Conservative super PAC American Crossroads released “World,” a particularly misleading attack on President Barack Obama’s actions on the day U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed in Libya.
The video opens with the sound of sirens and crackling fires as shots of protests and burning buildings are shown. A newscaster reads a statement from the White House confirming that the Obama administration considers the killing of the ambassador to Libya and three other Americans to be a terrorist attack.
On that day, the narrator says, Obama “campaigned in Las Vegas.” It also accuses the president of skipping meetings with world leaders at the United Nations so he could appear on a television show.
Obama was not in Las Vegas campaigning on Sept. 11, the day of the attack. Both he and Romney refrained from campaigning that day out of respect for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Obama went to Las Vegas the next day, the official White House schedule shows, and spoke of the attack.
And the president, as the ad seems to suggest, did not “snub key allies” the day of the attack in Libya to be on “The View.” His television appearance was two weeks after the attack.
The ad claims Obama was busy with “The View” while Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was calling for a new world order at the UN. Ahmadinejad did speak at the UN that day, and the American delegation was absent — because it was boycotting Ahmadinejad’s speech in protest of his strident anti-Israel position.
Obama did not skip any scheduled meetings at the UN with world leaders — he declined to hold impromptu sideline meetings that sometimes follow annual UN conferences, according to news reports.
The Obama administration has been criticized for its initial statements on whether it considered the Libyan consulate attack to be an act of terrorism.
In other outside spending news:
- The American Hospital Association PAC reported spending $268,000 in support of Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, who supports Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The AHA PAC spent almost $1 million over the weekend supporting Republican candidates who opposed Obama’s health care reform, the Daily Disclosure reported Monday.
- Focus on the Family Action, a nonprofit that also goes by the name CitizenLink, reported spending $1.2 million on ads supporting Romney and several Republican U.S. Senate candidates.
- “Four Years” from conservative nonprofit American Future Fund opposes Obama, as does “Confianza,” a Spanish-language ad criticizing Obama for the botched Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation Fast and Furious, which resulted in guns ending up in the hands of drug cartels.
- Ending Spending Action Fund, the conservative nonprofit established by TD Ameritrade founder J. Joe Ricketts, reported spending $863,000 on ads opposing Obama and supporting Romney.
- Majority PAC, a super PAC supporting Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate, entered the New Jersey race Monday with a $150,000 buy supporting Sen. Bob Mendendez. This appears to be the first reported independent expenditure in the race.
- “Wind” from the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, a super PAC, features an unemployed former wind farm worker. The ad opposes Romney and cost $500,000.
- The NEA Fund for Children and Public Education, a political action committee of the National Education Association, reported spending $552,000 supporting Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., and opposing Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.
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