RNC: Rep. Peter King on Mitt Romney, Obama and foreign policy

As chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) has an influential voice on defense matters. With the economy the top flashpoint in national debate, King was asked at Monday morning's New York delegation meeting how Mitt Romney might best take on Obama tactically in the foreign-policy arena.

One way, he said, is “not to apologize for America. I don’t mean that as a cheap shot. I mean when [Obama] did a tour in '09 and said ‘we’re not anti-Islam,’" even though "Bush never said anything anti-Islam the whole time…. When he said ‘Like it or not we’re the most powerful country in the world.’ Why wouldn’t we be?...”

While crediting Obama in taking out bin Laden, King also faults Guantanamo interrogations, investigations of CIA officials, indications of “hostility” to Israel, and leaks about security matters.

Many of King's points of arguments came under the general heading of setting "an apologetic tone."