Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) criticized President Barack Obama's remarks on drawing a "red line" over the use of chemical weapons in Syria, joking that the president fumbled over his rhetoric because he didn't have a teleprompter.
"What it says to me is that the president gets lost when he doesn't have a teleprompter in front of him, which obviously he didn't last year," Chambliss said during a Thursday appearance on "Fox & Friends."
Obama first used the "red line" rhetoric during an August 2012 news conference at the White House, promising "enormous consequences" if Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime used chemical weapons.
"A red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moved around or being utilized," Obama said, according to the Wall Street Journal. "That would change my calculations significantly."
During a Wednesday press conference in Sweden, Obama urged lawmakers to back his proposed resolution for a limited military strike on Syria, citing evidence that sarin gas was used by Assad's regime against civilians.
"I didn't set a red line," Obama said. "The world set a red line."
Chambliss said Obama's remarks in Sweden were "somewhat mystifying."
"I was asked about [Obama's comments] yesterday, and I said, ‘Maybe the president needs to go back and look at what he said a year ago,’ but he was very clear. It was not Congress that was drawing a red line; he said, ‘I have a red line,’" Chambliss said. "So I don’t know that he’s necessarily thrown Congress under the bus, but he sure punted the ball to Congress as opposed to go taking the type of leadership that we normally see."
(h/t Talking Points Memo)
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