Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized Vice President Joe Biden for making wrongful statements about the Libyan attacks during the vice presidential debate Oct. 11.
During the debate, some Libyan references and misunderstandings were discussed. Topics such as why the Obama administration released a statement blaming protests for the attacks and the confusions between the intelligence community and the administration were addressed.
During the debate, Biden was directly asked if the Libyan embassy asked for more security prior to the attacks.
“Well, we weren’t told that they wanted more security again. We did not know that they wanted more security again,” Biden said.
The day before the debate, state officials gave statements saying they were in fact aware of the embassy’s requests for more security.
Eastern Michigan University student Phebie Mier said, “I look at factcheck.org a lot, and based on what I saw on there it seemed pretty evident that the Obama administration did not know that they needed heightened security in the embassy.”
“There were requests for it, but I don’t think it ever reached head of security,” Mier said. “I also feel that [Republican vice presidential candidate] Paul Ryan provided a budget that was a little bit less than what was requested by the Obama administration, however I don’t feel that would have really made a difference because the budget they requested was for repairs and maintenance, not security. Had the request reached the administration, I don’t think it would have made a difference.”
While giving a statement in Virginia on Friday, Romney said, “When the vice president of the United States directly contradicts the testimonies, sworn testimonies of the state department officials, American citizens have the right to know just what’s going on, and we’re going to find out, and this is the time for us to find out.”
EMU student Andrew Elsten said, “Anytime you get Biden, or Obama for that matter, in front of a camera, of course they’re going to contradict themselves. They don’t want the public to know exactly what they’re thinking, they don’t want them to know what they feel.
Whether it’s Libya, whether it’s healthcare, they’re going to deceive you. And regardless of what they know, they’re not going to tell you everything.”
