Using the death of someone for political gain. How Mitt.
Why, yes it is
Howey!On Tuesday, Romney spoke to supporters in Iowa, recalling a chance encounter with a former Navy SEAL while mistakenly attending a Christmas party in San Diego a few years ago.
“I met some remarkable people, one of whom was a former Navy SEAL," Romney said. "I just learned a few days ago that he was one of the two former Navy SEALs killed in Benghazi. It broke my heart.”
Romney didn't directly provide Doherty's name, but his campaign later confirmed his identity. He was one of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, killed during a violent assault on the consulate in Benghazi last month.
Boston's WHDH later reached out to Doherty's mother, Barbara, to get her reaction to Romney's campaign trail anecdote.
"I don't trust Romney. He shouldn't make my son's death part of his political agenda," she told WHDH. "It's wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama.”
Doherty similarly decried the politicization of her son's death in an interview with the Boston Herald last month.
Glen Doherty's friend, Elf Ellefsen, also spoke with Seattle's KIRO, expressing similar disagreement with Romney's mention of his friend's death.
According to Ellefsen, Doherty found his exchange with Romney to be "insincere and stale."
"Mitt Romney approached him ultimately four times, using this private gathering as a political venture to further his image," Ellefsen told KIRO. "He kept introducing himself as Mitt Romney, a political figure. The same introduction, the same opening line ... [Doherty] said it was pathetic and comical to have the same person come up to you within only a half hour, have this person reintroduce himself to you, having absolutely no idea whatsoever that he just did this 20 minutes ago, and did not even recognize Glen's face."
