the feeling is that Benghazi has to be front and center in the debate, regardless of the facts. Therefore, this needs to stay in the conversation.
Another interesting point in the discussion is the apparent willingness to embrace a third Romney campaign. Considering that he failed to grab the nomination from an underfunded John McCain in 2008 and was soundly beaten by Obama in 2012, you’d think that conservatives would be doing everything in their power to stop him from running a third time. However, the feeling from the Fox & Friends set was a Romney 2016 campaign could work.
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of Fox News:
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