Mary Commanday, the mother of slain U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, told CBS News this morning that she doesn’t believe blaming the government for her son’s death is appropriate. “I don’t think it’s productive to lay blame on people.” Watch the interview:
This isn’t the first time Commanday has called for civility. Two weeks after Stevens’ death she told a news station in San Francisco:
“How can anyone place blame for his death…these were circumstances beyond our government’s control. I am perfectly aware that there was danger. But he was a grown man, well-educated and careful. I knew he was out there doing good work.”
Stevens’ father made similar comments last week, when he told Bloomberg News: “It would really be abhorrent to make this into a campaign issue. … It has to be objectively examined. That’s where it belongs. It does not belong in the campaign arena.”
It’s not clear whether or not the Romney campaign will heed Commanday’s call; yesterday, a Republican National Committee spokesman told Buzzfeed that the campaign would continue to push the issue of whether or not President Obama called the attacks an act of terror: “We will be forcefully making sure that the timeline is accurately communicated.” Candy Crowley, Tuesday’s presidential debate moderator, corrected Mitt Romney, in real time, for making that same argument: “He did call it an act of terror.”