We assumed the 12th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 would be the occasion for some head-meet-desk moments, but we hoped we'd at least be able to finish our first cup of coffee before something this foolish came over the transom.

Noting the anniversary, Lt Gov. Ron Ramsey tweeted the following:

As the President attempts to ally w/ Al-Qaeda in Syria's civil war, we must always remember who attacked us on our soil 12 years ago.

— Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey (@RonRamsey) September 11, 2013

This is a stupefying statement, and not just because the lieutenant governor has decided that Sept. 11 is the day to make it.

President Barack Obama has been pushing for a military strike in Syria — although that's on hold for now — as a response to a chemical weapons attack allegedly carried out by Syrian president/dictator Bashar al-Assad against his own people. A U.S. strike against Assad would undeniably be helpful to rebel groups in Syria, who have been fighting against him in the country's ongoing civil war. There have been reports that some of those rebels have ties to Al Qaeda, and uncertainty about the ideologies, goals and allegiances of various rebel groups is one reason that many are opposed to U.S. intervention in Syria. That's perfectly reasonable.

But Ramsey doesn't criticize the president for the potential unintended consequences of his proposed policy in Syria. He says those consequences are the president's goal. He says the president is attempting to "ally with Al Qaeda." Well, fair's fair. Using the same reasoning, we've asked Ramsey's office if he is attempting to ally with Bashar al-Assad. After all, the Syrian despot would probably prefer not to have some of his key military assets hit with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

We'll let you know what we hear.

In the meantime, here's a more sensible subsequent tweet:

Let us never forget those who died, those who served and those who carry on. pic.twitter.com/iXFqr4gN76

— Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey (@RonRamsey) September 11, 2013

UPDATE: Tennessee Democratic Party chairman Roy Herron has released a statement in response to Ramsey's tweet:

“Speaker Ramsey should fire whoever wrote such an outrageous, dishonest, misleading, incendiary, unpatriotic and dangerous attack on our nation’s president and on Republican leaders like Senators Corker and McCain and House Speaker Boehner and even the Military Leaders working with them. Many of us are unsure about how to proceed in Syria, but whoever wrote that Tweet dishonors the victims of 9/11 and our military men and women who are doing all they can to stop more children and parents from being gassed and killed.”

UPDATE II: And now a statement from House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh:

“September 11th is a day when all Americans come together to remember a solemn occasion in our history. Instead of honoring those who gave their lives 12 years ago, Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey decided to take the low-road and accuse our Commander-in-Chief of allying with the very terrorist who attacked our country.

“This divisive rhetoric dishonors the memory of those who died on this day. It is insulting to our President, to Senator Corker who shares the President’s position, to all Americans no matter their position on Syria and to the memory of those we’ve lost. Lt. Governor Ramsey is either grossly misinformed or he has decided to be a partisan, instead of a patriot. He should apologize immediately.”