Sept. 12, 1:49 a.m.: Al-Arabiya reports that the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other members of the embassy staff were killed in the attacks.

Al-Arabiya reports that the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other members of the embassy staff were killed in the attacks. Sept. 12, 7:21 a.m.: The White House releases a statement from President Obama condemning the "outrageous attack" on the U.S. Embassy in Libya.

The White House releases a statement from President Obama condemning the "outrageous attack" on the U.S. Embassy in Libya. Sept. 12, 7:47 a.m.: Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin posts an interview with Romney's senior foreign policy advisor Rich Williamson that took place Tuesday night, while the attacks were still ongoing and before it was known that four embassy staff members had died in Libya. In the interview, Williamson says the attacks are " part of a broader scheme of the president's failure to be an effective leader for U.S. interests in the Middle East."

Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin posts an interview with Romney's senior foreign policy advisor Rich Williamson that took place Tuesday night, while the attacks were still ongoing and before it was known that four embassy staff members had died in Libya. In the interview, Williamson says the attacks are " Sept. 12, ~10:00 a.m.: Romney doubles down on his criticism of Obama, and stands by his campaign's late-night statement, saying that "we express immediately when we feel that the President and his administration have done something which is inconsistent with the principles of America." (BuzzFeed has the full press conference here.)

Romney doubles down on his criticism of Obama, and stands by his campaign's late-night statement, saying that "we express immediately when we feel that the President and his administration have done something which is inconsistent with the principles of America." (BuzzFeed has the full press conference here.) Sept. 12, 2:07 p.m.: Under growing criticism for the response, the Romney campaign releases another statement, accusing the White House of being "hypocritical" by attacking Romney over his statement. It's worth noting that, other than LaBolt's statement Tuesday night, the Obama campaign has been silent on the issue.

The bottom line is that Romney's response was incendiary — a political gamble that aimed to shake up the news cycle after a week of stories about Obama's widening lead in the race. And it backfired.

The backlash has been swift and harsh, and it's come at Romney from all directions, including from within his own campaign.

Romney's campaign finance co-chair, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, tweeted this Wednesday morning:

In an interview with Fox News Wednesday afternoon, conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan said that she doesn't think "Romney has been doing himself any favors."

"Sometimes when really bad things happen, cool words or no words are the way to go," she added.

Here's MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, responding to BuzzFeed's Ben Smith, who wrote a story today quoting several unnamed Republican foreign policy advisors lamenting the Romney campaign's blunder:

And here's Time's Mark Halperin:





The Romney campaign clearly got the message, and is now circulating a memo among its top surrogates on how to talk about the candidate's Libya and Egypt response.

CNN's Peter Hamby got a hold of the talking points, which include appropriate responses to media questions.

Here's a sample from the memo:

Reports indicate the embassy in Cairo released its initial statement before the invasion of the embassy commenced. Doesn’t this show they were trying to tamp down the protest and prevent what ultimately happened, not sympathize with the protesters?

– The Administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions.

– Distancing themselves from the statement and saying it wasn't ‘cleared by Washington’ reflects the mixed signals they are sending to the world.

– American leadership needs to be decisive and resolute when our interests are threatened or attacked. For the last four years, this has been lacking.

– We have seen a foreign policy of weakness, indecision, and a decline in American influence and respect – and yesterday we saw the consequences.

– If pressed: The Obama campaign is now attacking Governor Romney for being critical of the same statement the Administration itself disavowed. This is hypocritical.

Did Governor Romney “jump the gun” last night in releasing his statement?

– No. It is never too soon to stand up for American values and interests.

Still, the attacks on the U.S. Embassies in the Middle East — and Romney's related blunder — don't change the fact that the 2012 presidential race is still all about the economy. What Romney's response does show, however, is that his campaign is, at best, easily distracted, and at worst, that they are getting increasingly desperate that their candidate and their message aren't working.

UPDATE, 4:21 p.m.: Scaramucci emailed Business Insider this afternoon to clarify that his tweet was not intended as an attack on Romney. He also pointed us to his latest tweets (the first one links to this story):