Both liberals and conservatives need to get over themselves with the events of September 11, 2012, and focus on what actually happened. Not surprisingly, each needs to get over something different; even less surprisingly, the Czar has plenty of advice for each camp.

Liberals need to accept that what happened in Egypt and Libya was a tragic failure of the President. Yes, this is a very bitter pill to swallow during a campaign season, but the facts continue to support the simple explanation that the President was given firm information that attacks were going to happen to the day (Congress had already been informed on the floor as well, showing how widespread the understanding was), but the President opted to give no order to increase security, elected to appear on Letterman, and continued with a very public campaign speech knowing full well what was about to happen. It should be added that the then-only-proposed attacks were discussed in intelligence briefings days before, but the President chose neither to attend those meetings nor read the reports. Worse, the State Department has pretty specific protocols about what to do in these situations, so having the President give “the order” to prepare and prevent against such attacks would have taken him mere seconds. Whether the President believes campaigning is more important than doing his job is something each supporter must ask and answer privately; however, there is no denying he created the perception of looking utterly clueless or disinterested prior to the attacks. The President has, however, issued some fairly strong statements and has, too late perhaps, increased security worldwide. See? Took seconds.

But our liberal friends refused to believe that, particularly in the news media. No, the talk of the day was Mitt Romney, and how badly Mitt Romney handled things by accurately quoting a tweet and press release from the State Department, and how badly Mitt Romney assumed that someone working for the State Department answers to the President, and how badly Mitt Romney believed that the President is therefore in control of things, and how you really don’t want to vote for Mitt Romney because Mitt Romney is not Barack Obama. Mitt Romney.

Al-Qâ’ida openly announces attacks on the U.S. Department of State in two countries, rolls up flying their distinctive white-on-black flags, overtly attacks our Egyptian embassy and murders our ambassador and staff in Libya. The question of the day: was Mitt Romney a little too insensitive to Barack Obama? Get over yourselves. People are dead, the President utterly fumbled the event, and is now backtracking. If you really are that far into the man’s crotch, fine: at least focus on what his responses have been. But the story here has never been Mitt Romney and you damn well know it.

Conservatives: get over yourselves. Were you not all agreed in 2011 that you cannot let the media call the plays? They are falling over themselves to pin this on Mitt Romney somehow, and you are playing right along with rants, editorials, screeds, jeremiahs, and opinions. None of this will hurt Romney in the polls.

Look: when some 41-year-old in Olympia, Washington, woke up yesterday, he probably walked past a stack of bills on the mail table, quietly left the door, and walked down to the bus station. There, he found the day’s newspaper abandoned by a commuter. He sat on a bench, turned to the want ads, and sighed as he saw how few there were. And they were only looking for trained trucks drivers, experienced machinists, or skilled nursing staff; the rest of the page consisted of scam ads offering to turn him into a real estate mogul who could flip houses for enormous profit. He left the paper for someone else and walked back home to make oatmeal for the kids before they went for school. Maybe tomorrow could be something for him.

And maybe as he tossed the paper back on the bench, he caught a headline about the murder of our ambassador in Libya, and something below it in smaller print about our embassy in Egypt. He probably did not think “Wow, I hope Mitt Romney wasn’t too forward in criticising the President.” He probably wondered how many days until the election, and he can dump President Bookworm and see the want ads fill up again.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.