Steve Kornacki at Salon says it perfectly:
The foolishness of Romney’s reaction is glaring. Pretending that the statement from the U.S. embassy in Cairo was anything other than a completely understandable and reasonable attempt by its occupants to save their own lives borders on disgraceful. Romney’s implication that the statement was issued at the height of the attacks is also false; it was actually released earlier in the day, a preventive measure aimed at keeping the protests from turning violent.
But this hasn’t stopped other Republicans – including RNC chairman Reince Priebus and Sarah Palin – from echoing the Romney line. Again, it probably shouldn’t be surprising. This is the kind of nonsense you’ll get when one party spends four years convincing itself that a president is something he isn’t.
What sort of person would use this tragedy to score political points? The fact that Mitt Romney was wrong on the facts is simply par for the course. And this is the guy Republicans want in office – A guy who would probably jump the gun and bomb the wrong country.
My prediction: Politically this will be a disaster for Romney.