And those are the kinder thoughts that the editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal had for Barack Obama in their lead editorial yesterday. Those conclusions refer to Obama’s overall performance on the economy and foreign policy. When they get down to specifics on Benghazi, the anger pulses through every sentence (via Twitchy):

The official explanation for the inadequate security? This administration didn’t want to “offend the sensibilities” of the new radical Islamic regime which American and British arms had so recently helped install in Libya. The official explanation for why Obama administration officials watched the attack unfold for seven hours, refusing repeated requests to send the air support and relief forces that sat less than two hours away in Italy? Silence. An open discussion of these issues, of course, would lead to difficult questions about the wisdom of underwriting and celebrating the so-called Arab Spring revolts in the first place. While the removal of tyrants can be laudable, the results show a disturbing pattern of merely installing new tyrannies – theocracies of medieval mullahs who immediately start savaging the rights of women (including the basic right to education) and who are openly hostile to American interests. When Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney promptly criticized the security failures in Benghazi, the White House and its lapdog media jumped all over him for another “gaffe,” for speaking out too promptly and too strongly. Prompt and strong action from the White House on Sept. 11 might have saved American lives, as well as America’s reputation as a nation not to be messed with. Weakness and dithering and flying to Las Vegas the next day for celebrity fund-raising parties are somehow better?

Yes, you read that right — a major Las Vegas newspaper just ripped Obama for coming to Las Vegas rather than doing his job. They conclude that a vote for Obama would be like, er … well, I can’t improve on their analogy:

These behaviors go far beyond “spin.” They amount to a pack of lies. To return to office a narcissistic amateur who seeks to ride this nation’s economy and international esteem to oblivion, like Slim Pickens riding the nuclear bomb to its target at the end of the movie “Dr. Strangelove,” would be disastrous.

Bear in mind that editorials typically come from a conference among several editors at the newspaper. One will usually draft an essay, and then it gets discussed, modified, and redrafted to find a consensus among the editorial board as to tone and direction. This represents the LVRJ’s center, apparently.

With Nevada in play, and Clark County one of the keys to Democratic victory, this attack from one of the state’s most important newspapers is very bad news for Obama, especially this close to Election Day. The best that Team Obama can hope is that what’s said in Vegas stays in Vegas.