Romney says Biden 'doubling down on denial' on Libya attacks

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney blasted Vice President Biden for "doubling down on denial" while answering questions about the terrorist attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, during the vice presidential debate Thursday night.

During the debate, Biden said that "we weren't told they wanted more security" at the Libyan diplomatic mission.

"We did not know they wanted more security there," Biden repeated.

But Republicans charged that Biden was contradicting two former security officials who testified on Wednesday at a House Oversight Committee hearing that they had requested additional security, but that the requests had been denied by the State Department. On Friday, Romney said the American people deserved a clarification from the White House.

"The vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of State Department officials," Romney said at a rally in Richmond, Va. "He's doubling down on denial, and we need to understand exactly what happened instead of just brush things aside."

On Friday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said that Biden meant that White House officials, including himself and President Obama, had not been informed of the request because security matters are handled within the State Department.

"If you look at the testimony there was no talk of request for personnel made here" at the White House, Carney said Friday. "These kinds of issues are handled in the State Department by security professionals," he added.

Romney also criticized Biden's tenor during the debate. The vice president was shown repeatedly laughing at answers from Republican nominee Paul Ryan.

"I think you might agree with me that there was one person onstage last night who was thoughtful and respectful, steady and poised, the kind of person you want to turn to in a crisis, and that's the next vice president Paul Ryan," Romney said to loud cheers from the crowd.

Romney added that he thought Ryan was the only two of the candidates to present a plan for the economy.

"The other candidate of course just attacked," Romney said. "The American people are looking for answers, not attacks."

Romney also highlighted, as Ryan did during the debate, that the unemployment rate in Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pa., had risen during the Obama administration.

"The vice president defends the status quo, we're going to fix the status quo and makes things better," Romney said.

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