Jan Stevens, the father of Ambassador Chris Stevens who was killed in the September 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, told Bloomberg, “It would really be abhorrent to make this into a campaign issue.” He said that the campaigns should wait until the end of the formal investigation instead of drawing kneejerk conclusions.
Obama campaign senior advisor Robert Gibbs and senior campaign strategist David Axelrod on Sunday morning news shows accused the Romney camp of “exploiting the tragedy for political gain,” reported Salon.com. “Republicans have raised questions about whether the White House was aware of a request from a State Department official to extend a security force’s time in Libya. In Thursday night’s debate, Vice President Joe Biden said it was not. Republicans have also accused the White House of saying the attack was a response to the anti-Islamic film ‘Innocence of Muslims’ rather than a pre-planned terrorist attack."
Bloomberg reported, "Romney hasn’t specified what he would do differently than the administration in Libya. In a speech at the Virginia Military Institute earlier last week, he called for support of Libya’s 'efforts to forge a lasting government' and to pursue the 'terrorists who attacked our consulate.'”
"That view is at odds with the position Romney took more than a year ago, when he opposed expanding the intervention in Libya to capture Muammar Qaddafi, calling it “mission creep and mission muddle” in April 2011." the report continues.
A registered Democrat, Jan Stevens is preparing for a memorial service for his son this week.
"…while he was close to his son, 'we weren’t that familiar with the day-to-day activities' he undertook in Libya..." according to Bloomberg. When Ambassador Stevens made phone calls home, he did not share many details about his work other than to say that “he was very optimistic about the results of the election and the new government.” The father and son last spoke by phone in August and by e-mail, only days before his son’s death.
Mr. Stevens declined to say how he will vote in the presidential election.
He said that his son, who was a career diplomat and had worked for Democratic and Republican presidents, had not expressed much worry to him about the security situation or support from the administration, Bloomberg reported.