jitteriness in the american public about the circumstances in the middle east. with respect to the specifics, i mean i would point out that in yesterday s washington post , and i certainly feel this way, but george will really gave expression to this in the most meaningful way i ve seen so far and that is that these insurgencies are predicated on the collapse of crumbling regimes and hierarchyes and they have ignited complex sectarian and tribal power struggles. sometimes anti-american system used in these power struggles. it is very important none of us rush to judgement but be engaged into deliberative process. donna, no one is rushing to judgement here. we listened to the spokesperson of the white house carney. we ve listened to our u.n. ambassador and basically they said it was because of this videotape and now we re finding out that it s not. and listen, when you listen to this administration, for
mcglowan, political analyst and donna genteel. advisor. donna, you re a member of the administration. why would they make this turn-around? why after insisting all this time that this was just a spontaneous demonstration, why all of a sudden is it now a terror attack? well, i think what s been very clear from the outside outset there is ongoing investigation by the libyan government and in cooperation with the united states. we very much, i think have made substantial investments in this country and that is probably best, that find expression in the important contributions that were detailed in today s washington post by the prime minister, the first prime minister, who talked very compellingly in this piece about the contributions of the ambassador of chris stevens. so i think that everyone is loathe to rush to judgment
ambassador, to libya, also said that he was very concerned about his safety in libya. so donna, you gave a better explanation. when you have our u.s. ambassador to the u.n. say that these attacks were spontaneous and that these attacks were due to a videotape, that is not a great explanation. jon: the president, we have been told, or we have learned recently from some reporting in the washington post , has been skipping the personal daily intelligence briefing more than of ha the time. now jay carney from the white house press office said, oh, he reads them instead but doesn t give the give and take every day. why should the american people, donna, why should they not be concerned about that at a time like this? the american people have every right to be concerned, and i think that is expressed in the polling data that you first presented. you know there is a lot of
about what prompted this, what really drove it, and an investigative process is absolutely essential to producing better information on what occurred, so that the investment that we ve made in libya can be, can produce the kind of outcome that we all need. donna you ve given . jon: angela is not talking about a rush to judgment here. there is difference to rush to judgment and willful blindness than what took place. donna gave a better explanation than carney and u.s. ambassador susan rice. they basically said because of this videotape, jon. clearly with everything that is coming out it s not. if you look at the timeline where we had installations, diplomatic installations attacked in june. we find out there was a report in august that some part has been unclassified where there were reports that there were increased dangers in libya and in yemen, and the u.s.
joining us for fair and balance debate. monica crowley, radio talk show host, fox news contributor and donna genteel is former advisor to senator bob casey and former staffer for governor ed rendell. welcome, ladies. monica, i will start with you. the president is being being criticized for leading from behind. now he is aggressive. why criticize him for that? unusual for sitting president to strike out at opponent this early in the race because he is sitting president and should be governing and instead of campaign. the truth he has been campaigning for about a year, doing record breaking numbers of fund-raisers. so this is not unusual for him. jenna: donna, what do you think about that? is president at risk not seeming presidential by doing this? no. i don t think he seems at risk at all. i mean the president has a record to defend and he has an agenda to pursue. the challenge for every