The Weekly Standard: Romney's Huckabee Moment??

I can't for the life of me figure out what it is Stephen F. Hayes is trying to get at with this: entitled Romney's Huckabee Moment

Most of Mitt Romney's statement on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto was the kind of rhetorical fluff one expects from politicians responding to a developing crisis. But then there is this bizarre line: "For those who think Iraq is the sole front in the War on Terror, one must look no further than what has happened today."

Ummm, who would that be? Is this another flare-up of Romney's recent skirmishing with John McCain? Is it a Huckabee-like criticism of the Bush Administration?

We've emailed Romney's campaign and will post whatever clarification they provide. Here is the entire statement:

The statement is self-explanatory. Why does it have to be directed to a specific candidate? Me thinks someone has been watching the politicians and what they say a might too closely.

And I wouldn't give Hillary a total pass as Jim Geraghty does, not on the merits but on this issue. Reports claim an extended debate in the Hillary camp on how to respond. It's classic Clinton. Nothing means anything until the political calculus is performed. There's no there there at her core.

After the event, as Clinton was shaking hands, a television producer asked her twice, “Senator, were you moved by Bhutto’s death?”

She ignored him. Aides said she refused to capitalize on the tragedy. (And she generally ignores questions from the press while she’s working the rope line.)

But a few hours later at a fire station here in Denison, Clinton offered a much more personal reminiscence. She described how as First Lady, she and her daughter Chelsea visited Bhutto and Bhutto’s family in Pakistan when she was prime minister.

Comments

[Terry]

I,m with you on the Romney part of this. The blogosphere's raving lunatic blogger, Andrew Sullivan, thought the Hayes comments were some kind of epiphanous moment for the "neocons," as he put it. I don't think it means squat.

[Al in St. Lou]

There's NO ONE in either party who talks as if Iraq is the only front in the War on Terror. It's a gaffe on Romney's part.

Hint: The Dems have been claiming that the war in Iraq is a distraction from the War on Terror happening in places like Afghanistan where Bush has failed to get Bin Laden.