At 11:53pm last night Talking Points Memo released a statement from the Obama campaign condemning Mitt Romney for criticizing something the White House itself disavowed — an appalling apology issued by the State Department.

Eight hours later, President Obama finally got around to condemning the monsters who attacked us on our own soil and killed our fellow citizens.

Yesterday, on the 11th anniversary of September 11, the Obama White House snubbed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accepted an invitation from David Letterman, and apologized to Islamists upset over a film that mocks Islam and Mohammed — something “artists” in America do to Christianity with my tax dollars on a fairly regular basis.

First off: Why is our Embassy apologizing for a film no one has seen and apologizing for freedom of speech and expression? In a word, that’s un-American. And let’s remember that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doubled down on the apology. Last night, though, the White House finally disavowed the apology, but now the hypocritical and wildly dishonest Obama campaign is lashing out at Mitt Romney for being critical of the same apology the White House itself disavowed.

Here’s the Romney statement:

I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.

So I guess it’s okay for President Obama to criticize that disgraceful apology but not Romney. And now the left is claiming the apology in question from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo was made before the compound was attacked. But it’s just a fact that the on Twitter and elsewhere, even after the attack, that the Embassy defended and stood by the apology.

And let me reiterate that after the attack, Hillary doubled down on it.

Via TPM: Here’s the hysterical and dishonest response from the Obama campaign:

“We are shocked that, at a time when the United States of America is confronting the tragic death of one of our diplomatic officers in Libya, Governor Romney would choose to launch a political attack,” Obama’s campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt said in a statement.

Not only is the Obama campaign’s “shock” completely manufactured — damn that Romney for criticizing the same apology Obama just disavowed! — but the Obama campaign is dishonestly trying to make it sound as though Romney was exploiting a tragic death. Moreover, I’m unaware of any condemnation of the Islamists who attack and killed our embassy personnel made before the campaign condemned Mitt Romney.

So who’s really playing politics here?

If only the Obama campaign could find half the outrage they saved for Romney to level at the murderers.

Well, you know, priorities.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC