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Thursday, Oct 11, 2012 8:39 PM UTC

Obama campaign deputy adds to Libya partisanship

Stephanie Cutter joins "political circus" over embassy attack, which she blames Romney and Ryan for creating VIDEO

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Topics: Election 2012, Libya embassy attack, Biggest story you missed, Paul Ryan, Libya, CNN, Mitt Romney, Stephanie Cutter, ,

Obama campaign deputy adds to Libya partisanship

In a furthering of partisan politicking over September’s Libya consulate attack, Stephanie Cutter, deputy campaign manager for President Obama, blamed Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan for making the attacks in Benghazi a “political topic.”

During a CNN appearance Thursday, Cutter said that “the entire reason that this has become the, you know, political topic it is is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan … It’s a big part of their stump speech.” She went on to lambaste Ryan for making the tragedy a “political circus.”

Critical responses emerged on Twitter within minutes. Fox News analyst Monica Crowley tweeted,  “can’t get much lower than the despicable [Cutter].” RNC Spokesman Tim Miller wrote that Cutter’s comment belonged “in the annals of people believing their own BS.” Meanwhile, journalist and author Jeremy Scahill lambasted “partisan cogs” in general:

For weeks now, as Salon has noted, partisan spats have characterized the discourse in Washington over the embassy attack in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed.

Watch Cutter’s CNN comment below:

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Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.

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